Before I rented The Big Clock, I read a review in which someone praised the film as Charles Laughton's greatest performance. Since I really like Charles Laughton, I was pretty excited. And since I really like Charles Laughton, I can tell it like it is: whoever wrote that was an idiot. He doesn't do a bad job by any means, but he's no Quasimodo or King Henry VIII.
Ray Milland, or as I've lovingly dubbed him Ray Mi-bland, is the star of this supposed thriller, and if you don't think to yourself after every line that comes out of his mouth, "Why wasn't this James Stewart?" then you need to watch some more old movies. Ray isn't likable, and he rattles off his lines like he's in a speed contest. Jimmy would have been likable, and I'm sure he would have found some way to make his character's stupidity believable.
Ray is the employee of big-shot Charles Laughton, and he very stupidly spends time with Charles's mistress, Rita Johnson, when he's supposed to be going on vacation with his wife and son. He goes barhopping with Rita and then passes out in her apartment, all the while getting angry at his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, for leaving for the vacation without him. This is not a guy to root for. We're supposed to root for him, though, because after Charles kills Rita in the heat of an argument, Ray gets framed for it. I just kept thinking that Rita was really mean for saying such terrible things to her sweetie pie, and Ray was a jerk for lying to his wife about the whole situation. So, since that was my mindset, it's understandable why I didn't really like this movie.
There was one really cute part to the movie, though. Elsa Lanchester has a small part as a quirky artist, and when someone admires one of her paintings, she makes a joke about it not being a Rembrandt. She and her hubby Charles Laughton were in the 1936 biopic Rembrandt!
Ray Milland, or as I've lovingly dubbed him Ray Mi-bland, is the star of this supposed thriller, and if you don't think to yourself after every line that comes out of his mouth, "Why wasn't this James Stewart?" then you need to watch some more old movies. Ray isn't likable, and he rattles off his lines like he's in a speed contest. Jimmy would have been likable, and I'm sure he would have found some way to make his character's stupidity believable.
Ray is the employee of big-shot Charles Laughton, and he very stupidly spends time with Charles's mistress, Rita Johnson, when he's supposed to be going on vacation with his wife and son. He goes barhopping with Rita and then passes out in her apartment, all the while getting angry at his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, for leaving for the vacation without him. This is not a guy to root for. We're supposed to root for him, though, because after Charles kills Rita in the heat of an argument, Ray gets framed for it. I just kept thinking that Rita was really mean for saying such terrible things to her sweetie pie, and Ray was a jerk for lying to his wife about the whole situation. So, since that was my mindset, it's understandable why I didn't really like this movie.
There was one really cute part to the movie, though. Elsa Lanchester has a small part as a quirky artist, and when someone admires one of her paintings, she makes a joke about it not being a Rembrandt. She and her hubby Charles Laughton were in the 1936 biopic Rembrandt!