Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Judy Garland stars with Robert Walker as a New Yorker and a GI on a 48-hour leave who meet in New York’s Pennsylvania Station — under The Clock. Over two whirlwind days, the impossible happens: Two strangers meet and fall in love with each other, with the City — and its iconoclastic, eccentric inhabitants in this romance directed by Vincente Minnelli.
After ten years of musical appearances on film, M-G-M finally let Judy Garland exhibit her extraordinary acting talents without the need for song, and the results are unforgettable. Despite this romantic classic being very decidedly not a musical, the film is well-regarded for its haunting original score by composer David Raksin.
REVIEW
It’s pretty hard to not fall in love with Judy Garland. I did when I was five years old. I watched my Wizard of Oz tape so much that it wore out.
This June, the celebration of her centennial, Warner Archive is reminding audiences why we’ve loved her so much for so long with Blu-ray releases of three of her films: For Me and My Gal (1942), Ziegfeld Girl (1941), and The Clock (1945).
In The Clock (directed by Vincente Minnelli, who found himself engaged to Judy by the end of production), Robert Walker plays a GI with two days’ leave in The Big Apple before heading off to the War. He’s a country bumpkin who’s blown away by just the hustle and bustle of Penn Station — before he even ventures out to the concrete jungle.
That’s where he runs into Judy. Literally. She trips over him and breaks the heel off her shoe. And then they … fall in love. That’s about it. They’ve got 48 hours to decide how to go about celebrating their love: can they get married in time before he must return to the ugly and unpredictable Second World War?
It would be unbelievable if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone falls in love with Judy Garland as soon as they see her. I did, you did, Robert Walker’s Corporal Joe Allen does in the first three minutes of the movie, (though I’m not so sure it’s as easy to believe that Judy would find Walker equally charming). Her aura is undeniable. The first film in which she didn’t sing or dance (her own request — something she had wanted to try for a while), she still has that vaudevillian quality to her, but it’s never ‘look at me’, she’s simply impossible to look away from. She’s center stage, the spotlight’s on her always, even in this non-musical drama. She just has that energy.
They spend the most daring and exciting 48 hours of their lives with the seemingly most uninteresting people: the milkman, the town drunk, the justice of the peace. But none of that matters to them because they have each other — they’re falling more and more in love by the minute … But those minutes are disappearing fast.
The titular clock is ticking all weekend, putting a rush job on their romance. They get separated at a point in the film where he just can’t seem to navigate the local vs. express subway lines. But he knows what she could mean to him, so he tries going back to the place they share the sweetest connection: a mundane escalator at Penn Station. She has the same thought, and they’re able to pick up right where they left off.
When his time in New York is up, Corporal Allen must go fight in the global war that, at the time of filming, seemed endless. Audiences needed some sort of optimism when it came to these young men’s lives and the cinema of the time reflected that. If he can just make it home, the love of his life will be waiting for him.
The War ended three months after the film was released. We can only hope that Robert Walker was able to return home to Judy – the woman that he loves so much. That we love so much.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
VIDEO
Presented in the original 1:37:1 aspect ratio, Warner Archive’s 1080p Blu-ray transfer looks stunning. With only choppy DVD and unfortunately colorized VHS releases to choose from previously, fans of the film can see the sharp black and white in its highest quality ever — a calling card for Warner Archive. Very few spotty visual blemishes give way to a natural layer of film grain that audiences haven’t been treated to since its initial theatrical release. Minnelli knew what he was doing when it came to framing Judy Garland as she’s frequently given loving closeups — a beauty that can only be truly captured in this fantastic presentation.
AUDIO
The bells and whistles, scratches and screeches of a backlot-recreated New York City are clear as can be in this DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track, the only one available on the disc. Dialogue is clear, composer George Bassman’s frantic NYC score is dizzying, and there are no noticeable issues. The contrast of a quiet love story with a bustling city is never distracting.
SPECIAL FEATURES
To recreate the theatrical experience of seeing this film in 1945, Warner has placed two shorts on the disc: a short subject, ‘Hollywood Scout’, as well as a Tex Avery cartoon, The Screwy Truant. They also include the theatrical trailer.
To top it off, the disc includes a 45-minute radio adaptation of the film that retains Judy but wisely replaces Robert Walker with John Hodiak. Much of the film’s dialogue stays the same for this faithful adaptation.
OVERVIEW
For lovers of classic cinema, the excellent home video releases of The Clock, or all things Judy: this film that you need to see has never been seen like this. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it gets the love it deserves.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment generously provided Hotchka with the Blu-ray for reviewing purposes.
The Clock has a running time of 1 hour 30 minutes and is not rated.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
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