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Noir City: The Big Clock

USA | 1948 | 95 min. | John Farrow

February 11, 2023

Noir City

The editor of America’s most popular true-crime magazine finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of his publisher’s mistress.

Individual Tickets: $15 | $10 SIFF members
Passes (valid for all Noir City screenings): $150 | $100 SIFF members

SIFF year-round passes and vouchers are not valid for Noir City screenings.

Hosted by Eddie Muller (Film Noir Foundation founder, Turner Classic Movies' "Noir Alley").

George Stroud (Ray Milland), editor of Crimeways, America's most popular true-crime magazine, finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of his publisher's mistress with whom he's just shared a day-drinking dalliance. Earl Janoth, the tyrannical Murdoch-like publisher, is played with sinister relish by Charles Laughton, whose real-life wife, Elsa Lanchester, provides comic support as a kooky Greenwich Village artist. George Macready, Rita Johnson, and Harry Morgan are also featured in one of the most suspenseful noir films of all time.

Photo courtesy of The Film Noir Foundation. Note courtesy of Noir City.

  • Director: John Farrow
  • Principal Cast: Ray Milland, Charles Laughton
  • Country: USA
  • Year: 1948
  • Running Time: 95 min.
  • Producer: Richard Maibaum
  • Screenplay: Jonathan Latimer
  • Cinematographers: John F. Seitz, Daniel L. Fapp (uncredited)
  • Editors: LeRoy Stone
  • Music: Victor Young
  • Filmography: Wake Island (1942), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), His Kind of Woman (1951), Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
  • US Distributor: Universal Pictures