The Clock

A love story set in New York over forty-eight hours during the Second World War. Joe is a soldier on leave. He has never seen the city and has two days. He meets Alice at Grand Central Terminal; her heel breaks and they start talking. Then they walk the city together. The structure is simple: two people, two days, and a disappearance in between. The narrative finds its real tension when they lose each other in the crowd; they know neither an address nor a surname. The city is the second character. The subway, a museum, a park, a milk truck at night, and finally the paperwork of marriage. All of New York was built in the studio, and the large-scale set of Grand Central is the film's most notable piece of production work. Judy Garland plays Alice. It was her first adult role without singing, an unusual choice at the time. Robert Walker plays Joe. Vincente Minnelli directed. He and Garland married shortly after this film. A fine example for anyone who likes classical Hollywood romance and stories set inside one city. For a viewer wanting incident, the film is almost entirely walking and talking; the war stays in the background.