Time Out for Trouble (1961)

★★★★★ · Time Out for Psychosis · Christine Hennig · 2006-06-13

This 1961 safety film is the epitome of suburban horror. Housewife Jane is tormented by a clock in her home that was a gift from her mother-in-law. The clock somehow sets up accidents and then blames the victims for "letting their emotions run away with them". The point is supposed to be that emotionally volatile situations often result in accidents, because people act irrationally and ignore safety precautions they usually follow. It's a sound mental health message, but it's undercut by the fact that we're supposed to accept at face value Jane's obvious hallucinations. This absurd premise…

★★★★★ · Do as the haunted clock commands! · Ford Prefect · 2004-11-13

This is one of the funniest movies I've seen in the collection and I'm not sure why it hasn't been reviewed yet. It was produced in 1961 by the Oklahoma department of Public Health. It starts out with a shot of a quiet suburban house on a quiet suburban street. A soft lullaby is playing and we see the family fast asleep. Then the clock strikes midnight. Pan in to an antique clock on the mantle...a ghostly blurred face appears. It seems the clock has it in for Jane, the sleeping housewife we saw just a moment ago. "Call me an eyesore will she!" a woman's voice, the voice of the haunted clock…

★★★★ · Family safety horror kitsch · Hmmm . . . · 2005-02-05

See housewives trip over electrical cords, spill scalding soup on their legs, and lose sleep fantasizing about their mother-in-law's talking clocks. You can only imagine the target audience of Bart Simpsons cracking up over this unintentionally funny piece of 1961 misogyny--and then having nightmares about it.

★★★★ · TIcked Off? · Spuzz · 2004-11-25

Very interestingly structured, but somewhat depressing focus on what causes accidents in the home. Narrated by a possessed clock (!) which was given to a man by his mother, but his wife feels the clock is talking to her while she sleeps (!!), this film focuses on accidents, and how to avoid them. Remember the three rules! The accidents are pretty good, but this film, I don't know, gave me the willies, as it wasn't too fake, or the talking clock, or something. I just don't want to talk about it anymore! (He says, fleeing the room)

★★★ · Campy · ERD · 2006-06-13

Some-but not all- of the reasons that we have accidents are shown in this film, which uses a melodramatic theme. The 1961 semi-professional production seems dated and simplistic.