The Clock is a 1945 film starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker and directed by Judy Garland's future husband, Vincente Minnelli. This was Garland's first dramatic role as well as the first motion picture she starred in, in which she did not sing.
Plot
In The Clock, a soldier, Joe Allen, on a 48-hour leave, meets Alice Mayberry in Pennsylvania Station when she trips over his duffel bag and breaks the heel off one of her shoes.
Although it is after hours, Joe gets a shoe-repair shop owner to open his store, and the proprietor repairs her shoe. Alice asks Joe where he is going, and he says he is on leave but has no definite destination while in New York. He asks to accompany her on her way home and she points out landmarks along the way, including Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
When he asks her whether she is busy the next day, she says that she is. However, when he persists, chasing the bus she is riding down the street, she relents, promising to meet him under the clock at the Astor Hotel.
Although her roommate chastises Alice for "picking up" a soldier, Alice keeps her date with Joe, arriving late, and the two have dinner. Having missed the last bus home, they accept a ride with a milk man. When the milk man's truck has a flat tire, he and his passengers visit a bar to call for assistance. A drunk strikes the milk man, blackening his eye, and after the company's road repairman has changed the truck's tire, Alice and Joe spend the night delivering milk to their benefactor's customers. Later, they enjoy the hospitality of the milk man and his wife, who serves them an early-morning dinner.
Although they become separated in a subway, trying frantically to find one another, they reunite by returning to the place at which they met for their first date--the clock at the Astor Hotel. Having fallen in love, Joe asks Alice to marry him, and she consents. However, they must run a maze of red tape which nearly prevents them from doing so. Through their perseverance, they win over bureaucrats upon whom their success or failure depends. However, Alice finds the ceremony "ugly" and it is only after they repeat their vows in a church that she feels truly married.
Shortly after the young couple weds, Joe's leave ends and he returns to war.
Production
Garland had asked to star in a straight dramatic role after growing tired of the strenuous schedules of musical films. Although the studio was hesitant, the producer, Arthur Freed, eventually approached Garland with the script for The Clock after buying the rights to the short unpublished story by Paul and Pauline Gallico.
Initially, Fred Zinnemann was brought in to direct the picture. After about a month he was removed at the request of Garland. There was a lack of chemistry between the two and early footage was disappointing.
When Freed asked who Garland wanted to direct the film, she answered, "Vincente Minnelli". Minnelli had just directed Garland the previous year in Meet Me in St. Louis, which was a tremendous success. Moreover, she and Minnelli had become romantically involved during the principal photography of Meet Me In St. Louis. During production of The Clock, they rekindled their romance, and were engaged by the end of shooting.
Minnelli discarded footage shot by Zinnemann and reshaped the film. He revised some scenes, tightened up the script and incorporated New York City into the film's setting as a third character. As with Meet Me in St. Louis, he supervised adjustments to Garland's costumes, make-up and hair.
Though the film was shot entirely on the MGM lot in Culver City, Minnelli managed to make New York City believable, even duplicating Penn Station at a reported cost of $66,000.
Both stars of The Clock were plagued by personal problems that continued throughout their lives. During filming, Garland became increasingly addicted to prescription drugs given by the studio to control her weight and pep her up. Just prior to filming the The Clock, Walker learned his wife, Jennifer Jones, was having an affair with film producer David O. Selznick and wanted a divorce. Walker began to spiral downward. During filming, Garland would often find him drunk in a Los Angeles bar and then sober him up throughout the night so he could appear before cameras the next day.
Popular and critical acclaim
Many audiences who were surprised and disappointed to find that Garland did not sing in the film, were nevertheless impressed by her performance. It would be sixteen years, however, before she would make another dramatic film, 1961's Judgment at Nuremberg.
Garland was continually critical of her own on-screen appearances, and The Clock was one of the few films with which she was pleased. Minnelli was considered a marvel at his craft, and knew how to film an actress to best enhance her beauty.
Fans point to two scenes that make this film most memorable. The first shows Alice and Joe reunited after being separated in the subway station and she rushes into his arms. The second occurs at the end of the film when she is swept into a crowd of people and is lost, creating a feeling of loneliness.
Although this film, released on May 25, 1945, made a respectable profit, it was not as successful as Meet Me in St. Louis, released the previous year. Because World War II was ending, The Clock's heartrending story was not a popular choice among film-goers who wanted to put the war behind them. Nevertheless, it was well received by critics who favorably noted Garland's dramatic talent and transformation into a mature actress.
Today the film is considered a romantic wartime classic and favorite among Judy Garland fans.
Both producer Arthur Freed and Roger Edens have a cameo in this film. Near the beginning, Freed lights Walker's cigarette and then gives him the lighter. Edens, a music arranger and close friend to Garland, plays piano in a restaurant. Screenwriter Robert Nathan appears uncredited smoking a pipe.
The clocks
In the film, the titular timepiece is located in the Astor Hotel, Times Square. The famous hotel was once located at 1515 Broadway. Built in the Beaux Arts style in 1904, the Astor was demolished in 1967 and replaced by One Astor Plaza, a tall office-tower structure.
When Joe and Alice are accidentally separated, they find each other again at Pennsylvania Station near the information desk. Another clock is depicted hanging there, closely resembling the one prominently displayed in Grand Central Station.
Pennsylvania Station
According to Robert Osborne in his introduction of this film on Turner Classic Movies, because World War II had not yet ended, filming on location was not considered cost-effective or easy. Consequently, the Penn Station set was built inside one of the large sound stages at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.
Recent re-releases
Released on VHS in the early 90's, the film went out of print for several years until a limited colorized version of the film was released. Warner Brothers then released it on DVD in February 2007.
External links
