(1946) ***1/2
I must admit, I've always kinda had a school girl crush on Vincent Price. The man was such an icon in my horror obsessed youth. He could radiate pure unadulterated evil in one film then slip into the role of tormented soul in another. This single man inducing fear one moment and sympathy the next. That said, I chose to conclude this years Horrorthon with a classic Vincent Price film. And no this isn't my last review, I still have 4 more I'm dragging my feet on.
Shock puts Vincent Price in the role of the ill-fated Dr. Richard Cross. Prodded by the influence of his voluptuous nurse/lover the lovestruck doctor unintentionally commits murder. The crime is witnessed by a young bride staying at the same hotel awaiting the arrival of her young husband. Seeing the violent act leaves her in a catatonic state of shock. The hotel manager calls Dr. Cross to help with the young woman. The sight of him drives her deeper into a self induced coma state. Under the doctor's advice she is committed to a sanitarium where he can give her constant care. Now the doctor, tormented by the unfortunate turn of events must decide if he will cure the woman and pay the consequences or succumb to the demands of his zealous lover and commit murder once again. 
Although this is not one of my favorite Price films it is a fine example of him playing that tortured soul. The kind doctor truly finds himself trapped within a web of bad decisions and cruelty. He is forced to commit acts as far from his gentle nature as he ever could have imagined. Lynn Bari does a bang up job as the pushy Nurse Jordan forcing the doctor's hand through every bad choice. What a total bitch, she knew enough not to commit the acts herself so she just kept pushing his buttons to get him to do it. I wanted to punch her in the face. How I do love the acting in these old films. It was a nice film to finish with.
12 comments:
Nice review Catfreeek! It took me years before I was able to take Vincent Price seriously (my childhood memory of him was his Brady Bunch appearance) but in recent years I've come around.
Curse you Brady Bunch!
Whoah, whoah, let's not say things we can't take back!
You should compile a list of your favorite Price flicks by the way.
You should answer your damn phone when I call you.
I like this film, which has Rear Window vibe to it. This is the youngest I've ever seen Vincent Price. The Brady Bunch was my introduction to Price as well. The Last Man on Earth changed my entire opinion about the man. Shock is a fun b-movie. Nice review!
Don't feel badly, Cat, JSP never answers his phone or respond to email.
Yeah, I'm just breaking his balls about it is all. You can't even leave him a voicemail cause his inbox is full.
If you ever call him and he says, "Let me call you back in 5 minutes" what he is really saying is, "I have no intention of calling you back".
Great review, Cat! Dayamn, Vincent is young in this.
DCD and I saw him speak once at Rhode Island College. He was a riot.
Johnny lost his phone once several years back and I usually assume that's the case today.
"Johnny lost his phone once" Once? Try about 10 times!
JPX you mean like last night when he said he'd call me back. I'm still waiting...
10 times you say. That's why my assumption works so well.
Oh Cat, I've been on the receiving end of that "I'll call you right back" statement too many times to count! If he says that to you it means that he doesn't want to talk to you for at least 24 hours. It's "Brentspeak".
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