Shockproof (1949)

Director:

Douglas Sirk

Writers:

Helen Deutsch (written by) &
Samuel Fuller (written by)

Release Date:

25 January 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Jenny Marsh, still dangerously attractive after 5 years in prison for killing a man in defense of her shady lover Harry...

Plot Keywords:

Parole Officer | Parole | On The Run | Wanted | Shack

Cast

Cornel Wilde	...	Griff Marat
Patricia Knight	...	Jenny Marsh
John Baragrey	...	Harry Wesson
Esther Minciotti	...	Mrs. Marat
Howard St. John	...	Sam Brooks
Russell Collins	...	Frederick Bauer
Charles Bates	...	Tommy Marat
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shirley Adams	...	Emmy (uncredited)
Gilbert Barnett	...	Barry (uncredited)
Richard Benedict	...	'Kid' (uncredited)
Argentina Brunetti	...	Stella (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Man in Car (uncredited)
John Butler	...	Sam Green, Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Claire Carleton	...	Florrie Kobiski (uncredited)
Cliff Clark	...	Mac - Police Lieutenant (uncredited)
King Donovan	...	Joe Wilson (uncredited)
Al Eben	...	Joe Kobiski (uncredited)
Virginia Farmer	...	Mrs. Terrence, Landlady (uncredited)
Frank Ferguson	...	Logan (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Policeman in Park (uncredited)
Eddie Foster	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Man in Elevator (uncredited)
Earle Hodgins	...	Race Caller (uncredited)
Frank Jaquet	...	Monte (uncredited)
Charles Jordan	...	Hamburger Man (uncredited)
Tom Kingston	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Pete Kooy	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Yolanda Lacca	...	Girl (uncredited)
George J. Lewis	...	Border Patrolman (uncredited)
Jimmy Lloyd	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Charles Marsh	...	Manager (uncredited)
Nita Mathews	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Ernesto Morelli	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Policeman at Hospital (uncredited)
Brian O'Hara	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Norman Ollestad	...	Boy at Wedding (uncredited)
Joe Palma	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Victor Romito	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Fred F. Sears	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Lester Sharpe	...	Proprietor (uncredited)
Ann Shoemaker	...	Dr. Daniels (uncredited)
Arthur Space	...	Police Inspector (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Drunk (uncredited)
Robert Strong	...	Bit Role (uncredited)
Buddy Swan	...	Teenage Boy (uncredited)
Crane Whitley	...	Foreman (uncredited)
Isabel Withers	...	Switchboard Operator (uncredited)

Directed by
Douglas Sirk

Writing credits
Helen Deutsch		(written by) &
Samuel Fuller		(written by)

Produced by
Earl McEvoy	....	associate producer
Helen Deutsch	....	producer (uncredited)
S. Sylvan Simon	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
George Duning

Cinematography by
Charles Lawton Jr.

Film Editing by
Gene Havlick

Art Direction by
Carl Anderson

Set Decoration by
Louis Diage

Costume Design by
Jean Louis		(gowns)

Makeup Department
Clay Campbell	....	makeup artist
Helen Hunt	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Jack Fier	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Earl Bellamy	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Lodge Cunningham	....	sound engineer

Camera and Electrical Department
Eddie Blaisdell	....	grip (as E. Blaisdell)
Ollie Hileman	....	gaffer
Victor Scheurich	....	camera operator (as Vic Schurich)
Irving Lippman	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Emil Oster	....	assistant camera (uncredited)

Music Department
Morris Stoloff	....	musical director (as M.W. Stoloff)
Arthur Morton	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Rose Loewinger	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD) (Sam Fuller Collection)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

79 min | Germany:80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bradbury Building - 304 S. Broadway, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Director Douglas Sirk signed to make this film on the basis of Sam Fuller's original screenplay, which was called "The Lovers" and ended in a shoot-out. Co-producer Helen Deutsch rewrote the script and added a cop-out ending Sirk disliked. Sirk later said Deutsch's script changes ruined the film by depriving it of the sense of doom in Fuller's original story.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

If You Can Lick Them, Join Them

If the movie were an airplane, then it wobbled a lot before finally crashing and burning with an utterly illogical ending. Up to that point, this crime drama is mediocre at best. The best part follows the couple (Wilde and Knight) as they flee the cops after running out on Knight's parole and in the process sinking into society's lower depths. That 20 minute sequence is done with both flair and zip.

Director Douglas Sirk is known for artistic soap opera, so it's not surprising that this film emphasizes the love story over the crime element. The trouble is that Wilde is woodenly uninvolving, while Knight's character remains muddled, to say the least. A key part of the plot lies in tracking her evolving emotions. But that's hard to do since these developments are confusingly portrayed, helped neither by the turgid script nor by Knight's thespic limitations. Apparently cult movie-maker Sam Fuller co-authored some of the screenplay, which, on the face of it, seems hard to believe. Nonetheless, I'm sure he had nothing to do with the ridiculous climax that instead smacks of outside interference of the most thoughtless kind.

Calling this a noir film is, I think, a stretch. It's certainly not filmed as noir, with none of the usual trademark light and shadow. True, the plot contains a number of noirish elements, but Sirk's style doesn't bring these out in recognizably noir fashion. Even so, the many SoCal location shots are both entertaining and appropriate for crime drama. (Too bad we don't get more of the dingy oil field setting, which has definite and exotic noir potential.) But noir or not, this is a rather poorly done crime drama, having neither the force nor the panache of the better examples of the period. With better casting, a more cogent screenplay, and more attention to the oil field, this could have been a memorable film.