Writer-director
John Farrow, much like his contemporary Robert Wise, was a jack of all trades
during the Golden Age of Hollywood having written twenty-six features and
directed many more. Having worked for
Paramount and RKO Pictures as a screenwriter, the Australian-born filmmaker
eventually found work in Hollywood as a director for Warner Brothers, RKO, and
of course Paramount. During his tenure
at Paramount he directed a number of film noir thrillers, the most well known
of which arguably being his very first stab at the subgenre with the 1948
murder mystery The Big Clock.
Based
on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Fearing and one of three cinematic
adaptations of the story, the other two being Police Python 357 in 1976 and No
Way Out in 1987, director Farrow’s take on the material is widely regarded
as the most faithful to the source material and prominently features Academy Award
winner Ray Milland in the leading role.
A highly suspenseful and visually hyper-stylistic chase thriller and
detective story racing against the clock, we find Crimeways magazine editor George Stroud (Milland) fighting for his
reputation as well as his life when he becomes embroiled in a murder plot
involving his ex-employer Earl Janoth’s (Charles Laughton) mistress.
The
first thing that stands out immediately about The Big Clock is the dynamic camerawork by Daniel L. Fapp and John
Seitz. Coupled with superimpositions,
rear projections combined with the zoom lens to give the impression of a deep
telephoto shot alongside elaborate crane and dolly shots, this is a noir
thriller that doesn’t look or feel like many of those which arrived before
it. While many can pinpoint the tropes
of film noir from miles away such as dark, smoky alleyways, characters in peril
sneaking around their assassins and the many twists and turns that tend to
follow in the time-honored tradition of convoluted noir, they come in a manner
that feels experimental and full of free camera movement. Though some of the rear projections do show
their age, The Big Clock was
obviously ahead of the curve technically speaking.
The
soundtrack by Around the World in 80 Days
Academy Award winning composer Victor Young is as tense and as nerve
wracking as anything in composer Bernard Herrmann’s eclectic discography of
film scores. Often emphasizing quiet dread
and mounting tension, especially during the cat-and-mouse hide and seek
sequences with Stroud doing all he can to evade both authorities as well as
deadly assassins hot on his tail. Coupled
with the film’s visual sense, sonically speaking The Big Clock is among the creepier film noir soundtracks of the
genre.
And
of course there are the performances with the ever villainous and intimidating
Charles Laughton as Stroud’s piggish and domineering boss who may have more to
do with the murder plot than he leads on.
Ray Milland, having copped an Oscar years earlier with Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend is superb as the
resourceful and confident hero of the film, constantly thinking his way out of
increasingly dangerous predicaments while holding his head high in the face of
injustices as well as unwanted advances from a certain mistress. Years earlier, director John Farrow married
recurring Tarzan actress Maureen O’Sullivan
and took a six year hiatus from acting before returning to the silver screen in
her husband’s 1948 film to play George Stroud’s wife Georgette. Much like George, Georgette is his equal and
quick to take him to task when he finds himself drawn deeper into his
profession than in the arms of his wife.
Among
the more genuinely suspenseful nail biters of the film noir subgenre as well as
one of the most technically innovative, The
Big Clock is a prime example of top tier filmmaking and a tension filled
thriller. Proving to be a tale that
would stand the test of time, as aforementioned the story was revisited and
updated twice. With the 1976 film Police Python 357, the setting is
changed to the Orleans Police Department in France while the third 1987 film
jumps into the US Department of Defense during the Cold War. While the newer adaptations are themselves
solid examples of genre filmmaking, of the three the closest to the book is of
course the first adaptation and remains a testament to what you can do with
film noir.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki