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Shock
A film noir starring a young Vincent Price. It is one of the first "B" productions to explore the psychology of the mind. 1 HR 10 MINS 20TH CENTURY-FOX
HORROR/SCIENCE FICTION
written by Gary Svehla
6/3/202513 min read


At the Belmont Arms Hotel, a cab pulls up in San Francisco carrying Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw), looking for her husband at the front desk, Lt. Paul Stewart (Frank Latimore). She is told of a mix-up: her reservation was never received, and the hotel is completely booked. Janet pleads that this is the only way for the married couple to meet. “I thought for two years he was dead, but I don’t know if he was hurt or what!” She is given an unoccupied room since the man has never shown up to claim it yet. But she must be out by noon. Janet, looking unhinged, falls asleep holding her husband’s portrait on a couch in her room. As she falls asleep, the photo keeps spinning as there’s a knock on her hotel door. But now her vision is misty, and the objects she sees are distorted. She prances toward the door but seems to be running in place, calling out her husband Paul’s name. She finally finds herself struggling to open a giant doorknob. Then the spinning photograph returns. She awakens with tears in her eyes, the room returning to normalcy. She opens the door to find no one there.
But she overhears a couple arguing on the adjacent balcony, the woman, Margaret (Ruth Clifford), accusing her husband of making a fool of himself. “Bringing her here,” Margaret says. “I decided to ask you for a divorce,” the husband, Dr. Richard Cross (Vincent Price), declares. Margaret is incensed over talk of a divorce, but Richard admits loving the other woman, Elaine Jordan (Lynn Bari). “I can’t go on with you any longer,” Richard proclaims. Still, Margaret will grant him a divorce only if the truth of the situation is released publicly, trying to pick up the phone receiver to start the revelation. But at the same time, Richard picks up a metal candlestick holder and strikes her in a rage. Janet recoils in shock as Richard pulls the shades to hide his evil act.
The next morning, a Lt. Stewart checks in at the hotel, and the clerk smiles and says his wife will be excited that you finally arrived. “You had us worried. I’m glad you finally got here,” the hotel president says. Stewart tells him he wasn’t sure he’d make it as his flight was delayed. Paul carries his luggage upstairs to surprise Janet. After delivering his secret door knock, Paul enters the unlocked room to find Janet sitting, staring ahead, despair written all over her face. He announces himself, but she only silently stares. He runs to the phone to call the house doctor.
Now nestled in bed as the doctor examines her, the doctor tells Paul that he thinks she is “suffering from some shock. I’ll be frank with you, lieutenant, this is a little outside my line.” The doctor suggests calling in a specialist or a psychologist. Paul asks if he could recommend anyone, and the hotel doctor states there’s a very good man at the hotel, a Dr. Cross (the very same man Janet witnessed murdering his wife). The house doctor calls Cross and tells Paul he will be right up.
Upon Dr. Cross’ arrival, Paul shares that he was a prisoner of war for these last three years, and Janet had a difficult time coping, never knowing his current situation. “Would you say she was a nervous, imaginative girl?” Cross inquiries. Paul answers that she was not, that they grew up together in the Midwest. The doctor, after his questioning, offers his prognosis: “She’s had a nervous collapse, went into shock.” Then Cross asks where he found her and answers that it was in the living room. Cross looks at his hotel room door across the way and ascertains that it is where the shock most likely occurred, sensing that his argument and the murder of his wife could have been one reason for the mental collapse. Cross suggests admitting her to his private sanitarium in the country and calls Miss Hatfield (Renee Carson) to prepare the necessary arrangements.
Riding to the sanitarium with Janet and back-door nurse Elaine Jordan, Cross suggests getting her to bed and administering an injection first. Going to her room and seeing Dr. Stevens (billed as Michael Dunne but more often billed as Stephen Dunne) attending, Cross quietly mentions amnesiac shock to him and promptly dismisses him. Now alone with Janet, he asks her if she went to the balcony. Now awake and breathing heavily, eyes wide, she admits she walked to the balcony, and Cross further inquires what she saw, the look of great concern written over his face. Rising slightly up in her bed, Janet says, “He’s trying to stop her … he’s going to hit her … he’s killing her …” as the doctor looks upon her in utter disbelief that she saw his act of murder. Miss Jordan enters the room, and Cross tells her she saw everything.
Director Alfred L. Werker directs this taut little thriller with style. In the early to mid-1940s, the birth of the psychological film noir was overtaking theater screens. Studying the mind and its aberrations was a fascinating theme for movie audiences. The themes of people cracking under psychological pressure and hiding unpleasant thoughts in their subconscious made for marvelous cinematic fare. Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound was perhaps the forerunner. Still, others also appeared: Suspicion, Strangers on a Train, The Dark Mirror, Diabolique, Gaslight, Whirlpool, In a Lonely Place, Rebecca, and Sorry, Wrong Number. Screenwriters only had a rudimentary knowledge of the science of the brain, so their stories were half-baked and crude, as if they understood little of the complexity of psychology that was slowly emerging. But these various tropes were fun to play around with in their screenplays. After big-league “A” productions toyed with the concept, now it was time for ”B” productions to have their go, even major studio “Bs.”
Elaine and Cross meet in the doctor’s residence, he admits his love for her, and Dr. Richard Cross is extremely distraught, lamenting, “Yes, I did it, it was a horrible night … I wished I had called the police. I lost my head (rising from his chair and ranting), I didn’t mean to kill her. There was no premeditation.” But Cross admits moving the body and shipping a trunk with her corpse to his lodge, and realizes the law will view the crime as planned. “I shouldn’t have listened to you, Elaine!” Elaine assures Richard by saying no one saw the murder or Margaret that night, but the doctor says, “You’re forgetting Janet Stewart … what if she talks?” Elaine counters, “She can’t tell what she’s seen as long as she is in this condition.” Richard states the shock will wear off in a few weeks. Elaine says, “” It will wear off if you let it, Dick.” Elaine then subtly suggests doing away with the poor woman, kissing Richard passionately.
One of the principal tenets of film noir is moral indecision and vacillation over what is the right thing to do. Richard Cross is depicted as primarily a weak-willed man, too soon manipulated by sex and a good-figured woman. He tries to convince himself that Margaret’s murder was not premeditated, but his actions speak otherwise. He wants to blame his crime on Elaine’s control of him, as though he were putty in her hands and unable to think independently. Many times throughout the movie, Richard considers whether to murder or not, to contact the police or not, and always seems to be overthinking the situation with a detached, confused look.
Returning to the sanitarium the following morning, Paul visits Janet, but there’s no change. He meets with Dr. Cross and asks if he can help her, but he sidesteps the question by telling Paul, “The mind is a very delicate and fragile thing. " Then Paul announces he visited the army hospital to bring aboard another doctor to consult, Dr. Harvey (Charles Trowbridge), the very doctor under whom Cross studied.
Dr. Cross enters Janet’s room, Elaine sitting by her bedside, and she pulls the curtains, darkening the room. As Janet appears worried, unconscious, Cross rhythmically bangs on the bedside table, seemingly hypnotizing the troubled girl. “You’re going out on that balcony again, looking in to the other apartment, you’re listening to the argument … he’s hitting her with candlestick (Janet’s expression mirrors the same expression she felt when she witnessed the murder, that of utter horror), now he’s hitting you with the candlestick, again and again,” loudly banging his fist on the table. Janet twists and turns in bed, placing her hands on her head. “Soon you won’t be able to remember it. You can’t hear; you can’t remember.” Elaine comes to Richard’s office, saying, “She’s exhausted, it won’t be long.” Then Richard asks Elaine to cover for him this weekend while he goes to his lodge to retrieve Margaret’s body; Dr. Harvey will arrive here this afternoon, and Elaine should be prepared. Cross is not concerned, but Elaine thinks involving Dr. Harvey in the case is a big mistake and is very concerned.
Dr. Harvey, examining Janet Stewart, concludes that a larger shock than that of the situation concerning her husband, Paul, must have caused her collapse. “It must have been something else,” and he questions Dr. Cross’ use of sedatives to treat her. “She’s been pretty difficult at times!” Cross comments. Harvey comments, “If she is under sedation, there is no way to know if she comes back to normal.” Lastly, Dr. Harvey inquires about Margaret.
During a violent “dark and stormy night,” an obvious patient sits alone in his room, tense, nervous, and plotting, seemingly detached from reality. Thunder cracks as lightning flashes, and the man puts his hands to his ears and frantically tries to escape locked doors and windows. The man fears the violent storm but remembers he has a key under his mattress to unlock the door. He sneaks outside his room in dense shadows, sauntering as though in a daze. Two nurses approach, and the terrified man ducks into an open door leading to Janet’s room, who is sleeping. He curiously approaches the patient, getting closer, until Elaine enters the room to check on her patient. The escaped inmate, Mr. Edwards (John Davidson), remains relatively calm. But he suddenly lurches at Elaine, starting to grab and choke her in a rage as lightning and thunder accentuate the spooky attack. Sanitarium staff converge, running toward the room as Elaine struggles and screams. Dr. Stevens is the first to enter the room, “Edwards, don’t be afraid. We won’t let the storm hurt you. You are going right to your room, aren’t you, Mr. Edwards?” Edwards nods and is escorted by staff back to his room. We turn now to Janet tossing in her bed, yelling, “He killed her” over and over again, as Elaine listens.
Later, Dr. Stevens is making an oral, taped report stating Janet Stewart is now delusional, saying she witnessed a murder, when Paul knocks on the door and enters. “She is out of her head … she’s got a crazy idea she saw a murder. What am I going to do? She is getting worse,” and Paul is considering taking her to a hospital in San Francisco. After Paul exits, one of the nurses brings in a newspaper whose headline tells about finding the body of Margaret Cross after sustaining a mountain fall. Elaine overhears the tail end of the conversation.
Returning to his sanitarium and receiving condolences, he takes Elaine into an office to tell her, “Driving back there was time to think, and I got to be thinking about you. I asked myself if she was worth what I’ve done.” Elaine asks, “Well?” Richard takes her in his arms and kisses her. “That’s a satisfactory answer.” Elaine is pleased that Janet is raving and her doctors believe she is delusional, perhaps crazy. In short order, she will be committed, so Elaine tells Richard to let her talk on.
Paul goes to Janet’s room and awakens her. She says she has been awaiting his visit all day, as Elaine and Richard abruptly enter the room. Janel grabs Paul’s arm tightly as Cross approaches. “Paul, it’s him … him … he killed her! He killed his wife. He picked something up and hit her with it. And he killed her.” Janet breaks down in tears recounting these events, and Richard looks bewildered. Then he tells Paul he should never have come here to her room and throws some psycho-babble at him to explain Janet’s actions. “This condition can become worse. Our fight now is to prevent further deterioration of her mind.”
Vincent Price hung around Hollywood during the 1930s, appearing primarily in costume and historical dramas. Still, by the 1940s, he seemingly found his niche playing villains and red herrings in film noir. But it was to be the horror genre that ignited his career with 1953’s House of Wax and his work with William Castle and American-International. But it was the 1946 Fox film Shock that pointed the way. Then, without a mustache, his Richard Cross was similar to characters he would play, such as in House on Haunted Hill, where he portrayed a cold-hearted villain with a sarcastic and nasty side. It is almost as though a skeptical David Cross, who had a consciousness in Shock, became the clever and conniving Frederick Loren in House on Haunted Hill, who dared to commit every conceivable crime for self-preservation. He needed no persuasion. And he did it with a sense of humor.
Desperate to escape the sanitarium, Janet wanders the shadowy corridors until she is spotted by Dr. Stevens, telling him he must help her, “to contact the police now. There’s nothing the matter with me,” as she pleads desperately and breaks into tears again. “You talk to me as if I were crazy.” Stevens and another orderly escort the protesting woman back to her room.
Stevens reports this incident to Dr. Cross and then leaves his office, leaving him and Elaine to speak privately. “You see, everything worked out just as we planned.” But Richard looks downcast and mumbles. He states he is pleased but tells Elaine he will try to find something to prove she is insane. Elaine exits with Richard, looking worried. Richard enters Janet’s room, and she insists she is all right, but Richard says If I can convince you that I couldn’t have murdered my wife, will you admit this is a delusion?” Richard shows her the newspaper headline announcing Margaret’s death from a fall in the mountains a week ago, while she was here for three weeks. So this has all been a vivid dream.” Richard tells her. “My mind is all right!” Janet pleads, “My mind is all right.” Cross tells Janet that she’s losing her mind.
Meanwhile, D.A. O’Neill(Reed Hadley) is waiting for Richard in his office, Hadley telling Richard that a thief was found after he broke into the local lodge and killed someone. He might have also “pushed” Mrs. Cross down the mountain crevice. Since Margaret knew the mountains well, even at night (she lived there for a decade), there is suspicion of murder. So O’Neill wants to have his wife’s body exhumed. Richard again appears distressed. Cross hurries back to his quarters to tell Elaine the latest news. “Now they may discover it wasn’t the fall that killed her,” Richard predicts. They both consider taking care of the Stewart girl if it becomes necessary. Richard again second-guesses not going to the police in the first place. “If a man wanted to … if he had courage, he could get rid of her and nobody would even know. I could give her insulin shock and shock treatment as indicated in a case like hers. I could give her four injections, and with the last one, no one would even know the difference.” Elaine encourages him to commit the act, telling Richard they would be safe, the police would have nothing on them, and they could marry. “We would find quiet, just the two of us.” Looking at Elaine sternly, Richard says, “You don’t think I'll do it, do you … I’d had enough, I can’t go on like this. Things keep piling up … I won’t do it, Elaine!”
Later that night, D.A. O’Neill returns to Richard’s quarters with the coroner's report, “Your wife was murdered, doctor. She was beaten over the head … death was practically instantaneous.” O’Neill thinks the prowler was responsible because the pattern was the same. Furthermore, he tells Cross she was killed with a candlestick. Based on the coroner’s report. O’Neill says once we find the candlestick, our troubles are over. Richard replays old conversations in his head. Dr. Cross confronts Paul Stewart about the insulin shock treatment. Paul says, “All right, doctor, go on and try.”
The next morning, Richard and Elaine prepare to begin the insulin treatments. The first shot is administered, and they wait 90 minutes. At 8:30, they observe Janet tossing and turning in her bed, mumbling. She heavily breaths, outstretches her arms, and groans as an I.V. is administered. Medical imagery and reports flash before her eyes.
Paul rushes to see Dr. Harvey at his office and tells him that after three treatments, Janet still insists Dr. Cross killed his wife with a candlestick. And he is trying to kill her now, or so she says. Harvey says this is a widespread delusion. Harvey is taken aback by some of Paul’s statements, saying the patient is usually lucid after a treatment before slipping back into delusion. “At that moment, the patient speaks the truth,” Harvey reflects. Reading a newspaper headline exposing Mrs. Cross’ murder weapon as a candlestick, a bell goes off. Thinking of the situation with Cross, Harvey declares, “It’s inconceivable!” Harvey tells Paul they’re going to the sanitarium right after Cross does not pick up his phone.
Cross is in a moral quandary, looking like a deer caught in headlights, deciding whether to administer the fatal dose, Elaine egging him on. As Janet twists in agony, Cross declares, “I can’t do it, I have to bring her out of it. Elaine tries harder to convince him of Janet’s murder, but Richard shuts her up for good, choking her behind a wooden curtain just as Harvey’s car pulls up and he quickly comes to Janet’s aid. O’Neill arrives to escort Cross into custody as end titles come up.
The conflicts in Richard Cross’ decisions and his inability to make them doom the murderer to failure. Should he kill his wife, Margaret, or not, and once he strikes with the candlestick, should he contact the police or not? Should he erase Janet’s memory or murder her? Should he fake the death of his wife by a fall or hide the actual cause of her death? As Richard Cross announces, it’s all piling up, and soon stress will cause a psychological break that even a doctor of the mind can survive.


VINCENT PRICE WEARS THAT WORRISOME EXPRESSION THROUGHOUT SHOCK.


LT. PAUL STEWART FINDS HIS WIFE IN SHOCK AFTER ENTERING THE HOTEL ROOM.
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