Friday, July 23, 2004
TODAY'S MOVIE
THE BIG CLOCK (1948): NYTimes1176BestMovies; Ray Milland tries to figure out how he got into this noir predicament and then has 36 hours of flashbacks to figure out what went wrong and then fix it. Charles Laughton is the big media publisher (Henry Luce) who kills his mistress and tries to cover it up by framing the last man she was seen with; Milland. Only Milland knows who 'the man' is. And he works for Laughton running one of the magazines; a crime mag and...............zzzzz.
It is one of those stories that only can be seen to be appreciated and it is a great movie. It clicks right along and finishes up in the then standard 90 minutes. I love those 90 minute films. I was brought up on them. And, I think that I saw this one when it was around; in fact I am sure of it.
Elsa Lanchester is in it; always a treat. If Charles worked, they had to take Elsa; (his beard) reminding all and sundry that he was married and could not be a homo no matter how he swished (and he does swish—setting off the gaydar bells in the first scene). The young Maureen Sullivan (Tarzan's Jane and a great actress; wife of the director of this picture, John Farrow, and hence, mother of Mia Farrow). Also, Harry Morgan is the silent thug who is Laughton's errand boy and masseur (see, even the writers couldn't keep from insinuating Charley's preference).
What else? The deco office building is a featured player including the big international clock in its lobby. The clock, for 1948, qualifies as a mechanical wonder as well as a great place—its innards— to have one of the showdown scenes. Its presence also reminds us that Milland only has 36 hours (and 90 minutes) to work all this out. We really liked it; a 3 out of a Netflix5.
