The Clock (1945) User Reviews

A soldier on leave meets a young woman in wartime New York City

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 16 June 2006]

Two tragic, wonderful performers, Robert Walker and Judy Garland, star as a soldier and the girl he meets in "The Clock," a wartime love story also starring James Gleason, Lucille Gleason, Ruth Brady, Marshall Thompson, and Keenan Wynn.

Joe (Walker), on leave before he ships out, is in the big city when he meets Alice (Garland) as the heel falls off of her shoe on an escalator. His charm and enthusiasm soon overcome her, and before she knows it, she's agreed to spend time with him. They embark on an adventure which takes them to the museum and Central Park, where they meet milkman Gleason and end up delivering his products when he is accidentally knocked in the face by a drunk (Keenan Wynn) in a coffee shop. When day dawns, Alice and Joe come to a realization.

This is a frenetic, high-energy movie, beautifully orchestrated by Vincente Minnelli, who manages to keep the tender love story in focus as the couple dashes around New York, losing one another, finding one another, doing a milk run, the pace picking up and becoming even more frantic as they race against the clock towards the end of the film. Then it all stops, and there is calmness and silence as "The Clock" draws to a close.

The clock is a symbol of the limited time they have together, and a symbol of their meeting place - under the clock at the Astor Hotel - and where they find one another after one makes it on the subway and the other doesn't. It's a haunting symbol as Minnelli vividly paints a New York atmosphere with its crowds and bustling with the underpinning of World War II. And imagine - you could go into Central Park at night in the '40s and come out alive.

Judy Garland, in the same studio as Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, and many other beauties, probably never appreciated what made her beautiful. In "The Clock," "The Pirate," and "Meet Me in St. Louis," she is at her loveliest, slender and luminous with enormous eyes and a sweet, girlish, vulnerable quality. Walker, who would be bloated and dead six years after this film's release, was doubtless still reeling from problems in his private life when he made this film, but he is handsome, deft with a line, and brimming with youth. He and Garland make a wonderful couple.

It's sad to think about what happened to these actors, but one is confident about the characters in "The Clock." Released in 1945, the war would soon be over, and Garland's ending monologue (originally to be said by Walker) rings true. "Whoever is making the arrangements is doing pretty well by us," she says. Too bad it wasn't the same for them in real life.

Young lovers in New York

[jotix100 · 8/10 · 10 May 2007]

New York during WWII is at the center of this film. It was an era of innocence in the Big Apple. Despite the war being fought overseas, young servicemen came for some serious r&r before going to the front, and perhaps, to an imminent death. It is in this setting where we first meet the protagonists of this charming film that has to be one of the best films about the subject ever brought to the screen.

Judy Garland, a rising star at MGM was a singing sensation. That is why her appearance as Alice Newberry showed audiences her acting range. Ms. Garland was a charismatic woman who proved to be the right choice to play this adorable young secretary who meets an unknown G.I. and falls in love with him during a short stay in New York. Joe Allen, an inexperienced young man feels lost as he emerges to face the crowds. Inevitably, Joe and Alice were meant to meet. They fall into an easy relationship that will lead into Joe asking Alice to marry him.

Judy Garland is marvelous as Alice. She shows an uncanny sense for doing something that seemed to come naturally. She lights up the screen throughout the film. Robert Walker, with his good looks, is also an asset as the confused Army man who doesn't know the ins and outs of living in the big city. James Gleason, a character actor of many films, also appears as a friendly milkman who befriends the couple as they emerge from the park. In a way, the film shows how naive people were during those days. Now, they wouldn't be caught dead in the park at night.

Vincent Minnelli directed with a sure hand. It shows in the finished product. This is one of the epitomes of what a romantic movie was all about.

Excellent forerunner to Linklater's Sunrise/Sunset films

[ALauff · 8/10 · 13 January 2005]

This is a gently lyrical parable of two people trying to find a quiet corner in their manic world in which to be alone and to fall in love. We are constantly aware of the barriers that make their ephemeral courtship unlikely, in both the cosmic sense (Minnelli's sudden crane shots or omniscient rejoinders to an intimate close-up, which make us all too aware that their moments are marked by something ineffable) and in the modern world (he's great at evoking the terror of losing your lover amid the swirl of vacant, anonymous faces).

Whether critiquing bureaucracy—Alice and Joe have to go through a hell of an ordeal to obtain a marriage license—or simply the impossibility of getting lost in a moment in our fast-paced lives, the film stresses the importance of crafting independent rituals and moments of reverence. For instance, their marriage feels "ugly" and sterilely modern, until, once alone inside St. Peter's Cathedral, they read marriage vows to one another in tremulous whispers, signifying that theirs is a union both traditional and unique, sanctified to and by one another. And there is a really wonderful touch that Minnelli uses to close out this most important of scenes: cutting to a long deep-focus shot, in the foreground an acolyte methodically extinguishes the flames on the holy candelabra, obscuring their faces with the bell of his staff for several seconds—in effect a "wiping away" of this moment, and the religious closure of the altar-boy's ritual gesture, as if blessing their memory of this moment for posterity.

It's very bittersweet on a metaphysical level, because these lovers may never see other again, once more imposed upon by the cruel fate of a massive human construct (WWII)—this is about finding love and happiness apart from the monotony of mass routine, finding a place of serenity in a place of chaos, where there seems no respite. I love how Minnelli emphasizes their guardedness to the world by playing up the fragilely diffident nature of their relationship. My favorite example comes as they're sharing a tender moment in a park, drawing ever nearer to one another, but as they see a stranger approach both curtly withdraw in unison. In that park, the music of the city sounds far enough away that they feel safe enough to embrace it. As they walk on contentedly, this moment, too, dissipates (Minnelli raises the view until we're in the trees, their bodies wiped away), and their night of happy accidents will continue, until they'll have nothing in common but memories.

superb romance from MGM

[didi-5 · 25 June 2004]

This film gives Judy Garland a chance (her first, I think?) to appear in a non-singing role, as Alice Mayberry, a hopeless romantic who works in New York. When she meets soldier Joe Allen (Robert Walker) they fall deeply in love with each other and are soon beating a path to the altar.

As a war-based romance, this story moves fast because it has to - in a matter of days Alice and Joe know they belong together, and we know it too, thanks to the scenes we see in the museum, in the park away from the bustling traffic, and within the railway station. Garland and Walker are both excellent, the perfect representations of dewy-eyed young lovers.

We're not disappointed by the little roles, either - James and Lucille Gleason play a friendly milkman and his wife, Keenan Wynn plays a drunk in a diner, Ruth Brady plays Alice's housemate Ruth, and Marshall Thompson gathers many laughs all to himself as Ruth's silent boyfriend Bill, never allowed to say anything in response to her constant questioning, gossiping, and nagging.

Directed by Garland's husband Vincente Minnelli, 'The Clock' is a quiet and lovely film, not often quoted as one of the greats, but a good example of the best entertainment MGM could offer in the 1940s.

"Under the clock"

[Steffi_P · 7/10 · 12 April 2009]

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.

A poignant wartime romance that approaches perfection

[bmacv · 9/10 · 13 June 2003]

Maybe the most idyllic of those ‘40s movies that confected a storybook New York City on the back lots of Hollywood studios, The Clock tells the story of a whirlwind wartime romance so simply and deftly that it's almost mythic – like a legend Ovid might have recounted. It also preserves the first adult dramatic role, with nary a note nor a time-step, Judy Garland was to undertake, under the Lubitsch-like touch of her director (and new husband) Vincente Minnelli. Trusting his wife to hold the screen on her own merits, he toned down or tossed away the busy stage business so characteristic of the decade, ending up with something purified – close to perfect.

Indiana small-town boy Robert Walker, on a short leave from the Army before being shipped overseas, loiters in Pennsylvania Station when Garland trips over his gangly legs and breaks a heel. It's classic MGM `meet-cute,' but Minnelli doesn't milk it – they get the heel fixed and find themselves strolling through Manhattan. Though on the verge of diplomatically ditching him, impatient with his diffident, aw-shucks ways, Garland politely hangs on until finally she has to catch a bus home; she consents to meet him later, under the clock at the Astor Hotel, for a real date.

Her chatterbox of a roommate upbraids her for letting herself be `picked up' by a man in uniform, and Garland dithers but finally shows up half a hour late. They spend a stiff evening together, filled with awkward pauses and edgy moments of friction, but end up talking under the stars in Central Park. Having missed the last bus home, they accept a lift from a milkman. In a sequence that comes close to cliché but pulls up short, they spend the night together – delivering bottles throughout the city for their suddenly incapacitated driver. Next morning, they lose one another, thanks to the subway system, ultimately reunite and, after running an obstacle course festooned with red tape, marry, confident that the future will find them reunited once more.

There's not much incident, much action, and what there is Minnelli metes out judiciously. As a drunk who precipitates the incident that throws them together for the night, Keenan Wynn contributes a bravura turn (surely improvised) that teeters on the borderline between funny and obnoxious. As the milkman and his wife, who feeds them a farmhands' breakfast, James and Lucile Gleason offer the young lovers a preview of how young lovers become old friends (as well they might, since the actors were one another's spouses).

Only in the difficulties they encounter in trying to get hitched – licenses, blood tests, civil servants' prerogatives – does the does the story threaten to careen off into frantic farce. But Minnelli reaches beyond that to find the urgency, the sickening sense that they might fail – and Garland heart-wrenchingly sums it up afterwards, at an ominously quiet wedding dinner at an automat, when she cries `It was so...ugly!' But after that discordant note Minnelli, ever the Italian, strives for consonance, and finds it in an empty church where Garland and Walker softly recite the marriage ceremony in a pew. Here, Minnelli adds his own benediction: An altar boy obscures the silent couple, sitting quietly in the background, as he enters to extinguish the candles, one by one.

Sentimental romance

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 20 June 2018]

Sappy romance lovers need to rent The Clock for their next movie night. If you liked Enchantment or Since You Went Away, you'll love this wartime romance between Robert Walker and Judy Garland.

As in most wonderful WWII love stories, Robert and Judy's is a whirlwind romance. He's on leave, and she's reluctant to fall for a soldier, but since it's wartime and neither are sure of tomorrow, so they meet for a romantic, spontaneous date under "the clock". Is there anymore more tragic and hopeful than a girl running to catch one last moment with a uniformed Robert Walker? If you agree, rent The Clock. Bring your American flag, and if you're a hopeless romantic, bring your Kleenexes.

If people thought about all the things that could happen they'd never do anything!

[sol1218 · 9/10 · 27 March 2005]

***SPOILERS*** The film "The Clock" ends where it began at the vast spacious and impersonal Pennsylvania Train Station in NYC as we see Alice, Judy Garland, disappear as the camera pull away and she's become just a small speck in the mass of humanity milling around there.

During the proceeding 48 hours Alice met by chance a young soldier Joe, Robert Walker, on a two-day pass before he's to be shipped over the Atlantic to England and eventually to the bloody battlegrounds in France and Germany to fight in the European Theater of War. During that time Alice and Joe fall in love have a whirlwind romance take a night-time sight-seeing ride of the city on a milk truck with milkman Al Henry (James Gleason), whom they helped in making his early morning deliveries. Later after getting married the two leave each other, Joe for the European battlefield and Alice for her home and job, knowing that it was fate that brought them together and it will be fate, that in the end, will bring them back together again after the war is over.

A very cute and adorable 22 year-old Judy Garland in her first adult, as well as non-singing, role playing Alice the type of girl that every GI would want to have waiting for them back home. Robert Walker is very effective as the naive and befuddled small town boy in the big city who finds, among the millions of people living and working there, the one girl that he's always been looking for to bring home and meet the parents as well as marry.

Touching little wartime romance involving two persons from totally different backgrounds and localities who would have never met if it wasn't for circumstances beyond their control, WWII, that in a strange and mysterious way brought them together more then anything else ever could. Besides the touching and poignant story and wonderful chemistry between the two top stars, Judy Garland & Robert Walker, "The Clock" was beautifully photographed with a stunning and nostalgic look at war-time, 1945, New York City. The film also brought out the people who lived there and how the war affected them and those that went "Over There" as well as those who were soon to go "Over There" to fight, and possibly die, "Over There".

There was a very touching scene at a almost empty church with Alice and Joe quietly taking the vows of matrimony that would bring you, like it did them, to tears. This after the chaotic scene at the Justice of the Peace office in City Hall that had Alice wondering if she did, in marrying Joe, the right thing in the first place P.S She Did.

Overrated romantic drama with two nervous stars...

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 21 February 2008]

Sometimes sweet, sometimes soggy dramatic love story has soldier Robert Walker befriending winsome working gal Judy Garland in New York City while on leave, proposing marriage to her in a rush of romantic excitement after they are separated in a crowd but find each other later under the clock near Penn Station. Director Vincente Minnelli aims for a gentle tone, though some of the situations the couple encounter are not so rosy (such as Keenan Wynn's obnoxious drunk and endless red tape in regards to a marriage license). Walker is too hyped-up to really connect with Garland, who is more low-keyed than usual but still fidgets in her own way. Judy's acting tics and crying jags can be quite enchanting when the mood is right. Here, the tone is mostly one of nervous happiness and emotional dismay, though the touching final reel is just about perfect. An interesting attempt at post-adolescent whimsy and pre-adult sophistication. **1/2 from ****

Week-end in New York for a soldier who finds loves and marries.

[wmoores · 9/10 · 23 March 2005]

This is a warm and fuzzy movie about life back home during World War II. Unlike Since You Went Away, which involved an entire family and community, The Clock is centered around a young couple and is set entirely on the home front.

Robert Walker (Joe) and Judy Garland (Alice) are the romantic couple.

But, first, Joe, a country boy arrives at Penn Station in New York, goes out on the sidewalk, and is awe-struck by the skyscrapers of the city. He sees a wonderful panorama of New York City as it was in the spring of 1945.

Joe has no idea how he will spend his 48-hour leave. He is caught up in the crowd, pushed here and there, and finally, sits at the foot of the stair rail on the steps in front of Penn Station between the steps and an escalator.

Alice stumbles on Joe's gear, nearly falls, and gets her shoe heel caught in the escalator and broken off.

She yells for somebody to retrieve her shoe heel and Joe is accommodating.

From this point on in the movie, the couple are together almost constantly and visit various landmarks and attractions in New York.

Alice finally goes back to her apartment and is quizzed about her long absence during the afternoon and told by her roommate not to fool with military guys. Alice's response is half-hearted at first, but then she begins to think her roommate is right.

Alice's thoughts drift back to Joe, who is waiting at the clock of a prominent hotel, their meeting place at 7 p.m. Joe is in despair when Alice doesn't show. Eventually, she arrives.

As one would say, the plot thickens, and there are twists and turns, but most of all, accidental separations that are heartbreaking.

The longer the couple is together they realize they love each other and should get married, which is a further complication in the plot.

The previous reviewer threatened to turn this movie off from boredom? Why does this movie even around today and why is it highly rated? First, it was what the public wanted then. It is 1945 and people are war-weary. They wanted some about the war but from a different point of view.

Also, up to this time Judy Garland was in musicals or sang in each movie in which she played. It shows what a dramatic actress she could be.

Robert Walker is at his best even though he was recently divorced from Jennifer Jones.

So, this is WWII without blood and guts, rationing, etc. It is a love story that filled a need at a previous time in our history. For those of us who saw it on its first run, it is a special joy to see it in our twilight years because of all of the wonderful memories it brings back.

An Urgent Love Story

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 8 December 2016]

A sweet romance about a New York woman (Judy Garland) and a soldier on leave (Robert Walker) whose love affair is hastened by the soldier's impending return to an unknown future.

"The Clock" isn't a great film. There are moments that drag the film down, like an extended scene featuring Keenan Wynn as a drunk in a bar. But as the movie nears its conclusion, the final scenes convey a real sense of urgency that likely resonated strongly with audiences at the time who were sending loved ones off to war not sure whether or not they would see them again. Garland and Walker have real chemistry, and it's a treat to see shots of New York City as it looked in 1945 (a scene set on the street outside the Met is especially fun), even if the entire film was filmed on a studio lot in Hollywood.

Grade: B+

Wartime romance at its most affecting

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 14 February 2017]

Perhaps not one of the all-time great wartime romance films ('Casablanca' being the quintessential one), but still ranks very highly as one. It really charms and touches, has great performances and direction and it is among the best films and performances of both Judy Garland and Robert Walker.

Where 'The Clock' fares least is in some of the background photography, which is less than audacious and gives the impression that it was done in haste and it is a shame because 'The Clock' does look lovely everywhere else. Most of the photography is handsomely done, the production design elegant and atmospheric and really liked the fact that the city felt like a main character rather than just a city or a set.

George Bassman's music score is lush without being over-bearing or too syrupy, while it will never be one of the greatest film scores it works within the film and complements the atmosphere well. The script avoids being overwrought and melodramatically soap-opera-like, dangers in romance films and that both those traps have been fallen into has hardly been unheard of. The story is full of charm and touching pathos, with an ending that wrenches the heart.

Vincente Minnelli's direction is some of the most sensitive he's ever given and he clearly shows a love for Garland and a passion for the story.

As wonderful a singer she was, anybody doubting Garland's acting ability (never have by the way) should look to her beguiling and poignant performance in 'The Clock' (as well as her best performance ever in 'A Star is Born') for a re-assessment. Walker similarly is a charming and sincere leading man, not only one of his better performances but to me his second best after his iconic Bruno Anthony in Hitchcock's 'Stranger on a Train'. Their chemistry is irresistibly beautiful, and it brings me to tears knowing that both met tragic ends so young.

They are supported by a superb supporting cast, a sympathetic James Gleason and a very funny Marshall Thompson standing out. Not to mention Keenan Wynn as a very naturalistic and scarily realistic but entertaining drunk.

Overall, great and moving film that should be better known. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Garland plays it straight

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 8 October 2002]

Wartime melodrama stew served up by the fantastic director Minnelli with his usual style. Lovers brought together by chance marry before he's sent off to war in Europe. "Big Parade" wannabe even has a scene which reverses that classic's parade sequence, only in this case in a subway and the persons are reversed because it's Garland who's swept away. Garland has some wonderful scenes, but is occasionally overstated -- it's Walker who really drags the film down a notch with his phony "cute" mannerisms. Still, a nice, well photographed and produced, flick.

Rare non-singing role for Garland

[preppy-3 · 5/10 · 17 April 2004]

A soldier (Robert Walker) on leave in NYC for 48 hours meets a female office worker (Judy Garland). They talk, fall in love, meet various characters and spend the whole movie together until he leaves. That's about it for the plot.

I REALLY wanted to like this movie--but I couldn't. It's well-done (except for some truly dreadful background photography) and sort of interesting but.... The movie seems to be congratulating itself on showing these "ordinary" people and the colorful characters they meet. It came across as very calculated and phony to me. Garland is just great in a straight dramatic role and Walker is incredibly charming, but the other people they meet are annoying and tiredly eccentric. Also some of the dialogue between Walker and Garland is either boring or really stupid--not even remotely believable. Halfway through the movie I considered turning it off--it was just grating on my nerves.

I'm giving this a 5 only for Garland, Walker and the beautiful production (it was all shot in California--believe it or not). That aside, it's pretty bad.

The brio of romance.

[movibuf1962 · 19 November 2003]

It is, in a word, breathtaking. What I especially love is the duality of Robert Walker and Judy Garland: they are both simple, lonely souls who literally stumble over each other one day then get repeatedly teamed up in a series of seemingly innocent adventures (they ride a double decker bus; she shows him Central Park; he shows her an art museum)- each time attempting to part company but continuing to draw towards each other. When you analyze it, their courtship is almost fantastic, but the time of the film's 1945 release more than allows for the magic of budding romance. It is not really a sugary film; all the while the two leads communicate, you can see the improbability of their situation on their faces. When a milkman rescues them from being stranded at the end of a long date- and they wind up doing his milk route- they burst out laughing at their situation. It makes a later scene of a subway separation particularly heartbreaking, and its later reunion at a train depot breathtaking (I guarantee tears in your eyes)- and that's sort of what the movie's all about. In retrospect, it's a bit ironic to watch the young sweetness of Walker and Garland- two stars who had tragic, frequently unhappy existences. Their chemistry here as strangers who become friends who fall in love is mesmerizing. Ms. Garland does not sing, but her dark, exquisite eyes are music to the camera lens. Several bios have cited this film and MEET ME IN ST LOUIS as the two movies which captured Ms. Garland at her most beautiful, and I suspect that has something to do with the taste and artistry of the director- who was in love with (and would soon marry) his star. Grab immediately.

Sweet Wartime Romance with a Luminous Garland in a "Musical"-Feeling Non-Musical

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 12 October 2006]

A sincere piece of treacle just before the end of WWII, this 1945 romantic drama features a never-lovelier Judy Garland in her only non-singing role during her golden MGM years. Even though she is a talented enough actress without having to vocalize, she is in a movie that feels like a musical in its cinematic sensibilities - swooning romanticism, quicksilver plot turns and broad stock characters. That shouldn't come as a surprise since her then-fiancé Vincente Minnelli directed and Arthur Freed produced, both much better known for their musicals of the period. Still, they have made a sweet film with worthwhile stylistic touches such as the use of long zoom shots in maneuvering through the swarming crowds in the subway and train stations and the screen panning used in showing the mini-dramas of background characters we never see again.

Garland plays Alice, an office worker who meets Joe, a young soldier on a 48-hour furlough, through a mishap with her heel at Pennsylvania Station. From there, they awkwardly become drawn to each other starting with a Fifth Avenue double-decker bus ride, a walk through Central Park, a dinner date, a late night in another park, a post-midnight drive with an amusing milkman caught in an inadvertent left hook from a mouthy drunkard, breakfast with the milkman and his equally feisty wife and then the sudden decision to marry. Written by Paul and Pauline Gallico, the plot gets more melodramatic in the second half but becomes more emotionally resonant with Garland particularly shining in a crying scene where she realizes her wedding is not what she quite expected.

A callow Robert Walker plays Joe in his familiar golly-gee manner, a far cry from his sinister, penultimate work in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" but nonetheless a sincerely affecting performance. Together, they manage to make the sudden relationship palpable and convey the urgency of their wartime situation. James Gleason as the milkman and his real wife Lucile Gleason as his wife in the film provide some nice moments, though I could have done without Keenan Wynn's unfunny turn as the drunkard and Ruth Brady as Alice's advice-giving roommate Helen. George J. Folsey's black-and white cinematography is quite striking. This is definitely worth seeking for Garland's poignant work in particular.

A Beautiful Wartime Romance -Charming and Lovely

[Kirasjeri · 10/10 · 11 September 1999]

Vincente Minnelli directed "The Clock" for his future wife, Judy Garland, and it is lovingly done. A soldier on leave meets a girl by accident on the escalator of the old Penn Station, and they agree to meet again later. They eventually do, despite many hesitations, and are slowly drawn together through many shared incidents. It's a beautiful story, well-acted by Garland and Walker and a magnificent supporting cast.

The charm is in the characters and small events that pass by and then involve them. After a loving scene late at night in Central Park a milk delivery truck drives by with a memorable James Gleason as the kindly but crusty (his standard character) milkman. They then get a flat tire and wind up in a funny and quirky scene with a wonderful Keenan Wynn, after which Garland and Walker help deliver the milk, and then meet Gleason's wife. After that they get separated in the morning subway rush and have to try to find each other by retracing the places they went to the night before - including the big clock (hence the title) in the Astor Hotel (also gone now) lobby in Times Square - and finally to the escalator at Penn Station. Piece by little piece, the film is lovingly constructed.

The old Penn Station, demolished just over thirty years ago, was a classic of great architecture. It's surprise and rapid demolition resulted in the Landmarks Preservation movement. Here, MGM recreated the great station in Hollywood, even though the original would stand for another twenty years. The views of the station are alone worth a look.

"The Clock" is a gem. Another wartime romance, filmed in the 1950's, worth seeing is "Miracle in the Rain". But catch "The Clock" whenever you can; only the most cynical can fail to love it.

Very simple and standard enjoyable enough little film.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 17 December 2007]

This is a rare movie in which Judy Garland doesn't sign but it also isn't exactly her best one.

It features a very simple boy meets girl story, set in the Big Apple but it was all shot in a California - Hollywood studio by the way. The movie mostly tries to be different by putting in a lot of fun and makes the story seem like an adventure set in the big city. But no, the movie doesn't feature enough of those 'adventures' events and entertaining characters to let this style completely work out. It's the sort of musical movie making-style, only just without the songs this time. No wonder, since Vincente Minnelli was at the helm of this movie. The sort of 'happy' and 'joy' atmosphere of the movie also makes this feel like a very outdated one already. Who knows, perhaps Americans just needed this sort of movies to cheer up and make you forget everything for a while, during the WW II war period. Guess the movie of course also had some propaganda reasons, to show how great- and what very friendly lads the soldiers were.

The movie is from the period when it was still OK to marry a person, after only knowing that person for one day. It was considered cute and ultimately romantic and acceptable for a movie to feature. Nowdays, this sort of scenario is hardly unbelievable of course, even for the die hard romantics and dreamers.

For me it also didn't helped much that the characters weren't played by the two most attractive persons of that time. Judy Garland looked beautiful in some of her roles but this wasn't one of those. Robert Walker was already 37 at the time of this movie, which just makes him a bit too old for his role. On top of that, he just wasn't on the list of greatest actors of his time.

It's an OK enough enjoyable movie to kill some time with but don't expect to be blown away- or taken completely away by the story and movie.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A Simple Love Story

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 10 April 2008]

The first, but by no means the last non-musical film that Arthur Freed produced at MGM was The Clock based on a short story by Paul and Pauline Gallico about a whirlwind 48 hour romance between a soldier on leave and a young girl in New York. The title refers to the famous clock in Pennsylvania Station where they first meet and later agree to a rendezvous there.

The young lovers are Robert Walker and Judy Garland. Walker the previous year had scored with a couple of breakthrough roles in Since You Went Away and See Here Private Hargrove. Garland was doing her first non-singing part on screen.

It's a tender and touching story about young people in war time. Walker is playing an extension of the earnest young soldier he played in Since You Went Away. You can see his character living home and hearth and grandfather Monty Woolley from Since You Went Away and having a 48 hour leave and meeting Judy Garland.

Originally Fred Zinneman was to direct The Clock, but he and Garland had no rapport and Zinneman himself got Arthur Freed to take him off. Judy's then husband Vincente Minnelli finished his work on Ziegfeld Follies and came over to direct his wife. This was also Minnelli's first non-musical effort in any medium since on the stage he had done nothing but musicals.

James Gleason almost steals the film from Walker and Garland as the romantic minded milkman who gives them a lift and then when he gets injured, they finish his deliveries. Walker and Garland then join Gleason for breakfast at his home where his wife is played by his real life wife Lucille Gleason. They would suffer a horrific tragedy that year when their son Russell Gleason was killed in a fall from a window, circumstances still unknown. In fact this was a tragic film all around because both Walker and Garland died way too young.

Keenan Wynn is in the film for one scene and it's a good one as he does a great drunk act.

The Clock is a fine romantic story that still holds up well for today. For lovers of young love everywhere.

A simple love story, pure escapism!

[ilpohirvonen · 7/10 · 31 January 2010]

The Clock directed by Vincente Minelli (who by the way got married with the leading actress Judy Garland) is a romantic love story, which takes place in New York during the WWII.

The story begins when a soldier (Robert Walker) travels to New York for the weekend and meets a girl (Judy Garland) at the railway station. They start spending time together, and fall in love without even knowing each other very well.

Even that the story has its flaws and some plot twists are a bit unbelievable, it has something "magical" in it. Because the characters are still well created and the milieus of the movie are fantastic. Even that most of this movie was filmed in the Hollywood studios, but well the cinematography isn't the only thing which creates a good atmosphere.

The sudden love of two strangers also seems a bit unbelievable at some points, but still, that probably is what many people dream of, and this was made in the year of 1945, pure escapism. A movie is always a reflection of its time.

This is also great entertainment. They can't make romantic films like this anymore in Hollywood. I can name dozens of great love stories from 30-40's, but can I do the same from 90-00's? No I can't.

7/10 A nice, simple love story with sympathetic characters. Recommended to everyone!

Just perfect

[jootes-garland · 10/10 · 30 January 2007]

When I saw this movie for the first time, I thought I wouldn't like it at all, because Judy Garland don't sing a note in it. But I must say that this is one of the greatest movies I've ever seen in my whole life.

It tells a love story, a real love story that, in my own opinion could happen to anyone. The way that Alice (Judy Garland) meets Joe (Robert Walker), everything that happened after they meet...You put this all together and you'll have this great film. "The Clock" wasn't a HUGE production, it was a very simple movie in black-and-white, without the Judy Garland we knew from the other movies: the one who sings and dance. She gives her best in that performance, her first non-musical film.

Directed by Vincent Minnelli, with the fabulous acting of Judy Garland and Robert Walker, "The Clock" is a movie that I'll give 10/10. A great romance.

"The Clock" makes me believe that you can really meet someone and in two days find out that you'll love that person forever.

Wartime Romance in New York City

[atlasmb · 6/10 · 1 December 2013]

This film depicts a small-town soldier (Robert Walker) on 48-hour leave in New York City. Confounded by the metropolis and its hurried pace, he latches onto a NYC resident (Judy Garland)who spends her time showing him the sights.

In The Clock, the couple (Joe and Alice)is the focus of the film. Naturally, chemistry between the two is important to the success of the story. Robert Walker would not be my first choice for a romantic lead. On the other hand, he was brilliant playing a quirky role in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. Others on this site have acclaimed the chemistry in this film. For me, it was a little forced.

Director Vincente Minnelli really tries to convince us that the couple is falling in love. Look closely and you will find his approach is very heavy-handed. During a key scene in Central Park, he practically forces the two into each other's arms by serenading them with sounds of the city, which are then enhanced by a full choir and music that practically shouts "destiny!" as the strings swell.

The City of New York is a major character in this film. The two characters only have 48 hours to fall in love and make something of this relationship. The harried pace of NYC contributes to the feeling that time is running out for them. At the same time, the scenes of Penn Station, Central Park and The Metropolitan Museum of Art are mere backdrops, because the lovers only have eyes for each other.

Minnelli relies heavily on montages to portray the passage of time and, for the most part, he is successful. Joe and Alice encounter all the denizens of the night who illustrate that, as much as NYC is a city of strangers, it is populated by individuals who can be quite giving and interesting. At the same time, city bureaucracy is a formidable obstacle that can only be conquered with the help of individuals who are willing to see a fellow human. And with love, of course.

After the couple wins its race against the clock and city bureaucracy, notice how Minnelli brings the sound level down to a solemn level, then to silence in a pantomime scene. Finally, in a trackside scene, he shows us that Joe and Alice are only one example of the tableaux that are part of the wartime experience.

The Clock is very watchable, even if you don't find the chemistry between Walker and Garland. If you buy into it, this is a fine romance.

Strangers in a Train Station

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 9 May 2014]

This is a love letter to World War II New York City with a bit of horrific reality thrown in as an Army private (Robert Walker) on leave in the Big Apple for the very first time finds romance with a sweet young woman (Judy Garland in a non-singing role) after meeting by chance in Penn Station during a Sunday afternoon rush. She's convinced by him to show him around a bit, and they end up on a bus heading uptown on Fifth Avenue, go to the Central Park Zoo, and end up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She's already committed for an evening date and breaks it with the promise to meet him under the clock in the Astor Hotel. From there, romance grows gradually as their personalities clash a bit, they fight a bit, make up, and end up on the all night route of a kindly milkman (James Gleason) who simply offered them a ride over to the East Side. By the time their first date is over, love has struck them, and he proposes to her. They only have another 24 hours in which to get a blood test to get the license and find a judge to override New York State regulations to get them hitched before he has to get back to boot camp.

In watching this, it is ironic to see how much has changed in New York City and how much has not. The crowded subway trains seem twice as full here, and when Garland and Walker are separated at Grand Central, you can't help but feel their anguish as they try desperately to find each other in a city of over 10 million people. Every extra or minor character in this sweet romantic drama has a moment to shine, and some of them even shine more then the credited actors. One such delightful moment comes when Gleason, Garland and Walker end up in a diner and encounter the drunken Keenan Wynn who harasses everybody in the joint, most amusingly a very eccentric looking woman (Moyna MacGill). This lady is a combination Beatrice Lillie/Fanny Brice/Hermoine Gingold, and downright hysterical even without saying a word.

Director Vincent Minnelli utilizes with great detail the city as another character in the film, whether it be the Fulton Street market where Gleason is obviously picking up his load of milk, various east side streets and even briefly Times Square. You really feel like you've been transported back to World War II, and in a wonderful follow-up to his similar character in "Since You Went Away", Robert Walker gives you hope that this time will work out. Judy Garland goes from the teenaged years of "Meet Me in St. Louis" to womanhood, and she rises highly above the ability to dramatically prove herself without the benefit of song. Outstanding photography, a touching musical score and sensational editing add to the power of this screenplay, making this valentine to love during wartime (in any city, not just New York) a wonderful trip down memory lane.

G.I. Joe lands the reluctant girl of his dreams while on leave.

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 11 June 2014]

After having seen how many Judy Garland-starring musicals?, I was taken by surprise by this unheralded simple love story, released as WWII was winding down. Unfortunately, it had two things going against it for contemporary audiences. firstly, it was the only film until her 40s in which Judy didn't sing one song. Second, with its theme of an extreme shotgun wedding involving a boyish-looking soldier on a short shore leave and a girl he just accidentally met, probably many potential patrons stayed away, hoping to see something that didn't remind them of the now stale war. Nonetheless it was a heart-warming story appropriate for the times. It's often slow moving, with many awkward moments, when the tentative couple are unsure what to do next.

To me, the film has a dream-like quality to it, rather like, yes, "The wizard of Oz"!. After all, the basic plot is hardly plausible, given all the psychological, practical, and legal barriers to this story actually happening the way it's presented. Judy's performance and some of the scene set ups also add to the dream-like quality. While Joe(Robert Walker) soon is sure that Alice(Judy) is a right girl for him, a shot-gun romantic dalliance with a fly-by-night nobody corporal, let alone marriage, goes against all Alice's stated principles. Besides, Joe has his heart set on returning to his Indiana small town and becoming a carpenter, whereas Alice says she hoes to stay in NYC, having moved there from the Midwest several years ago. But, Joe's extreme persistence, best exemplified by his running after the bus taking her home after they agree to part, finally begins to wear down Alice's formidable psychological defenses.

I have one major criticism. Alice becomes very defensive at Joe's probing questions regarding her romantic life, while they are having dinner during their evening date. In fact, she almost leaves him there. Next thing we know, they are strolling through a woods(presumably Central Park), deep in thought and conversion about their relationship. Joe argues that clearly their accidental meeting in the train station was predestined by some higher power. Now, Alice says she agrees, implying that she might be ready to throw caution to the wind and accept a marriage proposal. A formal proposal doesn't come until they later loose contact with each other in the bustle of the subway station, and finally are reunited when both decide to go to the spot where they first bumped into each other. Meanwhile, they engage in a passionate kiss before realizing that the midnight clock has struck, and there are no more buses to take Alice home. While looking for a taxi, they are befriended by a milkman, who had begun his nightly delivery route. Thus begins the much more lively second portion of the film.

Alice and Joe, being apparently ordinary conservative young people, with otherwise little in common, their interactions as a couple are mostly superficial and boring, excepting their several instances of nearly permanently losing touch with each other, and their exasperating experiences in trying to obtain a marriage license within 24 hrs. in a world where the usual absolute minimum is 3 days. Otherwise, it's some of the character actors and their interactions with these characters that provide much of the interest. There's James Gleason, as the friendly milkman, who gives them some go-ahead encouragement about their still wobbly relationship. There's Keenan Wynn, as a talkative drunk, who injects some badly needed excitement into the proceedings in one scene. Later, there are several characters involved in the mad race to obtain a marriage license before Joe has to leave. Usually, initially, they give the couple the run around, then try to help them skirt the normal bureaucratic maze when they realize their extreme time-limited situation.

Curiously, after they finally extract a marriage license, they are remarkably somber while eating in a restaurant. Then, Judy begins to sob hysterically, complaining that she doesn't really feel married. It turns out that she really regrets the lack of a church wedding, not just the hurried civil ceremony. In lieu of a church ceremony, they enter a church and, without the benefit of a clergyman, say their wedding vows to each other, which they read from a pew book.

In the parting scene, when Joe has to take the train to his ship, there is no crying by Alice. She is confident that Fate will take care of Joe and he will return in one piece to take her to his small town.

While Walker was romancing Judy on screen, director Minnelli was romancing her off screen, and they would become engaged by the end of production. Judy had requested Minnelli as the finishing director, being dissatisfied with the original director.

It turned out that Walker and Judy would once again be featured together, the next year, in the Jerome Kerns-honoring musical extravaganza "'Til the Clouds Roll By". Walker, playing Kerns, has another unlikely love-at-first-sight romance with another, while Judy played the historic singer Marilyn Miller.

Doesn't come off the way it should

[elvismlv · 3/10 · 15 April 2016]

This was a low budget film which had relevance in 1945.

It is not the magical love story it presumes to be but a travelogue

of NYC.

The actors do not appear to be two young people falling in love as it is supposed to appear to be.

It is true they are young people but they don't come off as naive or immature.

There is no depth of story or plot to attract interest.

The movie didn't make that much money but it wasn't a flop either.

These two actors could have done better in a another movie with an intriguing plot.