Arrow Video Restores Director John Farrow's The Big Clock For Blu-ray Release On May 14

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has picked May 14 as the street for a new hi-def transfer of director John Farrow’s twisted film noir thriller, The Big Clock.   

It will be available on that date as Blu-ray product offering.

What a delight, John Farrow produced and directed and had the very good fortune of talking his wife, Maureen O'Sullivan, to come out of retirement and star in the film.

Based on a novel by Kenneth Fearing, the MacGuffin in the film is the search for the mysterious Jefferson Randolph, an individual who was reportedly seen with a murdered woman named Pauline (Rita Johnson — They Won't Believe Me, My Friend Flicka, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, etc.).   Of note, Fearing’s book was remade by director Roger Donaldson in 1987 as No Way Out (with Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young).

We first meet Ray Milland hiding out in the clock tower of the Janoth Building and then in flashback when learn why he is there.  Milland plays George Stroud, the editor of Crimeways Magazine, which is one of eccentric and tyrannical Earl Janoth’s (played by Charles Laughton) many publishing properties.   He’s about to depart for a long-overdue honeymoon with his wife, Georgette (Maureen O’Sullivan), when Janoth demands that he cover this or that right now or be fired — it really didn’t matter what it was, it was just Janoth being Janoth.   

George calls his bluff, quits and eventually ends up in a popular watering hole with none other than Janoth’s mistress, the aforementioned Pauline.   The pair loathe Janoth and concoct a petty little plot to embarrass him … time passes, a drink turns into several and George misses his train.

No matter, George and Pauline need a clock, which needs to be a certain color, to carry out their bit of silliness.  The search proves fruitless, but not uneventful … and they end up at another bar.   Here the MacGuffin is introduced as George and Pauline chat it up with George’s hambone actor of a friend, McKinley (Lloyd Corrigan), who ticks various characters off that he’s played, including, you guessed it, Jefferson Randolph.

It’s getting late and the pair end up at Pauline’s place where George passes out.   It is about this time that the amorous Janoth comes calling and fortunately Pauline is able to get George moving before the jealous Janoth can identify him.   Enraged, he demands to know who she was fooling around with when he arrived and bingo, “Jefferson Randolph” pops out of her mouth.   

Famous last words as he kills her.   George, unaware that Pauline is dead joins his wife and soon Janoth contacts him, all is forgiven, there’s just one little thing … find Jefferson Randolph!!!

The Big Clock is a tightly written, star-studded film noir thriller that works from beginning to end … and clever too, with a cute little “small world” twist at the end.

As to bonus goodies, there is a newly-minted film commentary from film scholar Adrian Martin (author of “Mysteries of Cinema,” “Movie Mutations: The Changing Face of World Cinephilia,” “The Mad Max Movies,” etc.), plus a newly prepared featurette titled “Turning Back the Clock” (featuring film critic Adrian Wootton) and a video session with actor Simon Callow discussing the performance of Charles Laughton.  

Also included is the November of 1948 Lux Radio Theatre dramatization featuring Ray Milland and Maureen O'Sullivan.