Alfred L. Werker (1896–1975)

"Shock" was the first film that gave Vincent Price top billing and is a crackling little piece of psychological noir suspense. The film is set at the end of the Second World War and begins with the highly-strung Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) waiting for her husband, Paul (Frank Latimore) to come home from the hostilities. She arranges to meet him in a hotel, but unfortunately for Janet she witnesses a murder in an adjoining room, which pushes her into a state of shock. Psychiatrist Richard show more Cross (Vincent Price) is called to treat her and he recommends a stay in his nearby psychiatric hospital. When Janet begins to recover she realises that Cross is the murderer from the hotel. It transpires that Cross is in love with his sultry nurse Elaine (Lynn Bari) and that he killed his wife because she wouldn't grant him a divorce to marry Elaine. With Janet coming out of shock, Elaine persuades Cross that it would be a simple to drive Janet insane. "Shock" is a relatively short film at 70 minutes, but it is incredibly taut and compact with a tight script from Eugene Ling (from a story by Albert DeMond) and some straight-forward, but nonetheless well handled direction from director Alfred L. Werker. Although ostensibly a B-movie it is cleverly constructed, with plenty of suspense and plenty of powerful noirish lighting effects – non-better than during a thunder and lighting storm when one of the patients escapes from his locked room. There are also many eerie moments, with the overall film pitching itself halfway between psychological horror and film noir. Vincent Price is excellent as the suave, urbane Doctor Cross, who is laid low by his love for a deadly and dangerous woman. Price glides through the role with consummate, disdainful ease but begins to unravel as his conscience increasingly troubles him. No such problems for Lynn Bari as the nurse femme fatale of the piece. She is excellent throughout - beautiful, sexy, dangerous and deviously twisted, with not a hint of compassion or conscience. It's no wonder that Vincent Price was willing to kill for her. Overall "Shock" is a great wee pot-boiler, that is deftly handled and decently directed with many great individual moments. The two central performances at the heart of the film, that of the great Vincent Price and the beautiful Lynn Bari, make this a hugely effective piece of early noir that is well worth searching out. show less

This is an effective noir film set in late 1940s Los Angeles. It starts out documentary style with a voiceover about LA--just like Dragnet, but settles down into a much more serious police procedural. (Dragnet's Jack Webb, by the way, plays a key role here as the LA Police Department's lab specialist, who not only can do ballistics but also Identikit! Webb apparently got the idea for Dragnet here.) The film looks great all the way through, and the scenes in the storm drains will remind you show more of the Third Man, but He Walked by Night was filmed a year earlier. The film is made most interesting by its alternation between scenes of the killer, well played by Richard Basehart, and the police investigation. Of course, the LA police department, make up entirely on white guys in dark suits, comes off as completely competent and uncorrupt. This is based on a true story, by the way. I guess I have given it only 3 1/2 stars for the simple reason that the killer's motives are never revealed or even hinted at. Which I guess is why it was so hard to track him down! I watched this movie on Kanopy through my library, so it should be easily available to anyone who wants to journey back 70 years. Recommended. show less

Dr. Cross in the living room with a candlestick. Wife, waiting for her husband's return after two years in a POW camp, witnesses a murder from her hotel room balcony and goes into a state of shock. And well, the evil Mr. Price also happens to be the doctor--a specialist in such cases--who is called in to treat her. There's also evil Lynn Bari, and Lattimore as the ex-POW husband who doesn't look a bit worse for the experience. Nice settings and well made, but definitely lacks "shock" value. show more A good primer on now-discredited treatments for shock, however. show less

2023 movie #195. 1951. A fishing captain (Andrews) finds a crippled Danish schooner of the coast of Canada with only its captain (Rains) aboard. Turns out it's a resupply ship for Nazi subs. Pretty good WWII flick. Andrews and Rains are 2 of my favorite actors.