User Reviews

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.

At first, Shock looks like it should be assigned to the `Oneiric' Wing of forties film noir, but soon comes to occupy a niche in the Evil Psychiatry Wing instead. Anabel Shaw checks into a San Francisco Hotel awaiting her serviceman husband. Bad weather has delayed him, so, instead of curling up with a cozy mystery, she witnesses a murder from the balcony of her suite. Next morning, her husband finds her in a state of complete catatonia. A psychiatrist (Vincent Price) is summoned, who turns out to be none other than the murderer.

Checking sight angles from the balcony to his apartment across the way, Price realizes that Shaw's trancelike state no doubt stems from her seeing him take a candlestick to his older, inconvenient wife. He whisks her off to that chamber of horrors, his Private Sanitarium, to find out what she remembers. He and his accomplice/mistress Lynn Bari devise a scheme to make Shaw, and everyone else, think she's delusional – that she views everyone as a murderer. Meanwhile, however, a fluke of circumstance leads the police to reopen the case of Price's wife, whose death had been contrived to look accidental. Next, Price and Bari escalate their therapy to dangerous insulin-shock treatments....

Price glides through his role with the disdainful urbanity that was his trademark in the morning of his career; interestingly, though, the plot turns on his having some shreds of conscience, or at least professional ethics, after all. The same can't be said of Bari as the Lady Macbeth of the piece; what can be said is that there should be more of her. She hits her peak during a violent nocturnal thunderstorm, when a menacing patient slips out of his room and into Shaw's. It really does turn the sanitarium into a chamber of horrors.

In San Francisco, Mrs. Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) checks in a hotel late night to meet her husband Lieutenant Paul Stewart (Frank Latimore). However Paul does not arrive and Janet goes to the balcony in the middle of the night after a nightmare. She witnesses the renowned psychiatrist Dr. Richard Cross (Vincent Price) asking for the divorce to his wife and having an argument with her. Out of the blue, Dr. Cross kills her with a candlestick and Janet has a nervous collapse and stays catatonic in shock in her room.

When Paul arrives and sees his wife, he summons Dr. Stevens (Michael Dunne). After the examination, Dr. Stevens tells that Janet has had a psychological breakdown and recommends Dr. Cross to treat her. When Dr. Cross comes to the room, he realizes that Janet might have seen him and he tells that she needs to be interned in his clinic. He calls Nurse Elaine Jordan (Lynn Bari), who is his lover, and they take Janet to their clinic. He decides to make Janet forget the incident but then they decide to discredit her proclaiming Janet insane. But when the District Attorney O'Neill (Reed Hadley) asks for the authorization to Dr. Cross to carry out an autopsy in his wife since he believes that she might have been murdered, Elaine tells that Dr. Cross must kill Janet.

"Shock" is a reasonable thriller with a dated story of a woman that witnesses a murder and has a strange reaction, ending coincidently in the sanatorium of the killer. The performances are very decent but the greatest problem is the shameful low quality American DVD released by the DVD movie distributor. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Shock (1946)

You know right away this is a little creaky, but Vincent Price is in great form, and the idea of being committed to an insane asylum when you aren't insane is enough to carry almost any hour long movie. The filming in particular gives the film a polish the actors generally do not, and the plot has some conveniences that you can only smile at. They are not inconsistencies, and people act with a high level of logic.

You might call this a film noir, because of its gloom, because of its classic (and cruel) femme fatale, and because there is murder at hand. But most important is the appearance here and there of the solider, still in uniform, just returned from the war after two years missing in action. His positively sweet good nature in the face of an utter breakdown of the world he expected to find is meant to resonate with so many in the audience on both sides of just such homecomings. It's 1946, after all, and there isn't any larger theme for the average Jane and Joe.

Totally fun. And great, undiluted suspense.

Some gifted people went to work on this one, including director Alfred Werker and star Vincent Price, but it doesn't work due to a slow pace and the absence of much movement within the film. There are too many scenes of people plotting evil deeds while a patient lies in a comatose state in bed. This does not make for an exciting movie experience. Nor is the story original, as it is hand-me-down Cornell Woolrich stuff about a young woman who witnesses a murder who is whisked off to a sanitarium by the killer, who just happens to be the psychiatrist who runs the place. The dialogue is mediocre and the actors, aside from Price, none too thrilling. I did like Reed Hadley as a police detective, whose late entry perks up the last part of the movie. He had a quiet, understated presence, and plays off nicely against Price, than whom he is almost as tall.

I've always enjoyed Vincent Price's sad expressions and gentle voice. It's full of threat and pity. He is one of a kind. His savoir faire and manners are right at the top. In this one he commits a murder he really didn't wish to and then must use some pretty extreme measures to cover his tracks and get together with his ruthless lover. The victim is an unstable young woman who has a nervous breakdown when she witnesses the murder. The doctor, one of the top in his field, is constantly pulled between evil actions and the good that is in him. He comes to realize he is wrong and that he has been led astray, but it is too late now. Viewing this in the year 2007, it is filled with some pretty questionable tactics and oversights. What they do to this girl would require a lot of documentation. The sad part isn't the aged quality of the social setting. It's that at some point it all seems to become rather dull. Once they are on to Price's character, the story just falls into a voluble anticlimax. Enjoy watching Vincent Price. Otherwise it is pretty pedestrian.

Although it is fun to see Vincent Price early in his career before his spine-chilling horror roles really took off, this psychological thriller feels long at 70 minutes.

Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) checks into a hotel at night and waits for the return of her GI husband. While in her room she sees a woman being murdered and sinks into a state of comatose shock. She's carted off to a psychiatric hospital but the psychiatrist (Price) is not all he seems.

A formulaic story isn't helped by the wooden performances of Shaw, of Lynn Bari as nurse Elaine Jordan, and by Frank Latimore as Lt Stewart.

Moody B picture visuals and the usual tinny music give this minor film a sense of space and time but overall 'Shock' is a bore which outstays its welcome.

Of interest to Price fans but not really much there for anyone else.

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.

Tom Cruise might hold this film up as evidence on the evils of Psychiatry.

Vincent Price murders his wife, and this is witnessed by a woman (Anabel Shaw) waiting on her husband (Frank Latimore) to return from a POW Camp. She lapses into catatonia and Price is called to help. He realizes what she may have seen and whisks her off to his sanitarium to see what she knows.

The film also features Lynn Bari, second only to Betty Grable in WWII pin-up popularity according to a GI's poll taken at the time, as the lover of Vincent Price and his collaborator in the abuse of Shaw.

Ending was a little far fetched, but Price was great in his pre-horror days.

In San Francisco a woman (Anabel Shaw) goes to a hotel where she'll meet her husband who has been a prisoner of war for two years. While wandering around in her room she notices from her balcony door, a woman having an argument and then suddenly being killed by her husband (Vincent Price). The next morning her husband walks into the room to find his wife in shock. So the hotel psychiatrist (Vincent Price) is called in to treat the woman and he soon realises he was seen and he sets out to destroy his only witness by drugs and hypnosis.

Vincent Price can make something out of really nothing and that's what he does in this film. The whole premise is rather well thought up; just the execution was handled rather flatly, with only small pockets of jabs amongst many stodgy parts. Price comes across as one of few positives going for it. He brings to Dr. Richard Cross a shady character that's suave and he delivers such stilted and blunt dialogue in a very smooth way. Lynn Bari was fine as Dr. Cross assistant Elaine Jordan, she very much came across as an ice queen. The same can't be said about the rest of the drab performances. The one idea plot is basically slowly plodded and tries to be clever, but it falls short. There are just some laughably bad circumstances popping up. One being the ending, which was rather whimsy for my liking, with everything tied up all to nicely. But there were two or three good moments created. I got to hand it to them, you actually feel rather anxious for the girl when they're messing with her mind. Even a stormy night is chucked into one sequence and it's one of the most effective moments in the film and other would be a well-shot dream sequence. The setting of the film is pretty good, as they make great use of the hospital where the film mostly takes place. It's a very dimly lit interior, though maybe it was the picture that was real dark, but really that added to the film then take away from it. But saying, it wasn't particularly atmospheric or suspenseful. Yeah, there were two or three good spurts, but the story and direction just lack that bite and conviction to draw up a tight and gripping experience. There are just too many moments where it builds up for something, but then it goes nowhere with it. What did build greatly was the highly prolific score, with its conniving and tense nature, but also staying within the graceful moments.

The film tries for a Hitchcock vibe, but turns out to be an uninspiring wannabe thriller. Its just too bad, as the idea was definitely promising. Still, it's a reasonable waste of time.

While Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) is waiting for her husband, Paul (Frank Latimore), whom she hasn't seen in over two years (he's been at war and at one point was thought to be dead), to meet her at a hotel, she witnesses an argument and then a murder in another room. She goes into shock, and is taken to a mental hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, Richard Cross (Vincent Price), the doctor treating her, is the same man she witnessed committing murder.

Although somewhat of a potboiler and a bit short on running time per today's standards, Shock is a tightly scripted, directed and acted thriller. As usual, Price is at the top of his game here, and any Price fans who haven't seen this film yet will want to check it out. The rest of the cast is also fantastic, and Shaw particularly stands out when she's on screen (which is not as often as we might like, but given the story, a necessity). Suspense is maintained throughout the film--even in the minor scenes. There was even a fair amount of tension in the opening when Janet Stewart is first checking into the hotel.

My score is 9 out of 10. I only subtracted one point for the ending, which came too soon and a bit too abruptly for my tastes. However, given typical studio restrictions during this era, when it was mandatory that the "bad guys" get their just deserts, the ending is also admirable for its relative ambiguity. It is almost similar in style to Stanley Kubrick's lauded ending of The Killing (1956), which also tried its best to circumvent the just deserts conclusions, though Shock predates the Kubrick film by 10 years.

While I'd have been interested in this film regardless, given its genre (Noir) and star (Vincent Price), I knew not to expect much from it in view of Leonard Maltin's dismissive *1/2 rating.

With this in mind, I was amazed to see this programmer restored and released as part of Fox's vaunted Noir series on DVD ahead of much more renowned titles – but that may have had more to do with the fact that SHOCK has lingered in Public Domain hell for a long time, and the studio was eager to 'reclaim' its property by preparing an edition that was clearly superior to every other available version (with respect to print quality, transfer and supplements) and sell it at a very affordable price! That said, I've purchased all of Fox's Noir titles save 3 – SHOCK itself, VICKI (1953) and NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947; though I do own this via the superior "Masters Of Cinema" R2 disc) – but, ashamedly, I must admit that I've yet to check out any of them (and there are even 5 first-time viewings in there!)…

Anyway, after this longish introduction, let's talk about the film proper: watchable (being a mere 70 minutes long helps), not uninteresting in itself (if decidedly unoriginal – the doctor who's been commissioned to help restore a girl's sanity is actually the perpetrator of the murder which drove her into a catatonic state to begin with!) and quite atmospheric (a surreal dream sequence is nicely done and the film's highlight is the rather irrelevant sequence where a homicidal inmate attacks the head nurse in the heroine's room one stormy night) but it's also very formulaic, thus predictable every step of the way (who could Price be but the villain, albeit a fairly sympathetic one?)…and, ultimately, too low-key for its own good (the leading lady is a non-entity – which considerably dilutes the suspense – the femme fatale bland and the abrupt wrap-up concludes the film on something of a whimper)!

I watched this via the Madacy "Vincent Price Collection" DVD which, ostensibly, also includes 3 other PD titles featuring the iconic star – THE BAT (1959) and THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) are there, yes, but HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1958) is nowhere to be found, despite its name appearing on the "Main Menu" screen (admittedly, the disc I have is a DVD-R and the film may not have been replicated due to a technical glitch)

SHOCK hardly lives up to its promising title. It's a rather tepid little B&W thriller that serves only to remind us what VINCENT PRICE was like just as his career was beginning to take shape at Fox. As usual, he's at his best as a shady character, a doctor who commits a crime of passion only to find out that it has been witnessed by a woman neighbor. Annabel Shaw plays the woman who goes into shock after witnessing the crime--a performance that is not quite as riveting as it should be for this type of suspense yarn. The suspense lies in wondering how Price will deal with the woman. Lynn Bari is his cohort in keeping the crime away from the police.

It's a premise that has been used countless times, often to better advantage than it is here. Worthwhile for some suspenseful moments at Price's sanitarium but none of the suspense is milked for all it's worth. Frank Latimore does nicely as the husband whose wife has gone into shock after her traumatic witnessing of murder and Reed Hadley does a smooth job as a detective.

Modestly entertaining if you don't expect too much.

Vincent Price stars in his first headlining role as the nasty "Dr. Richard Cross" who accidentally kills his wife in the lounge with a candlestick. One of his patients - Anabel Shaw ("Janet Stewart") is roused from her drugged state by the sound of their argument and witnesses the crime. As he discovers that she knows; he - aided by his lover Lynn Bari ("Nurse Elaine") commits her to his sanitarium where they try all sorts of ways of keeping her quiet before the inquisitive police discover the truth. As an indicator of what we might come to expect from Price, it's a good B-noir. The performances are decent, as is the script and given we have all the information about the crime from the outset, it is quite suspenseful - a good score from David Buttolph and a cracking thunderstorm see to that.

One night in a hotel, a psychiatrist murders his wife and the only witness to the crime, a woman staying in an adjacent room, goes into a state of catatonic shock as a result. The nefarious doctor then takes her under his wing in an attempt to silence her.

Shock is probably most significant now for boasting an early star billed performance from Vincent Price. This was in the years before he would become an acting superstar, most famous for giving deliciously hammy performances in a large number of horror films. In this one he is much less over-the-top but it suits the movie. This is a film-noir which is a psychological thriller rather than a horror film. It's quite a lean movie with little wastage and a trim running time, which I consider to be a good thing. Price is very good value, even in a more underplayed role, while the story-line is interesting enough. Beyond the early appearance of a soon-to-be major actor, there is nothing especially stand-out in Shock but, equally, it is a pretty solid and effective little thriller which is well worth your time.

A terrific idea achieves only middling results, mainly do to the very low budget. A woman waiting at a hotel for her husband to return from a World War II prison camp witnesses a murder, and the next morning, her husband finds her in a state of shock. So the hotel psychiatric (did most hotels have them back then?) is called in to treat her, but he's the killer. And he uses his profession to cover up the crime. So far, so good. Than the audience spends the rest of the film waiting for someone to say or do something interesting. No such luck, and even the ending is dull. Just a lot of cheap sets, grainy photography, and idle chat. However, Vincent Price does give a effectively sinister performance, and the positive response to this role helped put his career on the path for which he is best-known.

This is a really mysterious and intelligent suspense movie with drama , plot twists , well-paced , including decent scares with tense sequences especially in its final part , in a unexpected denouement , near of the end . It deals with Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) who checks into a hotel to find her husband , Army Lieutenant Paul (Frank Latimore) , who is going back from World War II. He is delayed and suddenly through the window her hotel room the confused Janet witnesses a killing . Unsettling , disturbing Janet goes into shock and the hotel doctor calls in prestigious psychiatrist Dr. Cross (Vincent Price) . To keep her from revealing what she knows , Cross convinces Paul to let him take her under observation at his sanitarium . There his lover, Nurse Jordan (Lynn Bari) , helps to keep going on her medication and drug addiction . Can There Janet must convince anyone that she is not insane earlier it's too late . He never dreamed what it would all lead to...and she didn't care !

It is a highly mysterious and cerebral thriller about a killer who realizes that his patient saw him murder his wife , being filled with thrills, intriguing events , plot twists , including an exciting conclusion in its ending part . From start to finish the complicated mystery, intrigue , thrills , and suspense result to be continuous . The picture is pretty well , although sometimes stagy and slow-moving , at times ; however is entertaining for continuous suspense . Hitchcock-style psychological thriller , being surprisingly good and compellingly shot . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie, but not totally satisfactory , adding some brief conventional pitfalls . The main cast is frankly fine , with charismatic performance all around , as the excellent protagonists: Vincent Price as the cunning doctor , Frank Latimore as the innocent husband , Anabel Shaw as the emotionally fragile spouse and Lynn Bari as the selfish and domineering nurse and lover . Special mention for Vincent Price who had a long and noted career . Vincent is excellent as master of menace , the picture is specifically devoted to the particular talents of Price . His first fling with the horror genre was ¨Dragonwyck¨ (1946), a Gothic melodrama . With ¨House of Wax¨ (1953) , Vincent fine-tuned the character type he had established in Dragonwyck, adding both pathos and comic elements to the role of a maniacal sculptor . In 1952, Vincent joined the national touring company of 'Don Juan in Hell' in which he was cast as the devil. Acting under the direction of Charles Laughton and accompanied by noted thespians Charles Boyer, Cedric Hardwicke and Agnes Moorehead, he later recalled this as one of his "greatest theatrical excitements". The majority of his subsequent films were decidedly low-budget affairs in which the star tended to be the sole mitigating factor: ¨The Mad Magician¨ (1954), ¨The Fly¨(1958) and its sequel , ¨House of the Haunted Hill¨ (1959), the absurd ¨The Tingler¨ (1959) and ¨The Bat¨ (1959). Vincent played various famous film for Roger Corman as ¨The masque of Red Death¨, Horror tales¨ , ¨The Pit and the Pendulum¨, and he continued to play various films in similar style shot at England as ¨Theatre of blood¨ , ¨Madhouse¨ , ¨Abominable Dr Phibes¨ and the following ¨Dr Phibes rises again¨ .

This Shock 1946 contains a sinister and mysterious atmosphere in black and white with plenty of lights and shades by cameraman Joseph MacDonald. As well as thrilling and moving musical score by David Buttolph. The motion picture was well directed by Alfred L Werker , being decently made and competently realized . Alfred was a little known Hollywwod craftsman who directed some nice films , such as : ¨Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Whispering Ghosts , Kidnapped , Heartbreak, The Mad Martindales , Moon Over Her Shoulder , Sealed Cargo, The Last of the Duanes , Double Cross Roads , Chasing Through Europe, Blue Skies ,Kit Carson¨. Rating : 6.5/10. Above average. Worthwhile watching . The movie will appeal to Vincent Price fans.

"A psychiatrist argues with his wife and, in a fit of rage, kills her. The psychiatrist discovers that the crime was observed by his neighbor and fears she will report him to the authorities. After the woman is unsuccessful in convincing her husband of what she saw, the psychiatrist approaches him and says she needs psychiatric treatment, and she should be placed under his care," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

He never really cuts loose, in this early starring appearance, but Vincent Price (as Richard Cross) is certainly one of the film's main assets. Lovely Lynn Bari (as Elaine Jordan) is the woman he tries to to please, by killing. And, Frank Latimore (as Paul Stewart) and Anabel Shaw (as Janet Stewart) do well in their roles as the handsome soldier and his possibly touched wife.

***** Shock (1946) Alfred L. Werker ~ Vincent Price, Lynn Bari, Frank Latimore

I attempted to read several of the reviews here only to discover that many of the reviewers like to hear themselves drone on and on paragraph after paragraph. When will you learn that lengthy reviews are annoying to most and they'll always guarantee an automatic thumbs down? I won't pretentiously drone on about noir films or dissect and analyze this movie other than to say it's enjoyable and worth watching. Amazing how so many take a simple little film (and themselves) so seriously.