La Chaux-de-Fonds · 31 December 1899
The Regulator
A detective film in which every clock in the house keeps its own time, and one witness lies
Inspector Léon Matthey tells the case of Aurèle Monnier, a master watchmaker struck down in his atelier an hour and a half before the new century. Each clock and watch reading appears on screen as it is spoken. At 8:37 the film puts the evidence on one card and stops to let you solve it; the drawing-room reveal follows.
The same case can be worked by hand, with a bench that converts every reading to true time, at The Regulator.