Under the Clock [The Clock] ***** (1945, Judy Garland, Robert Walker, James Gleason, Keenan Wynn) Classic Movie Review 3612

Based on a story by Paul and Pauline Gallico, director Vincente Minnelli’s exquisite 1945 wartime romance is an utterly lovely, totally beguiling movie. Judy Garland stars as Alice Maybery, a World War Two working girl, who meets, falls for, and marries an American soldier, Corporal Joe Allen (Robert Walker), during his 48-hour leave before Joe has to return to camp.

Perfectly paired Garland and Walker are at their best in wonderfully charming and moving star performances. They are supported by perfectly judged comedy vignettes from James Gleason as the milkman Al Henry, and Keenan Wynn as the drunken man. Also in the cast are Lucille Gleason, Marshall Thompson, Chester Clute, Ruth Bardy and Dick Elliott.

Garland’s husband Minnelli shot the entire film in the MGM studio, even re-creating there New York’s Grand Central Station, where most of the action is set.

This movie is a real winner for the romantically inclined, unusually showcasing a totally dramatic role for singer Garland, which she handles effortlessly. It’s fascinating to compare Walker’s nice-guy performance here with his psycho role in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951).

Robert Nathan and Joseph Schrank provide the superb screenplay, cinematographer George Folsey shoots it in black and white and George Bassman composes the score for producer Arthur Freed’s classic movie, in many ways the American Brief Encounter, filmed the same year, 1945.

Garland and Walker are both also in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946).

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3612
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