adonis98-743-186503 Jenny Marsh, still dangerously attractive after 5 years in prison for killing a man in defense of her shady lover Harry, clashes at first with parole officer Griff Marat, who's determined to make Jenny go straight. Neither charming or romantic enough to be satisfying 'Shockproof' is a pretty boring, muddled and quite generic flick that even tho it was made in 1949 we can still see in times like this and believe me i don't mean that in a good way. The acting wasn't anything great and the storyline was for sure far from anything special as well for sure. (0/10)

meaninglessname "Shockproof" gets off to a solid start as a psychological crime drama. Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight (then Wilde's real-life wife) are both attractive and convincing as a straight-arrow, somewhat naive, parole officer and a parolee in whom he takes far too personal an interest, portending trouble for both.Without giving too much plot away, they end up on the lam, at which point both the action and the pair's decisions become increasingly less plausible, but well within the bounds of most viewers' willingness to suspend disbelief.Ultimately the film makers seem to have painted themselves into a corner. The protagonists reach a point where any logical continuation can only lead to disaster for them. For whatever reason (studio pressure, perhaps) the last minute or so is the most blatantly improbable and unconvincing tacked-on happy ending in Hollywood history, or at least tied for that distinction. So be forewarned: a gripping drama most of the way but the ending guaranteed to leave you figuratively scratching your head with a bad taste in your mouth. If you can overlook that, give it a whirl. If you can't, best watch something else.

secondtake Shockproof (1949)Sam Fuller, the writer of this film, is admired for breaking rules and being a little bit edgy. Douglas Sirk, the director, is known for sumptuous, no compromise melodramas with gorgeous dreamy sets and an arch and affecting artificiality. They make an odd mix, and something doesn't quite click here. The plot is standard fare but good--a parole officer falls for a reluctant parole, who still has a thing for a thug up to no good. The officer is terrific, Cornell Wilde at his regular guy best, a kind of echo of Dana Andrews with a little more warmth. But the main woman, Patricia Wright, is a bit wooden. You can feel her trying too hard too often, and it's just one of those things that cuts the rest of the effort down to size. Not surprisingly, she was only in five feature films, and was the lead in only one other.But setting aside her presence and its deadening effect, there are some things to really enjoy here. You might find the movie ordinary for awhile, with some nice clichés and a steady development. But then, halfway, there's a huge and really sudden twist. And a believable one, a great scene. Suddenly there is a whole new plot. We aren't quite involved enough with the two leads to get swept away in their love affair (as we certainly do in "Gun Crazy" two years later, or in "They Live by Night" the same year), but it's exciting anyway. There are some scenes at an oil rig and the worker's cabins (I assume it's a set) that are gorgeous.And then there's a sixty second surprise ending that doesn't do the movie justice and is very unlike Fuller. It's almost like someone took the script from Fuller and said, no Sam, that won't do. And rewrote it. And in fact that's what happened. One of the Columbia producers, Helen Deutsch, stepped in to remove Fuller's violent first intention. In fact, that final scene wasn't even directed by Sirk, who quit Columbia and left the country in anger (only to return and start a string of his famous 1950s masterpieces). A detailed account of all this is at www.tcm.com/this-month/article/208688%7C0/Shockproof.html.What else? The photography by Charles Lawton Jr. is great (he had just done Welles's vigorous "Lady from Shanghai"), and a lot of the side actors are really good, especially the gambler boyfriend played by John Baragrey. This is one of those films to enjoy in pieces, or to enjoy for how it fits into the chronologies of some of the people who made it. Wilde and Knight, by the way, were still married during the filming (Wilde insisted Knight get the part) but they split up in 1951.

dbdumonteil "Schockproof" looks like a blueprint for Sirk's works to come ,particularly "Written on the wind" .Patricia Knight is the bad girl (because of a tormented childhood,poverty ,parents loss....) we find again in the 1956 effort:¨besides Knight resembles Dorothy Malone,who,unlike her,will play a rich spoilt kid ,playing around with the gas station men,and driving along a road of derricks (also present in "shockproof") "Shockproof" is too predictable to be considered a Sirk classic (like such works as "written on the wind" "all that heaven allows" "imitation of life" or "a time to love and a time to die" ,to name but four).The script borrows from two Fritz Lang works of the thirties ,one of which is a masterpiece ("You only live twice" ) ;in the other one, much less absorbing "You and me" ,Sylvia Sydney plays a woman in the same situation as Knight.Also handicapped by a happy end ,very artificial.The best scenes are to be found in the parole officer's house ,when Knight discovers that the other guest is also on parole;this family unit (an old blind mom,two kid brothers) desperately needs someone ,it's obvious.The rebuilding of a family will emerge again in "all that heaven allows" "there's always tomorrow" and particularly "Imitation of life" and "All I desire"