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 | Bus | Gambling | Gambler

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)

"Stop with the melodrama!" touché

They say it's the journey, not the destination, that usually counts with stories. In the case of Shockproof it's good to just focus on the journey, in all its B-movie-ness and, yes since it is Douglas Sirk, melodrama, because the destination kind of stinks. The film's story concerns a beautiful blonde parolee played by Patricia Knight who is put into the watchful eye and soon enough loving arms of her parole officer, Cornell Wilde. She's been wanting to get back together with her former lover, a gambler-hustler named Harry Wesson, who by the look of the guy is sleazy but perhaps not too bad a shake for a 'dame' like Knight plays. But the parole officer wants a better life for her, and that she knows it too. Soon she does, after some persistence, fall for Griff, but at a price when another character gets (preumably) murdered after a gunshot.

It becomes a lovers-on-the-run story, and, not to quote Harry's own line about the melodrama I mention above, this twist does bring some melodrama with it as the characters try to evade the law, cross into Mexico, go back into the states and Griff becomes an oil-drill worker. But the main problem of being on the lam catches up to them, and finally a decision is made. It's around here, in just the last few minutes, that the film really crumbles into predictability (and, to be fair, it wasn't Fuller's idea as the producer rewrote the script before filming). The acting and the script up until that point, however, does deliver on the promise of a simple premise. There's nothing terribly special about the story, but it works on its own terms as a tale of a love-triangle gone awry. We know the situation might be different if a character did something smarter, or did something more drastic or if, say, Harry went more into an actual criminal role and just ran off with Jenny to start with after she got out of prison.

But as it stands the performances are just fine- even the one-note crooning of the blind mother of Griff's who knows what she knows even without seeing, a real Fuller caricature if I ever saw one- and when it comes off like a real film-noir, with edge and believability, both of the legends Sirk and Fuller can get credit. It's no great shakes, but it passes 80 minutes by with some rich emotions and a, with a few exceptions in some scenes, solid dramatic turns and directions made by the characters.