This movie, Shock, is noted by one thing: It's Vincent Price's first starring role after years in compelling supporting parts for 20th Century Fox. Here, he plays a psychiatrist whose murder of his wife is witnessed by a young woman (Anabel Shaw) across another hotel window as she waits for her returning soldier husband to come soon. The woman fainted from shock when the killing happened so when Price becomes her doctor, he and his mistress nurse (Lynn Bari), try to fix it so everyone would be convinced she's crazy. I'll stop there and just say this is such a subtle suspense thriller that anyone expecting the kind of shocks today's horror/suspense fans get would be very disappointed in this one. Since this was made early in Price's career, his character has something of a conscience here. In fact, Ms. Bari steals her scenes from him as something of a Lady McBeth character. Ms. Shaw is also good in her constant frightfulness as she struggles to be heard and believed. By comparison, Frank Latimore as Shaw's husband is simply adequate as someone constantly trying to see his wife. Price himself handles his part capably. Also worth mentioning are John Davidson (not to be confused with the singer who once co-hosted "That's Incredible") as crazy mental patient, Mr. Edwards, (Loved the lightning sequence that involves him) and Reed Hadley as D.A. O'Neill who's questioning of Price's Dr. Richard Cross threatens to drive Cross over the edge. I'd also like to note that the voice of Mrs. Cross, Ruth Clifford, was also that of Minnie Mouse at this time. While she's not noted on the DVD audio track by John Stanley, many of the leading and supporting players are of their lives, interests, and other roles. Not great but pretty good for anyone who's a fan of Vincent Price.
