DVD Review: The Clock

By Frankie Dees Feb 13, 2007, 15:53 GMT

The Clock is an earnest and tender film with nice set work, solid direction from Minnelli and two romantic performances from great actors who we lost before their time.

‘The Clock’ is a sweet and unassuming little wartime gem starring Judy Garland in a rare non-singing role and Robert Clark as two individuals driven together by fate and who stay together by choice during a whirlwind 48 hours in New York City circa WWII.

Judy Garland would be directed by her then-boyfriend and future husband Vincente Minnelli in the film in which both star and director seemed to want to branch out and attempt new things. Judy Garland had to try and entertain an audience on her thespian skills alone without relying on her extraordinary voice to fall back on while Vincente Minnelli wanted to have a go at his first non-musical with a simple little film that would pretty much be the exact opposite of the big, sprawling MGM musicals like his ‘Meet Me in St.Louis’ and ‘Cabin in the Sky’ that had come before.

They both succeed in their goals with this engaging romance, which could be a slight precursor to Linklater’s ‘Before Sunrise,’ a film I was reminded of due to the basic idea of two young strangers engaged in conversation and dilly-dallying around a bustling metropolis with a slight air of romance blossoming.

Robert Walker stars as Corporal Joe (G.I.Joe, get it?), a small-town, aw-shucks fella who finds himself amidst the daunting skyscrapers of New York City on a one-day-pass. Trying to good-naturedly strike up a conversation with any and every New Yorker that scoots past him at the bustling Penn Station, he finally resigns himself to a paper and a seat on the stairs in a decision that will shape the rest of his years.

One surprisingly bearable meet-cute later, Joe holds Alice’s (Judy Garland) heel in his hand after she trips over his leg getting on the escalator. Seeing his moment to finally make a friend in this town, he refuses to part ways until they can find a shoe repair shop. By this time, his earnest, good ‘ol boy manner has become endearing to Alice’s good nature and right around the time he’s running alongside the bus that she’s on to ask her for a date, she might just be in love.

Arranging to meet later, Alice heads home where her roommate almost talks her out of meeting him since soldiers wandering the streets looking for love are not uncommon and generally a mistake when there’s a good chance they’ll ship out and never return. So as Joe is pacing back and forth at the meeting place, ‘the clock,’ he almost gives up when Alice tears through the revolving doors…whew!

The magic continues that night as their adventure takes them to the milk truck of one Al Henry (James Gleason) who stops to pick them up when they can’t get a taxi. Due to a mishap with a drunken diner patron, Al gets punched in the eye and Joe and Alice have the all night task of delivering milk in his stead. After that night, they seem inseparable until a subway door almost does them in for good. In a mad frenzy, they attempt to find each other but they never got each other’s last names!

Panicked they will never find each other again, it finally occurs to them to meet back at the clock where they met for their date the night before (uh…duh). The panic-stricken loss they felt when they were separated drives them to the rash decision to get married yet fate decides to complicate things (and here I though fate was on their side!) by the time needed to attain paperwork needed for such a proceeding being in direct contrast with the time Joe has left before he ships off. Will this young couple in love beat ‘the clock’?

Four individuals contributed to the story, Paul and Pauline Gallico, Robert Nathan and Joseph Schrank and while it’s impossible to know who contributed what, I think they found the right tone for a subject matter that was rather frowned upon and notable at the time. Quickie wartime marriages were common for fervent gals willing to ease the fearful and anxious feelings of young troops with a questionable fate ahead, not to mention, the few gals with less than honorable intentions to marry for the monthly salaries and insurance checks if the ‘beloved’ never returned home.

The romance present in ‘The Clock’ is what I’m sure is the exception to the wartime marriage rule but why else do we go to the movies? Judy Garland and Robert Walker give authentic, soulful performances and watching them here, it’s disconcerting to remember that both their lives ended tragically. Walker, who is mostly known for his extraordinary Bruno Anthony role in ‘Strangers on a Train’ was only 33 at the time of his death due too many sedatives that he was prescribed for emotional instability and alcohol abuse. A nasty reality check compared to the charming presence he held in this film which only goes to prove what a great actor he was.

The film also benefited from some great set and production design work. While the rear-projection is always obvious, Minnelli pulled off some great camera tricks to really make the sets come alive and actually feel like New York. There was some second-unit coverage of New York but the film was a back-lot affair and is a testament to how important the below-the-line people are to a final product.

The film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. We have a few special features consisting of a ‘Vintage Pete Smith Specialty Short Hollywood Scout’ which is a comedic vignette concerning Pete Smith and his humorous misadventures of finding canine talent for his films. We also have a Tex Avery cartoon classic ‘The Screwy Truant’ with Screwy Squirrel, which to the best of my knowledge is the only Screwy Squirrel cartoon on DVD. We have the audio-only Radio show adaptation with Judy Garland and John Hodiak and finally the films theatrical trailer.

The Clock is an earnest and tender film with nice set work, solid direction from Minnelli and two romantic performances from great actors who we lost before their time.

The Clock is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.