Patricia Knight and Cornel Wilde were married when they made this film together. The sultry blonde actress and the square-jawed hunk actor stayed married for 14 years and collaborated many times together. In this gritty one, set in L.A., Ms. Knight plays a true femme-fatale...a murderess, where corpses and carnage seem to be part of the settings wherever she goes. Still, she's a babe, so we like her. Our film today is 1949's "Shockproof," directed by Douglas Sirk.
Los Angeles probation officer, Griff Morat (Wilde), meets his new parolee, a sultry dame who is getting out after serving five years for murder. Jenny (Knight) is a murderess, but boy is she a dish. Griff, a good soul, wants Jenny to go straight, tries to get her a job and a place to live. Sadly, Jenny always drifts back to her old BF, the gambler Harry Wesson (John Baragrey). See, John waited for her for five years. Jenny actually murdered to protect Harry...and she feels she owes him. Griff knows Jenny is too good for Harry and has Jenny stay at his place, care for his blind mother (Esther Minciotti), and tend house. Yep, they fall in love. Harry will not accept this and he wants Jenny back...who wouldn't?
Now Harry works out a scheme to ruin Griff and get Jenny back. Jenny, at first, seems willing to return to the man who waited five years for her. Then Griff really turns on the charm and Jenny is in love. Now Harry is forced to act. Uh oh...cross a dame and you can get hurt. Cross a dame who just happens to be a murderer and well...get more than hurt. However sweet Jenny is, she is a killer. Now Griff's world is turned upside down and what follows is pure awfulness for him and Jenny.
What does Jenny do to Harry? Can Jenny and Griff eventually get married and live happily ever after? Is a pretty face all that is needed to forgive homicidal tendencies in a sultry dame? Perhaps, in the movies it is. For a gritty Film Noir action flick, with great cheese and beef, see "Shockproof" and be ready to gasp in surprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment