MovieChat Forums > The Big Clock (1948) Discussion > Big plot hole

Big plot hole

posted 19 years ago by oldsaurora
13 replies | jump to latest

Tell me if I'm wrong...

When George is with his wife on honeymoon and he gets the call from Janoth informing him of the war contracts scandal, he quickly deduces (after Janoth mentions the supposed name of the man) that it's a plot by Janoth to catch the man who's been seeing his mistress. So George has to rush back so that Janoth doesn't catch the man (who is George himself of course).

Here's the plot hole...why would George care? He's already been fired and blacklisted. He doesn't have to worry about his job. He has no reason to go back. He's not doing it to protect the mistress because Janoth already knows about the other man and George never really cared for her in the first place.

Unless we are to believe that George was dishonest to his wife and really did care about losing his job. So he lies to her that he's going to protect a friend of his when all he's after is saving his job. I can't swallow that though...just a minute earlier he was enjoying his honeymoon with no care in the world about the choice he made...and every point up to that in the movie he was telling us how his marriage was more important to him than his job was. You don't just change your mind in ten seconds based on a threat that doesn't even exist (and keep in mind that at the time George didn't know she was already dead - if he did then going back would make total sense because he'd know that he could be implicated in her death).

Let me know what you think.

[–] kingharvest 19 years ago

Possibly because he didnt want his wife to think he was cheating on her? I really don't know.

[–] esedwards 19 years ago

I believe that George decided to go back and "help" find the man who was "fooling around" with the girl; because he didn't want it to come out that he was the man she was with.
The reason he didn't want anyone to find him out is because just before he was called with the job offer he told his wife that he was cleaning out his things in the office (not going on a drinking binge around the city with another woman). Since he didn’t tell her the truth then, when it became known that he was the man that was with her, his wife would undoubtedly believe that he was cheating on her. However, George was just trying to save from having another argument about this girl who had twice interrupted plans with his wife when he was truly innocent of any infidelities.

[–] mitch1492 19 years ago

They're at some pains to establish that Maureen O'Sullivan's character "could stand anything" except her husband's infidelity. It's a little odd, though. When Mrs. Stroud come to the bar and interrupts George and Pauline she acts jealous. Why not just say, "hey, you know who that was. It was Janoth's mistress. I'm not sure what she wanted but it was weird."

There's another reason why Stroud would need to return to NY. Janoth was going to track down the person who was with his mistress the night before, and he was willing to use all the resources of his organization to do so. Obviously he wasn't trying to discover this man's identity to offer him a job. He was out to hurt him in some way. Janoth was a ruthless and obsessive person. If Janoth discovered it was Stroud, he would go out of his way to make him suffer. Far better for Stroud to be in charge of the hunt himself, and hopefully divert suspicion away from himself. Once Stroud gets to NY and discovers Pauline's body, he realizes that Janoth is looking to make him a patsy for the murder Janoth committed.

[–] jltournier1 10 years ago

Yes, that makes sense. Actually, considering the time and budget constraints they were probably under (being a studio-made film in the late 40's) there are relatively few holes visible in the plot.

SPOILER ALERT!

My question was what happened to Harry Morgan's character, who was in Janoth's private elevator when Stroud disabled it. Was he still (presumably) stuck in it when the movie ended?

But overall, yes, loved the movie! Great black-and-white noir film - the kind they don't make anymore! Yes, a big plus are the wonderful character actors. Elsa Lanchester playing the painter Patterson, for example. Of course she was married to Laughton and had supporting roles in many if not most of his films. She had such a devilish sense of humour and was so drily droll that I want to watch the film again just to relish her delivery one more time!

[–] rosadeinglaterra 19 years ago

Good point. I think probably it had less to do with his lies to his wife and more to do with the urgency of Janoth's desire to find this man. Obviously something big was going on for him to involve the whole company like that, and Janoth was obviously not happy about it. George knews that he was the man Janoth was looking for, and so he wants to go back, find out what is going on, and try to extricate himself from a difficult situation.

And about the job, I think when he got back from his honeymoon he would have taken it back in a heartbeat if Janoth had offered. He was an ambitious workaholic, and much as he wanted to make his wife happy I think in the end his job would have won out. So that probably played a part too (the secret hope of getting his job back--which would be out of the question if Janoth discovered that he had been fooling around with his mistress).

[–] contact-258 18 years ago

Hmmm. I didn't have any problem with this "plot-hole" and I'm always looking for a good plot-hole. Maybe I need to watch it again.

My take is that Janoth scared George on the phone. Janoth implied that the mystery man had done something VERY BAD. George had to find out what it was because he was the mystery man. It's very difficult to happily go on with your life when you're worried you might be arrested for some unknown crime. Fear, self-preservation, and curiousity compelled George to go back.

Support the troops; Don't hang them out to die in a fruitless war.

[–] nosnojsirhc 18 years ago

I agree that it's one of the many 'holes' in the plot. That's probably why the wife doesn't figure heavily in the actual movie - she's more of a troublemaker, arriving on scene to announce a decision that isn't fully informed and always screws up her husband ("I've left" "I'm turning you in because of the painting" "I can't stand this anymore" etc). But, on the other hand, they stuffed the movie with comedic supporting characters, and as such, I watched the movie as a romp rather than a fistclencher. It was fun, and funny, and in this way, I actually was rooting for the common man (Ray Milland) and hating The Man (Chas Laughton). Good stuff!

[–] billellis 18 years ago

I enjoyed the heck out of it too.

Maureen O'Sullivan was certainly pretty but man, did she play the part of a nagging whiner convincingly. Even when he's told her that there are orders to shoot him on sight, the character can't restrain herself from sniveling, "Why did you have to get involved with that woman?" As if asking that could possibly do any good. Since the actress and the director were married, I wonder if that was a special insight.

As with so many noir-ish films of the time, the bad girl is much more likable and interesting than the good one.

[–] titusmoody 17 years ago

Since the actress and the director were married, I wonder if that was a special insight

Given the fact that director/hubby Farrow was a known and notorious womanizer and alcoholic, it could be that Maureen brought a special dimension to the role.

"Howdy, Bub"

[–] ShroudOfFrost 12 years ago

This thread is 7 years old, but in case if anyone comes back and wants to have a conversation, I'm game.

But I find this to be a lack of understanding of motivation. George was seen with the mistress the entire night. He knew that he was going to be identified as the man with her and since she's dead he would have been labeled as the murderer. This is all explained to his wife. He said that Janoth was so big that he can get any alibi he wants, which means the murder will be pinned on George. He goes back to make sure he can turn around the evidence back onto the true murderer, even if he has a stack full of alibis.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AssetsonFire 10 years ago

George's motivation was explained in the scene you describe, he cares because Janoth was threatening to "hound" him and he'd be implicated as a cheat. Georgette was established as jealous of other women, she'd already seen George with Pauline, then he missed the train because he was with her again, which he concealed from Georgette. George: "I've go to go back, keep Janoth from finding him, it would wreck the man's life."

~.~
I WANT THE TRUTH! http://www.imdb.com/list/ze4EduNaQ-s/

[–] pierrotlunaire0 9 years ago

I don't see it as a plot hole. George knew Janoth was completely ruthless and self centered. He saw Janoth enter Pauline's apartment, and may have wondered if Janoth had recognized him. Pauline also had said that she had info on Janoth that was a bombshell.

When George got the phone call, he didn't know that Pauline was dead, and in fact he didn't know why Janoth was looking for him. But it was too dangerous to stay away and hope it all blew over.