The Big Clock

Starring:Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready, Rita Johnson, Elsa Lanchester, Harold Vermilyea, Dan Tobin, Harry Morgan, Richard Webb, Elaine Riley, Luis Van Rooten, Lloyd Corrigan, Frank Orth, Margaret Field, Philip Van Zandt, Henri Letondal, Douglas Spencer, Bobby Watson, B.G. Norman
Director: John Farrow
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 big-budget variation on John Sayles's The Return of the Secaucus Seven finds a cluster of old college radicals--who have since gone on to sundry professions and various degrees of materialism--reuniting over the death of a friend. Both playful and thoughtful, the film represents Kasdan (Body Heat) at his most astute. The attractive cast meshes perfectly into a group of characters for which a former closeness is out of synch with their current lives, yet their warmth is enviable and inviting. The script may be a bit too glib, with many one-liners, but it is still a perfectly designed story with telling irony and no little passion. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

All time best!.......2007-05-14

I first saw this movie when I was in College and fell in love with it. the story line was so great and makes me what to call my friends after watching it. I would recomment it to everyone.

Nostalgic look at friendship.......2007-01-17

I love The Big Chill. The first time I saw it I was just a teen and thought how great it would be to grow up and be so close with such a great group of friends. Now, 20 years later, I am drawn to the movie every so often as a reminder of how great it is to have long-lasting friendships and all the drama that goes along with that (good and bad).

The soundtrack is like a character all its own in this movie, as fully deserving as all other characters for all the air time it gets.

Because of some drug use in the movie, it's doubtful you'll find this played on TV much (without a lot of editing any way). That's one of the reasons I had to buy it--to have the full movie in all its glory.

The Big Chill - No Whimpering, It's Definitely a Bang.......2006-08-15

Very high on my list.

All star cast: Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldbloom, William Hurt, Tom Berenger, JoBeth Williams, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly. Kevin Costner is uncredited for his role...sssh, those in the know...those who don't know, try to find him in the movie.

I just adore this movie. Witty, intelligent, the dialogs are marvelous, and the comments quotable:

"I don't know anyone who could get through the day without two or three juicy rationalizations. They're more important than sex."
"Ah, come on. Nothing's more important than sex."
"Oh yeah? Ever gone a week without a rationalization?"

"It doesn't always happen the first time."
"That's not what they told us in high school."

"Amazing tradition. They throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can't come."

"He went out with a bang, not a whimper."

Great music selections as well. It's a must see!

enjoyable, but frankly my dear, id rather be in secaucus.......2006-06-04

i managed to miss this: one of those generational impact movies, and never caught up to it until now. it is difficult to remember that all the cliches were NOT cliches when this movie was released, but i was able to watch it and just enjoy the crisp acting by all 8 stars. and of course there IS that soundtrack. still, the movie ripped off "the return of the secaucus 7", and tho i havent seen that in a long time, my guess is id prefer it on a more core level.

Baby Boomers Never Grow Up.......2006-04-05

The children of the 1960's stayed children and trapped in a yearning for the idealism of youth. Just like that 80's TV seroes "30-something" it really makes you be glad that your youth wasn't wasted after all. Watching this film as a now 30-something makes me convinced: how the mighty have fallen when their youth was blessed with too much of a good time too soon. While those who had it rough in their barely 20's, reaped the rewards of a character fortified.

The Big Clock (Universal Noir Collection)

Average customer rating:

The Big Clock
hardly the noir classic id been led to believe
"The Big Clock (1948) ... Ray Milland ... Paramount Pictures Film Noir"
Take It on Its' On Terms
Peerless Noir Classic

The Big Clock (Universal Noir Collection)
Starring: Ray Milland , Charles Laughton , Maureen O'Sullivan , George Macready , and Rita Johnson
Director: John Farrow
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Film Noir | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Suspense | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Mystery | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00023P4FQ
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Amazon.com

What if you were asked to investigate a murder in which you were the prime suspect? From this seemingly impossible notion comes a grandly entertaining nail-biter. Charles Laughton plays the punctuality obsessed, slave-driving head of a publishing empire who won't let his crime magazine's star editor (Ray Milland) take a day off to spend with his family. The overworked Milland, having just upset a delayed honeymoon trip for the umpteenth time, goes on a sorrow-drowning, bar-hopping bender with a mysterious woman who, it turns out, is Laughton's mistress. Later that night after Milland has gone home, Laughton murders her, and the next day he assigns Milland to investigate, since a number of clues point to her having spent time with another man that night. Milland, then, must not only find the real murderer but sidetrack the investigation away from himself. That both characters are solving the crime in tandem yet unwittingly working toward pinning the murder on each other is at the heart of The Big Clock's labyrinthine brilliance. Helping bring out the dark humor in this adaptation of Kenneth Fearing's noir novel (included in the Library of America's Crime Novels collection) is Elsa Lanchester as a high-strung painter who can sketch the prime suspect (Milland), a time-bomb plot device that only adds to the already unbearable suspense. This is a taut, lean thriller, superbly handled by director John Farrow, who never fails to remind his audience through repeated use of clocks, timepieces, and watches that all too often in our lives that ticking sound is the enemy. This was remade in 1987 with Kevin Costner as No Way Out. --Robert Abele

Customer Reviews:

The Big Clock.......2007-06-25

Memorable for its edgy dialogue and tense, sinister atmosphere, John Farrow's 1948 adaptation of Kenneth Fearing's novel boasts an ingenious plot device: two characters, one guilty and one innocent, both attempt to "solve" a crime in which they are circumstantially implicated. Milland, solid as ever, anchors the action as the cornered protagonist, while portly Charles Laughton is superbly loathsome as the controlling, megalomaniac killer. Fine support from Maureen O'Sullivan, Elsa Lanchester, and Harry Morgan--chilling as Janoth's mute, gun-toting bodyguard--round out this time-tested thriller.

hardly the noir classic id been led to believe.......2007-04-07

poor ray milland gets caught up in a wacko murder plot and illicit love affair in this overrated film noir from director john farrow, who is best remembered for directing second-rate movies and siring a second-rate actress. even charles laughton is dull here!

"The Big Clock (1948) ... Ray Milland ... Paramount Pictures Film Noir".......2007-03-13

Paramount Pictures present "THE BIG CLOCK" (1948) (95 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) --- Starring Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready & Rita Johnson, released in April 9, 1948, from director John Farrow, who would go on to greater things, but who shows his abilities here ---- the story line thus far, a woman has been murdered, and a witness has a description of a suspect leaving her apartment. A magazine editor (Ray Milland) knows that he is the man that the witness saw - but he's innocent, and he must investigate the crime and pretend to search for the suspect. He only has an hour to nail his boss, the real killer (Charles Laughton), before being identified himself. Maureen O'Sullivan (Mrs. Farrow) helps him out, George Macready is Laughton's evil sidekick, and Elsa Lanchester turns up in a brief, but funny and marvelous bit part. Milland is at his most appealing. Laughton is great as a detestable villain. Watching the movie is like reading a stylish page-turner - smooth in style, but with plenty of tension, it clips along at a fine pace, and winding up with an inspired "poetic justice" type ending. Pure entertainment.

Under John Farrow (Director/Producer), Richard Maibaum (Producer), Kenneth Fearing (Novel), Jonathan Latimer (Screenplay), Victor Young (Original Score), Daniel L. Fapp (Cinematographer), LeRoy Stone (Editor) - - - - the cast includes Ray Milland (George Stroud), Charles Laughton (Earl Janoth), Maureen O'Sullivan (Georgette Stroud), George Macready (Steve Hagen), Rita Johnson (Pauline York), Elsa Lanchester (Louise Patterson), Harold Vermilyea (Don Klausmeyer), Dan Tobin (Ray Cordette), Harry Morgan (Bill Womack), Richard Webb (Nat Sperling), Elaine Riley (Lily Gold), Luis Van Rooten (Edwin Orlin), Lloyd Corrigan (McKinley), Frank Orth (Burt) - - - - Film noir has sources not only in cinema but other artistic mediums as well...the low-key lighting schemes commonly linked with the classic mode are in the tradition of chiaroscuro and tenebrism, techniques using high contrasts of light and dark developed by 15th- and 16th-century painters associated with Mannerism and the Baroque...film noir's aesthetics are deeply influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement of the 1910s and 1920s closely related to contemporaneous developments in theater, photography, painting, scultpture, and architecture...opportunities offered by the booming Hollywood film industry and, later, the threat of growing Nazi power led to the emigration of many important film artists working in Germany who had either been directly involved in the Expressionist movement or studied with its practitioners...Directors such as Fritz Lang, Robert Siodmak, and Michael Curtiz brought dramatic lighting techniques and a psychologically expressive approach to mise-en-scène with them to Hollywood, where they would make some of the most famous of classic noirs. Lang's 1931 masterwork, the German M, is among the first major crime films of the sound era to join a characteristically noirish visual style with a noir-type plot, one in which the protagonist is a criminal (as are his most successful pursuers). M was also the occasion for the first star performance by Peter Lorre, who would go on to act in several formative American noirs of the classic era ... featuring top performances from the '40s and '50s with outstanding drama and screenplays, along with a wonderful cast and supporting actors to bring it all together ... another winner from the vaults of almost forgotten film noir gems

SPECIAL FEATURES BIOS:
1. Ray Milland (aka: Reginald Alfred John Truscott-Jones)
Date of Birth: 3 January 1905 - Neath, Glamorgan, Wales, UK
Date of Death: 10 March 1986 - Torrance, California
2. Charles Laughton
Date of Birth: 1 July 1899, Scarborough - Yorkshire, England, UK
Date of Death: 15 December 1962 - Hollywood, California
3. Maureen O'Sullivan
Date of Birth: 17 May 1911 - Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland
Date of Death: 23 June 1998 - Scottsdale, Arizona
4. John Farrow (Director)
Date of Birth: 10 February 1904 - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Date of Death: 28 January 1963 - Beverly Hills, California,

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc), Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") and Trevor Scott (Down Under Com) as they have rekindled my interest once again for Film Noir, B-Westerns and Serials --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage serial era of the '20s, '30s & '40s and B-Westerns ... order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on VHS, stay tuned once again for top notch action mixed with deadly adventure --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out VCI Entertainment where they are experts in releasing B-Westerns and Serials --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 95 min on DVD ~ Universal Video ~ (7/06/2004)

Take It on Its' On Terms.......2007-01-11

"The Big Clock" is based on a great premise: Ray Milland is an overworked editor of a true crime magazine. "Crimeways" is part of megalomaniac Charles Laughton's publishing empire. Milland's forte is cracking unsolvable crimes. RM is embarking on a long delayed honeymoon-but misses his train. Angered, embarrassed and deep in the dog house, he goes on a bender with a woman (Rita Johnson) he has just met. He sees her home. But as RM leaves her apartment's back door, another man is entering the by the front. Both spot, but do not recognize each other. The stranger is none other than Laughton. Johnson was his girl friend! The jealous Laughton kills RJ and aware he was spotted, determines to pin the murder on someone else. He recalls Milland from his non-honeymoon and demands that RM "solve" the murder using his well known amateur forensic skills. This is a prime game of cat and mouse; Laughton knows that he is guilty while Milland had been spotted carousing with Johnson the night she met her demise. Each needs to deflect suspicion from himself. What happens? Viewers will just have to watch BC for themselves-good reviews do not reveal resolutions. It says here that BC is more of a solid true crime tale than great film noir. There are some weak points, primarily the streamlined pace. Events -especially the ending-unfurl much too quickly. Director John Farrow could have used more than the mere 93 minute run time. Were noir directors wedded to a 90 minute format? Also, BC uses fully 104 characters. Why? Laughton vastly overplays his role and as previous reviewer Barbarelli noted, much of the set in a modern office building looked like "repossessed furniture". Still, the positives outweigh. Given the pacing, viewers will not be bored. Milland and that vast supporting cast are fine. Viewers should best approach BC as a murder tale and avoid any preconceived notions or the need to compare with the 1987 remake "No Way Out". Take "The Big Clock" on its' own terms and enjoy.

Peerless Noir Classic.......2006-08-30

The Big Clock belongs in the Noir Hall of Fame as one of the dozen or so superior examples of the genre.

It also belongs near the top of every true Noir fan's collection.

Each time I see it, I find additional rewards in details and qualities that had somehow escaped my attention.

Its only peers are the lapidary Double Indemnity, the compact intensity of The Unsuspected, the hugely rewarding and expansive Third Man and the tragic scope of The Lost Weekend.

Buy it. Watch it. Love it. Repeat.

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