clanciai Great thriller in the small size, but the acting lifts it out of the B level, especially Anabel Shaw as the poor innocent wife who instead of receiving her expected husband back from the war ends up a victim herself in a hospital. Vincent Price makes another of his very dubious vacillating monster characters who hesitates to take the step fully out into an irrevocable blatantly criminal evil. The end comes as a most welcome surprise - of all things, you would never have expected THAT for a conclusion, but there are some very tense nail-biting moments of unbearable suspense before the explosion of the balloon. The husband Frank Latimore also plays a decent part sharing the victim's trauma and ultimately saving her of course, and is persistent in reminding you of Frank Sinatra - without singing. The music, though, is perfect and adds to both the atmosphere and the suspense. It's a perfect thriller if you don't want it to go on for too long.

Red-Barracuda 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.

udar55 Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) arrives in San Francisco to meet her recently freed POW husband Paul (Frank Latimore). With his arrival delayed, Janet spends the night alone in the hotel and is woken up around 1am by a dream. In the apartment adjacent to hers she hears arguing between Dr. Richard Cross (Vincent Price) and his wife. She watches as he murders her and it puts her in a state of shock, so she is unresponsive when her husband finally arrives. The doc examining her recommends a preeminent psychiatrist who just happens to be...Dr. Cross! With Janet housed at his institute, Dr. Cross conspires with his lover/nurse Elaine (Lynn Bari) on how to be get rid of this witness.A excursion into video roulette led me to this fun little horror- thriller that might be one of the first REAR WINDOW-type stories for the screen. Director Alfred L. Werker does a good job of moving things along quickly (the film only runs 70 minutes) and scores best in terms of atmosphere on a rainy night at the sanitarium. The cast is fine all around. Price is very good in his role as the doctor who is very conflicted on what he has done/is doing and seems to be helpless against the will of femme fatal Elaine. It is funny to me to see a time where a doc will suggest all sorts of crazy things to try on a patient and the husband is full blown "whatever you need to do, doc!" The story was completely ripped off for an entry titled "Mute Witness to Murder" in William Gaines' "The Crypt of Terror" in 1950; it was later adapted for HBO's TALES FROM THE CRYPT with Patricia Clarkson in the lead female role and Richard Thomas as the crazed doc. John Boy, how could you!

sddavis63 Made before Vincent Price would become famous as a horror movie actor in the 1950's, "Shock" is a suspense movie, not a thriller and certainly not a horror movie. Price played Dr. Richard Cross, a psychiatrist who has just murdered his wife. Unbeknownst to him, Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) witnessed the murder from a neighbouring room but falls into a state of shock because of it - and is sent to Cross's sanitarium for treatment!The question that hovers over the movie is how far Cross is willing to go to cover up his crime. At first, it seems as if simply convincing everyone (including Janet herself) that she's hallucinating and is having delusions will work. Cross managed to dump his wife's body in such a way that everyone thought her death was accidental, and so there seems no threat. As the evidence as to how she died mounts, though, Janet becomes a greater danger to Cross and his lover, Miss Jordan (Lynn Bari.) Finally, it seems as if the only way to save himself will be for Cross to kill Janet. The question is whether he'll go through with it - and whether he'll be stopped.Once that final plot twist arrives, and Janet's life is put very much at stake, this does become fairly suspenseful. Up until that point, though, the suspense was somewhat lacking. It's a well-written movie and Price, Shaw and Bari were quite good in their roles. Price especially did a pretty good job portraying the doctor, tormented between his desire to get away with his crime, but also by the thought of having to kill a patient to do it. If the suspense had been more consistent throughout the movie rather than largely restricted to the last few scenes, this would probably be ranked higher, because overall the story is pretty good. (5/10)