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List Price: $14.98Amazon.com's Price: $7.49 You Save: $7.49 (50%)Prices subject to change.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9781417011629
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 1417011629
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: July 06, 2004
Running Time: 96 minutes
Sales Rank: 14051
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: April 09, 1948
Editorial Review:
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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A fascinating, well-made crime film
Crime magazine editor, George Stroud (Ray Miland), is about to go on his first holiday in years when he finds himself involved in the murder of his boss's mistress. Not knowing that Stroud is involved, Stroud's boss, Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), has Stroud search for the man that was with his mistress the night before her death (which happens to be Stroud), while Stroud searches for the true killer in order to acquit himself of the crime.
"The Big Clock" is not a murder-mystery, as ... Read More
Rating: - Milland, Laughton, Lanchester and Macready in a minor gem from the great Studio days
This film is classified as a film noir but visually, at least, it is fairly bright. While the prologue and one scene near the end are enveloped in satisfyingly inky shadows, the most memorable scenes and the moments of highest tension take place beneath a cold, corporate glare. As far as the drama goes, though, it's noir all the way: an ordinary schnook does something that he knows perfectly well he ought not to do and all-too soon finds himself in a cold sweat as he attempts to wriggle out of the ... Read More
Rating: - The Big Clock
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 ... Read More
Rating:  - hardly the noir classic id been led to believe
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!
Rating: - "The Big Clock (1948) ... Ray Milland ... Paramount Pictures Film Noir"
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 ... Read More
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