Such a frustrating disappointment

Awesome Movie

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Great thriller in the small size, but the acting lifts it out of the B level, especially Anabel Shaw as the poor innocent wife who instead of receiving her expected husband back from the war ends up a victim herself in a hospital. Vincent Price makes another of his very dubious vacillating monster characters who hesitates to take the step fully out into an irrevocable blatantly criminal evil. The end comes as a most welcome surprise - of all things, you would never have expected THAT for a conclusion, but there are some very tense nail-biting moments of unbearable suspense before the explosion of the balloon. The husband Frank Latimore also plays a decent part sharing the victim's trauma and ultimately saving her of course, and is persistent in reminding you of Frank Sinatra - without singing. The music, though, is perfect and adds to both the atmosphere and the suspense. It's a perfect thriller if you don't want it to go on for too long.

After finding out that her husband was not killed in combat but was instead captured and interned in a prisoner-of-war camp two years earlier, "Janet Stewart" (Anabel Shaw) waits anxiously to meet him at a hotel in San Francisco. While waiting she happens to walk out onto the balcony and watches in horror as a man murders his wife in an adjacent room. The sight of this is too much for her to bear and she goes into a state of shock. Naturally, when her husband, "Lt. Paul Stewart" (Frank Latimore) arrives he finds her in this condition and immediately calls for a doctor. The doctor then recommends a leading specialist by the name of "Dr. Richard Cross" (Vincent Price) who just happens to be residing in that very hotel. The only problem is that Dr. Cross is the same person who Janet witnessed killing his wife. Now rather than reveal any more of this film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a fairly entertaining crime-drama for the most part. As always Vincent Price performed in his usual professional manner but it was Lynn Bari (as Dr. Cross' nurse, "Elaine Jordan") who I thought was the more sinister of the two and actually carried this movie. Likewise, while the supporting cast was adequate, the plot was rather predictable and the movie lacked the necessary amount of zest for me to rate any higher than average.

I really enjoyed this one,, sure it doesn't have a lot of the guts and blood or scare tactics as most of the Vincent Price movies, but I felt like this particular movie didn't really need that,, a woman waiting at a hotel for her husband to come home form WW2 , get's the news that her husband is delayed but will be home soon,, so right before she goes to bed she walks to the window and witnesses something horrific ,, a man choking a woman to death.. from this point on she is rather useless, she goes into shock,, a catatonic state,, a Dr. is called in to help her and low and behold it's the same man at the window who killed the woman,, when the woman finally does wake up she tries to put out to different people that the good Dr. is the killer but no one really seems to pay her much mind,, very good movie a must see.

According to the Films Of Vincent Price from the Citadel Film Series, sometime in late 1945 Darryl Zanuck was on one of his budget cutting kicks and was looking to produce cheaper films. Vincent Price was offered the story of Shock and liked it and said he could get it done under 20 days with no interference. Zanuck gave him his head on this one and Price and director Alfred Werker brought it in 19 days shooting time. Shock was also the film that Vincent Price got top billing for the first time in his career. He plays a psychiatrist who kills his wife because she won't give him a divorce to marry the sultry Lynn Bari. The problem is that young war wife Anabel Shaw who is anxiously waiting the return of a husband who was thought missing in action in the Pacific sees him through the window of her room at the hotel they're both staying at. Shaw's got a lot of issues and she collapses and goes into Shock. It's recommended that she go to a sanitarium and husband Frank Latimore now returned takes her to a highly regarded one that is run by both Price and Bari. I don't think I have to go any further.Shock may have been done on a dime and in a hurry, but it's well constructed and was the film that opened new vistas for Vincent Price's career. Price elicits a lot of audience sympathy being caught by mantrap Lynn Bari. As for Bari I don't think she was ever sexier or more dangerous. Stronger men than Price might have killed for her.Definitely a must for the still strong legion of fans that Vincent Price has.