The Clock (1945) on Netflix
On a two-day leave, Corporal Joe Allen meets Alice Maybery in New York when she trips over his foot. She agrees to meet him that evening by the Astor Hotel clock.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Corporal Joe Allen is on a 48-hour leave and has no destination in mind when he reaches New York. At Pennsylvania Station, Alice Maybery catches her foot on his and snaps the heel of her shoe. Although it is Sunday, a shop owner opens his store to fix it. The two ride a double-decker bus, and Alice points out landmarks on the way; they visit the Central Park Zoo and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She tells Joe she is busy that evening, but he persists, chasing the bus she rides, and she gives in, agreeing to meet him at seven o'clock beneath the Astor Hotel clock. Her roommate scolds her for picking up a soldier, yet Alice keeps the date. After dinner they miss the last bus home and ride along with a milk man, Al Henry.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Clock (1945)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Fred Zinnemann was removed as director of The Clock about a month into production at Judy Garland's request: the two lacked chemistry and early footage was disappointing. Garland then asked for Vincente Minnelli, who had directed her the year before in Meet Me in St. Louis.
- Just before filming The Clock, Robert Walker learned his wife, Jennifer Jones, was having an affair with producer David O. Selznick and wanted a divorce. During the shoot, Judy Garland would often find him drunk in a Los Angeles bar and sober him up through the night so he could appear before cameras.
- The Clock was shot entirely on the MGM lot in Culver City; Minnelli had a replica of the waiting room at Penn Station built in Studio 27 at a reported cost of $66,450, complete with a working escalator that used a moving belt rather than steps.
- Vincente Minnelli threw out most of the footage Fred Zinnemann had shot and reshaped The Clock, revising scenes, tightening the script and turning New York City into a third character in the film.
- While making The Clock, Judy Garland became increasingly addicted to prescription drugs that the studio gave her to control her weight and pep her up.
- The film's title clock hangs outside the Hotel Astor on Times Square; the Beaux Arts hotel, built in 1904, was demolished in 1967 and replaced by the One Astor Plaza office tower.
- Judy Garland did not sing in The Clock, and 16 years passed before she made another non-musical dramatic film, Judgment at Nuremberg, in 1961.
