Towards the end of and immediately after the war, movies tended to go one of two ways – romantic escapism or gritty cynicism. However a small number of pictures trod the line by creating fairytale stories with characters and situations that were very close to home. The Clock is just such a picture, a dizzy romance borne out of the desperation and high emotion of the era.
The Clock is also significant in that it was the first non-musical picture of Judy Garland, and the first non-musical assignment for director Vincente Minnelli. One might assume this is not too big a leap; after all, musicals are still largely made up of non-musical scenes, but it presents a bigger challenge than meets the eye, especially for Minnelli. The "normal" scenes in musicals, at least at this point in cinema history, are only there to string the musical numbers together, and they can be (in fact sometimes benefit from being) light and theatrical. In a non-musical picture, the depth and credibility of drama and dialogue is crucial.
Fortunately Minnelli had paid enough attention to other people's picture to tenderly and intelligently film the budding romance. In Garland and Walker's earliest scenes together he frames them side by side in very long takes, allowing things to unfold naturally, with plenty of bustle in the background to give a slightly awkward and uncertain tone to the situation. Later, in the scene at the museum where they begin to fall in love, he uses some conventional opposing angles, cutting from one face to the other, which has great impact after those very long takes. He also makes the background very plain in these shots to focus all attention on the actors.
What really makes this stand out as a Minnelli picture (and where he most clearly displays his experience in staging musical numbers) is his composition of the crowd scenes. The opening shot, which is before the main characters have actually entered and is just to establish setting and tone, is particularly expertly arranged. It starts off looking like a genuinely chaotic mass of people, and then all of a sudden our attention is drawn to a couple embracing, dead centre of the frame, at the exact moment the camera stops moving. It's an incredibly complex and precise trick yet it looks completely natural. In later scenes where Walker or Garland are among a crowd, Minnelli has them framed relatively far back from the camera, and moving around a lot as the camera follows them. This means the realism of the setting and the frantic pace of the story are not broken, but also that we never lose our stars amid the bustle of extras.
I hate to say it, but in fact the biggest flaw in The Clock is the acting of the leading players. Both Garland and Walker are brilliantly cast but their performances are a little flat here. Walker at first seems perfect as the shy, naïve soldier, but at the time he was going through a divorce and descending into alcoholism, and he doesn't seem quite able to snap out of his melancholy mood on the screen. Garland was becoming a little worse for wear from the keep-you-thin-and-awake drugs the studio were pumping her full of, and in any case she was probably too much in love with Minnelli to build up convincing chemistry with anyone else. It was in fact not through playing in non-musicals that she gained credibility as an actress; it was when musicals themselves became more serious and she was able to show off her dramatic abilities. It says a lot for the state of the two leads that the most engaging moment for me and, it appears, many others was Keenan Wynn's bit-part drunk act.
The Clock was released just a couple of weeks after VE day, apparently to middling success. No doubt some were disappointed Miss Garland wasn't doing any singing, and many audience members would by now have wanted to put the war behind them. Still, I'm sure a lot of people were also touched by the poignant contemporary relevance of the story, especially since so many couples were meeting and marrying in similar circumstances. Today though, the best I can say is that the screenplay is beautiful, the direction brilliantly sensitive but the romance is simply lacking in sparkle.
The Clock is also significant in that it was the first non-musical picture of Judy Garland, and the first non-musical assignment for director Vincente Minnelli. One might assume this is not too big a leap; after all, musicals are still largely made up of non-musical scenes, but it presents a bigger challenge than meets the eye, especially for Minnelli. The "normal" scenes in musicals, at least at this point in cinema history, are only there to string the musical numbers together, and they can be (in fact sometimes benefit from being) light and theatrical. In a non-musical picture, the depth and credibility of drama and dialogue is crucial.
Fortunately Minnelli had paid enough attention to other people's picture to tenderly and intelligently film the budding romance. In Garland and Walker's earliest scenes together he frames them side by side in very long takes, allowing things to unfold naturally, with plenty of bustle in the background to give a slightly awkward and uncertain tone to the situation. Later, in the scene at the museum where they begin to fall in love, he uses some conventional opposing angles, cutting from one face to the other, which has great impact after those very long takes. He also makes the background very plain in these shots to focus all attention on the actors.
What really makes this stand out as a Minnelli picture (and where he most clearly displays his experience in staging musical numbers) is his composition of the crowd scenes. The opening shot, which is before the main characters have actually entered and is just to establish setting and tone, is particularly expertly arranged. It starts off looking like a genuinely chaotic mass of people, and then all of a sudden our attention is drawn to a couple embracing, dead centre of the frame, at the exact moment the camera stops moving. It's an incredibly complex and precise trick yet it looks completely natural. In later scenes where Walker or Garland are among a crowd, Minnelli has them framed relatively far back from the camera, and moving around a lot as the camera follows them. This means the realism of the setting and the frantic pace of the story are not broken, but also that we never lose our stars amid the bustle of extras.
I hate to say it, but in fact the biggest flaw in The Clock is the acting of the leading players. Both Garland and Walker are brilliantly cast but their performances are a little flat here. Walker at first seems perfect as the shy, naïve soldier, but at the time he was going through a divorce and descending into alcoholism, and he doesn't seem quite able to snap out of his melancholy mood on the screen. Garland was becoming a little worse for wear from the keep-you-thin-and-awake drugs the studio were pumping her full of, and in any case she was probably too much in love with Minnelli to build up convincing chemistry with anyone else. It was in fact not through playing in non-musicals that she gained credibility as an actress; it was when musicals themselves became more serious and she was able to show off her dramatic abilities. It says a lot for the state of the two leads that the most engaging moment for me and, it appears, many others was Keenan Wynn's bit-part drunk act.
The Clock was released just a couple of weeks after VE day, apparently to middling success. No doubt some were disappointed Miss Garland wasn't doing any singing, and many audience members would by now have wanted to put the war behind them. Still, I'm sure a lot of people were also touched by the poignant contemporary relevance of the story, especially since so many couples were meeting and marrying in similar circumstances. Today though, the best I can say is that the screenplay is beautiful, the direction brilliantly sensitive but the romance is simply lacking in sparkle.