"There's something inside that tells you to do certain things that turn out more or less right," Vincente Minnelli, an acclaimed film director, said last night of his directing techniques.

Speaking at the second session of a fourday Learning for Performers program, at which he is artist-in-residence, Minnelli fielded questions after a showing of his film, "The Clock," which was made in 1945 and starred Minnelli's first wife, Judy Garland.

Though he married Garland a month after the filming of "The Clock" had ended, Minnelli said that he always treated actors equally. "The story is the most important thing," he added.

The 67-year-old Academy-Award winner and veteran of more than 35 films said his goal now is "to do the things that have to be done."

Minnelli, who directed such films as "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), shown Monday night, "Gigi" (1958), and "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" (1962), began his career as a child in the Minnelli Brothers' Tent Show.

The remaining films in the series, "The Bandwagon" (1953) and "An American in Paris" (1951), winner of seven Academy Awards, will be screened free of charge tonight and Friday afternoon at Carpenter Center, after which Minnelli will continue discussing his work.