The Big Clock is a 1948 American film noir thriller directed by John Farrow and adapted by novelist-screenwriter Jonathan Latimer from the 1946 novel of the same title by Kenneth Fearing.

The black-and-white stars Ray Milland and Charles Laughton, with Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready, Rita Johnson, and Elsa Lanchester.

Harry Morgan, in an early film role, also appears, while Noel Neill has an uncredited bit part as an elevator operator.

Thirty-six hours earlier, Stroud is eager to embark on a long-postponed honeymoon in Wheeling, West Virginia with his wife Georgette and son.

When Stroud loses track of time and misses the train for West Virginia, Georgette angrily leaves without him.

Stroud has since caught up with his wife and son in West Virginia and tells her that he has been fired, but leaves out his adventures with York.

Janoth calls to rehire him in order to lead the effort to find the mystery man (without any mention of York).

Janoth shoots Hagen and tries to escape in an elevator, but the car is stuck floors below (jammed there by Stroud earlier while evading the security men).

[8] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times extolled the film's virtues as a thriller, writing, "When you hear the musical chime at the end of this ticking review of The Big Clock, it will be exactly the time for all devotees of detective films to make a mental memorandum to see it without possible fail."

"[9] Film critic Bruce Eder wrote, "The Big Clock is a near-perfect match for the book, telling in generally superb visual style a tale set against the backdrop of upscale 1940s New York and offering an early (but accurate) depiction of the modern media industry.

"[citation needed] In a 1996 essay film noir historians Alain Silver and James Ursini discussed Farrow's technique: "Narration and long take are combined to enhance suspense...but the other items of noir style, the dark cityscape, the camera moves, the low-key sets, all these are used to disorient the viewer.