As of June, of this year, screen icon Judy Garland turned 100 years old and in celebration, Warner Archive has released a trio of her films. One of those three films released by them is The Clock from 1945. This picture is a romantic drama starring a pair of screen greats in Judy Garland and Robert Walker and was directed by Garland’s future husband, Vincente Minnelli. They started to have a romance during the making of Meet Me in St. Louis where Minnelli directed her, in fact she recommended that he direct The Clock after the original director, Fred Zinnemann was removed from directing it. This is the only picture that Judy Garland does not sing in.
Taking place in 1945, a solider, Joe Allen (Robert Walker, Strangers on a Train) has a 48-hour leave and isn’t sure what to do. By pure accident, he meets a girl Alice Mayberry (Judy Garland, For Me and My Gal, Ziegfeld Girl) while hanging out at Pennsylvania Station, standing by an escalator when she trips over him and breaks the heel of her shoe. He retrieves it for her, and before you know it, he spends his leave with her, fall in love with each other and decide to get married before he leaves to go back to the war. They go through a lot of hassle to get married, but they do, but Alice says their wedding ceremony was “ugly”, so they go to church and repeat their vows, which makes Alice happy and feels like she is now officially married. Allen goes back to the trenches of World War II, hoping they will see each other again.
The Clock is a wonderful war-time romance drama with superb acting by the leads and solid direction by Vincente Minelli. The supporting cast, which includes some screen greats in Keenan Wynn, James Gleason, and Marshall Thompson are also superb in their respective roles.
Warner Archive’s Blu-ray of The Clock is another terrific release. It is possible that this has been given a 4K scan, but Warner Archive hasn’t promoted any of the films as of late. The black and white image is gorgeous with crips white and inky black levels. The greyscale looks balanced, and the higher contrast brings out the best in the movie. Details are sharp and on point with wonderful scenic shots throughout the film. The cinematography by George J. Folsey is fantastic boasting a vast amount deep textures throughout the video presentation. This is up to the usual high standards Warner Archive has with their catalog of titles. This is easily an upgrade over the DVD. No DNR or other digital enhancements have been applied.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track provides a decent upgrade over their 2007 DVD. The sound quality is clear, but there still needs to be a volume boost to have a good enough listening level. George Bassman’s beautiful score comes in perfectly without any hints of distortion. No hissing, crackling or drop-offs were detected. English subtitles are available for this release. English subtitles are available for this release.
All the supplements from the 2007 DVD have been ported over to this Blu-ray release.
Vintage Short: Hollywood Scout. Part of the long-running Pete Smith Specialty series focuses on a day in the life of an animal talent scout which features acrobatic dogs and a bear that performs some neat tricks!
Vintage Cartoon: The Screwy Truant- This Tex Avery animated short stars Screwy Squirrel as a student and is chased around by a dog leading to some violent and comical situations!
Vintage Radio Adaptation. This is an approximate 45 minute Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Clock from early 1946 pairs Judy Garland with John Hodiak (he co-starred with her in The Harvey Girls).
A theatrical Trailer rounds out the extras.
The Clock is another great film that has been given the royal treatment and now can be enjoyed in high definition! Highest recommendation!
The Clock
Director- Vincente Minnelli
Cast- Judy Garland, Robert Walker
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Brothers/ Warner Archive
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –6/13/22