| Reid Lemker |
The Big Clock plays on glorious 35mm film at the Trylon Cinema from Sunday, February 16th, through Tuesday, February 18th. For tickets, showtimes, and other series information, visit trylon.org.
My dad had a rule about film adaptations. He always told my sister and me to “read the book first” when we were kids. These days, I don’t always heed this advice. However, watching John Farrow’s 1948 film The Big Clock, after reading the 1946 Kenneth Fearing novel of the same title, led me to an interesting discovery. The film diverges from the book in several places, but one place I found especially fascinating was the sexualities, and possible love triangle, of its main characters Earl Janoth, Steve Hagan, and Pauline Delos.
In the book, accusations of bisexuality are levied by both Pauline Delos and Earl Janoth at one another in the heat of the argument that ultimately leads to Pauline’s murder. When Earl Janoth returns to Pauline’s apartment and spots the male figure in the shadows, he tells her “At least, this time, it’s a man.” Later, it is Pauline Delos’s accusation that Earl Janoth is having an affair with his assistant Steve Hagan that enrages him to kill her. She accuses Janoth, “What about you and Steve Hagan…As if you weren’t married to that guy, all your life. And as if I didn’t know. Go on, you son of a bitch, try to act surprised.” Of course, the Hays Code, very much in effect in 1948, prohibited any direct mention of homosexuality or bisexuality in the film version. In the film, there is no mention of Steve Hagan in Pauline’s accusations of infidelity. Earl Janoth’s accusations of Pauline are almost word for word the same as in the book but the line, “At least, this time, it’s a man” becomes “At least, this time, he wears a clean shirt.” In the film, the object of Pauline’s affection is a cab driver instead of another woman. But just because accusations of bisexuality couldn’t be explicitly stated in the film doesn’t mean there isn’t evidence of queerness. In my opinion, the most interesting thing about The Hays Code wasn’t what it prohibited, but how creative directors were able to circumvent the censors, utilizing stylistic elements to reveal aspects of characters without explicitly stating them. With this love triangle in mind from the novel, three scenes stuck out to me in the film.
First, immediately following Pauline’s murder, Earl Janoth visits Steve Hagan at his home. Janoth tells Hagan, “I’ve just killed someone…I didn’t know where else to go.” The first thing I noticed about this scene was how Janoth and Hagan are framed—they sit so close together! I found it interesting that their proximity in this two-shot isn’t brought about by anything plot-related, there is no begging for help on Janoth’s part, and he doesn’t ask to be consoled. Instead, it’s all natural: they sit close, their arms touch, and they don’t need any excuse, plot-driven or otherwise, to do so. Their proximity to one another in this two-shot is especially jarring compared to the physical space between Janoth and Pauline in the previous sequence, and the back-and-forth close-up shots during the rising tension of their altercation, isolating one or the other on the screen at a time. Add to this that Steve Hagan is a single, well-groomed middle-aged man, wearing a striking silk gown and ascot with books and antiques filling his living space. Even without the benefit of reading the book, I think Hagan’s introduction, and the aesthetic choices surrounding it, communicate to both the film’s contemporary audiences and today’s viewers that there is something queer about this character.
If the sexual tension in the scene between Earl Janoth and Steve Hagan in Hagan’s apartment is all subtextual, the massage scene is a bit more explicit and erotic. In this scene, the viewer is introduced to Bill, one of Janoth’s bodyguards who we meet while he is giving Janoth a massage. Though the scene lasts less than a minute, the sexual undertones are not far below the surface. Janoth and Bill are shot together, as Janoth’s body is uncovered above the waist. We then get several close-up shots, cutting back and forth between their faces as the massage commences. As the camera pulls in on Janoth, he speaks so quietly that you can almost feel Bill, and yourself as the viewer, leaning in to hear him instruct Bill to find and kill “Jefferson Randolph.” What I find most fascinating about this scene is that it doesn’t exist in the book. This begs the obvious question: Why add it, and why the massage? Narratively, the scene successfully introduces Bill as one of Janoth’s heavies, but there are plenty of other ways to do that that don’t involve Janoth shirtless, wrapped in a towel with Bill’s hands loosening his body. It’s quite the introduction and explicit indication that Earl Janoth enjoys male touch. It’s so explicit I was left to wonder what exactly the censors were looking for and how this scene remained in the film uncut.
Lastly, in the final sequence, we see Steve Hagan and Earl Janoth once again framed in a two-shot, standing so close together they are touching. When Hagan finally turns on Janoth, and tells him:
“You insufferable egomaniac. You thought you inspired such adulation that I’d do anything for you.”
In this final sequence, Hagan explains his devotion to Janoth based upon his adulation for him, but this rationale for the lengths Hagan has gone to help Janoth throughout the film rings hollow to me. With the explicit insinuation of a romantic relationship between Janoth and Hagan in the book, Hagan’s actions, devotion, and sacrifice for Janoth, become more legible; He is a man in love! But in the film, what actions have we seen Janoth take that would provide any evidence that he inspires adulation among his employees? All we have seen him do is commit murder, scheme, threaten, and put out hits on people. I found little evidence that Janoth is someone who would engender the type of loyalty among his subordinates that they would help him cover up a murder. Maybe I just don’t think highly enough of my work colleagues but “Because he admires him” doesn’t feel like enough of a reason to me. Without the explicit mention of a possible romantic relationship between Janoth and Hagan as was made in the book, I felt like the film struggled to explain the level of devotion that Steve Hagan displays for Janoth throughout.
With that said, I think Hagan’s turn in the final sequence is less interesting for what he explicitly states and more interesting for what he doesn’t. In my mind, this final scene of the film insinuates romantic interest between Steve Hagan and Earl Janoth by failing to provide any other real rationale for the lengths Steve Hagan is willing to go to protect Earl Janoth. What other reason besides love would lead someone to cover up a murder? You might say, “Fear of course,” but to that I’d say, what evidence do we have that Hagan fears Janoth? He is basically sitting in Janoth’s lap the entire film! We’ve seen this same trope in noirs the world over except it’s almost always a beautiful femme fatale, who baits the unsuspecting sap into doing or covering up evil. What makes this film somewhat unique, is that instead of a beautiful femme fatale, it’s Janoth who takes advantage of Hagan’s feelings and uses him to help cover up Pauline’s murder.
Of course, the Hay’s Code came down hardest at the end. Almost immediately after Janoth and Hagan are killed, the music swells and slimy playboy George Stroud, who spends the film lying to his wife and pursuing other women, is reunited with wife Georgette and they embrace, arm in arm (for the first time in the film I will add). The “evil” has been vanquished and the world is safe for man and wife again. After grappling with both interpretations of this story, I found myself unable to shake the feeling that Steve Hagan’s motivations in the book are much more legible than they are in the film. Whether or not you read Kenneth Fearing’s novel before you see the film is up to you; I don’t share the same hard-line approach as my dad, though I must admit it has served me well in this instance (thanks Dad).
Edited by Olga Tchepikova-Treon