Shockproof (1949)
Jenny Marsh is a hard-luck dame who's just finished five years in the slammer for killing a man. Jenny's not exactly the murdering type -- she did the deed while defending her jailbird lover, Harry, which is probably one reason she's attracted the attention of her parole officer, Griff Marat. In fact, Griff is so taken with Jenny that he gets her a job caring for his ailing mother, but although Jenny tries to fly right, she's not yet over Harry.
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Pretty Good
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable
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)
A pretty stodgy thriller in the Hitchcock mould. Cornel Wilde plays a handsome young parole officer who accidentally falls in love with a prisoner who's been recently released and is now trying to go straight. Patricia Knight is the femme fatale and object of his affections. Despite his best intentions, she ends up hooking up with her sinister criminal ex-boyfriend, leading to unforeseen consequences for all involved.Despite an intriguing storyline, SHOCKPROOF misses the mark for the most part, content to spend the majority of its running time with long-winded dialogue scenes and mild romance. Things only pick up when the couple go on the run, but that's towards the end of the production and SABOTEUR this ain't. The leads are rather weak and John Baragrey bags the best role as the conniving ex.
Enjoyed this film a great deal because I always liked Cornel Wilde, (Griff Marat) who plays the role as a parole officer and he has to deal with a very attractive gal named Jenny Marsh, (Patricia Knight) who spent five years in prison for taking the rap for murder which she did for her lover Harry Wesson, (John Baragrey). Griff tells Jenny she cannot have anything to do with her boyfriend Harry and he also put many restrictions on her because she is on parole for life. Griff begins to take a liking to Jenny but she fights him off and wants to always go back to her lover. This story takes on many twists and turns which holds your interest and I was very surprised that the hairstyle and clothes that Patricia Knight wore would even look great today, she gave a great performance.
There's a world of difference between Cornel Wilde's previous film, Roadhouse, and this one and it's not entirely due to the casting - Roadhouse boasted a great quartet in Wilde, Richard Widmark, Ida Lupino and Celeste Holm, whereas her we get Wilde, period, and Jean Negulesco handled Roadhouse better than Douglas Sirk handles Shockproof (a meaningless title having nothing to do with the story. Considering they'd been married a good decade there's remarkably little chemistry between Wilde and Patricia Knight or indeed between anyone in the cast and anyone else. The protagonists meet in the first minute, she a parolee, he her parole officer and you can bet the farm he's going to fall for her despite his 'tough' attitude. It's all fairly predictable but Sirk was a decent craftsman and is able to salvage something ... not much, but a little. For Sirk completists only.