Introduction

Hey y’all, how is your Fall season going? Thanks for reading! As local noir-istas may know, Noir City DC film fest is going on (OCT 13th–26th) at AFI Theatre here in my area (downtown Silver Spring, MD). Eddie Muller (TCM host; founder of the Film Noir Foundation) helped to curate the movies for this event. Muller introduced screenings on the opening weekend (OCT 13th–15th); I saw 2 movies (for the 1st time).

The Big Clock (1948) starring Ray Milland, Maureen O’Sullivan, Charles Laughton, George Macready, Pauline York, & Elsa Lanchester

The Strangest and most Savage Manhunt in History! -A tagline for the film

When a publishing tycoon, Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), commits murder in a heat of passion, he begins to cover his tracks. Janoth frames an innocent man he doesn’t know, BUT who knew the victim, Rita Johnson (Pauline York). That man, George Stroud (Ray Milland), works for one of Janoth’s magazines and is enlisted to trap the “killer.” George must “help” his boss, elude the police, and find proof of his innocence and Janoth’s guilt!

Rita Johnson: You know, Earl has a passion for obscurity. He won’t even have his biography in ‘Who’s Who.”
George Stroud: Sure. He doesn’t want to let his left hand know whose pocket the right one is picking.

Kenneth Fearing’s 1946 novel and this film adaptation bear many similarities to Samuel Fuller’s novel Dark Page (1944) and its screen adaptation Scandal Sheet (1952). Janoth’s right-hand man/lawyer, Steve Hagen (George MacCready), does his dirty work; they’re close (though- b/c of censorship- we don’t see how much). Neo-noir fans will find similarities btwn this movie and (the 2nd adaptation of The Big Clock) No Way Out (1987) dir. by Roger Donaldson. In that movie, Sen. Brice (Hackman) has a V clever/loyal aide, Scott (Will Patton), who cleans up his messes (and is obviously in love w/ the politician).

Don Klausmeyer: Our organization, the Janoth Publications, is trying to find someone, possibly a collector of your pictures.
Louise Patterson: So have I- for fifteen years.

Milland got the roles that Cary Grant turned down, Muller noted; he’s best known for The Lost Weekend (1945) and Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954). Like Michael Douglas, he has the air of a man who could be a “regular” guy, yet w/ a “shady” side. According to Muller, Louise Patterson (Elsa Lanchester) is based on (IRL American artist) Alice Neel. Laughton and Lanchester were married at this time, though we later learned that he was gay. Director John Farrow and Maureen O’Sullivan (who plays Georgette Stroud) were also married. Unlike what you’d expect from a “typical” noir, there are some of funny moments; Lanchester made my audience LOL during a few scenes.

Act of Violence (1948) starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh, Mary Astor, & Phyllis Thaxter

The Manhunt No Woman Could Stop! -A tagline for the film

Robert Ryan is like one of my top 2 or 3 actors in noir. -Eddie Muller, in intro to the film

WWII veteran Frank Enley (Van Heflin- age 40) is a family man/builder in SoCal. He has a modest house, a beautiful/young wife, Edith (Janet Leigh- just 21 y.o.) and toddler son; he’s respected as a “war hero” in his small town community. One day, he learns that Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan- age 39) is searching for him; he is out for revenge, b/c of something which occurred while they were POWs. Joe drags his right leg as he walks; he carries a handgun. Ann (Phyllis Thaxter- age 29) is the woman following Joe, in the hopes of stopping him from doing something drastic. When Frank has to leave for a builders convention in LA, Joe is close behind! When Frank happens upon a bar, he meets Pat (Mary Astor- in a daring/unglamorous role at age 40).

Joe [to Edith]: Sure, I was in the hospital, but I didn’t go crazy. I kept myself sane. You know how? I kept saying to myself: Joe, you’re the only one alive that knows what he did. You’re the one that’s got to find him, Joe. I kept remembering. I kept thinking back to that prison camp. One of them lasted to the morning. By then, you couldn’t tell his voice belonged to a man. He sounded like a dog that got hit by a truck and left in the street.

No one wore makeup on this movie. Zinnemann wanted somewhat of a documentary look. -Cheyney Ryan (son of Robert Ryan) on the podcast Robert Bellissimo At The Movies (10/12/22)

Some viewers were surprised to see issues tackled so soon after the end of WWII. At the forefront is the question: How does an individual adjust to “normal” life after surviving war? I was excited to watch this movie; it’s currently NOT on any streaming platform. This is a tense noir that’s unpredictable both in its character development and plotting. It’s V well-paced (at only 82 mins), has great dialogue, and important themes. Director Fred Zinnemann (an Austrian Jew who fled Europe before WWII) went on to work on some big movies: High Noon (1952) and From Here to Eternity (1953). As Muller said, Zinnemann learned that both parents were killed in a Nazi concentration camp. The writers of the screenplay are Robert L. Richards and Collier Young (husband of actress/director Ida Lupino).

Edith: Suppose there is a grain of truth to it. Suppose you did have some kind of trouble with him. I can understand how something like that could happen in a prison camp.
Frank: No. You don’t know what happened.
Edith: What was it Frank? Whatever you did you must have had reasons.
Frank: You can always find reasons. Even the Nazis had reasons.

Ryan (who Scorsese called “one of the greatest actors in American film”) and Lupino later starred together in 2 unique noirs- On Dangerous Ground (1951) and Beware, My Lovely (1952). Ryan and Leigh were co-stars in the Western The Naked Spur (1953). Ryan (nearly 6’4″) towers over almost all the others; his simmering rage adds to the intimidating effect. When he talks w/ Edith, his voice is NOT loud/frightening, BUT holds pain/regret. I wanted to see more of Joe’s relationship w/ Ann; they discussed re: what happened in wartime (unlike Frank and Edith). The two leads are opposites in looks: Ryan is brown-haired w/ small/dark eyes, while Heflin is blonde/wide-eyed. Heflin (almost 6″ tall) gets to stretch himself, showing more depth (and emotion) than is usually required of his “Everyman” roles. Leigh does a fine job w/ her role (opposite these experienced men) at such a young age (early in her career). I really liked the cinematography; light, dark, and shadow are used quite effectively.

[1] One of the most daring elements of the film is its suggestion that Heflin is deserving of forgiveness, because the codes of conduct that govern men in the theater of war are different from those that govern us in our day-to-day lives. That maybe doesn’t seem like a daring thing to say now, but at the time it would have been.

Heflin and Ryan are both terrific; Ryan is one of my favorite film noir actors. But the women in the film make quite an impression… If the mens’ world- both at war and at home- is one of violence and revenge, it’s the women who act as the voice of reason and sanity, trying to impose a sense of stability amid the chaos.

[2] This grim look at a couple of de-mobbed soldiers continuing their private war at home rarely get mentioned in lists of essential noirs; maybe, upon release in 1949, it was just a little too close for comfort- hinting a truths the victorious American public were unwilling to acknowledge. If so, the film has yet to be rediscovered- or reappraised. […]

Though the script opts for a strange and bitter “redemptive” ending, the acrid taste of Act of Violence lingers long.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews