SHOCK

Vincent Price and Frank Latimore

SHOCK (1946). Director: Alfred Werker.

Waiting at a hotel for the husband she thought had died in the war, Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw) sees a man (Vincent Price) across the way bop his wife on the head with a candlestick, and goes into shock. Later the Doctor Cross who treats her is this very same man -- and murderer. Egged on by his callous lover and nurse Elaine, (Lynn Bari), Cross decides to do away with Anabel before she can talk, but he at least has a conscience. Will he do it or won't he? This is an okay suspense film with decent if unspectacular performances; Price is fairly artificial but as smooth and entertaining as usual. Shaw and Frank Latimore as her husband are both effective, as is Bari (Trauma; Sunny Side of the Street). The appealing Latimore was introduced in Otto Preminger's In the Meantime, Darling in 1944 and subsequently appeared in Purple Noon and many other films both in the U.S. and abroad. Werker directed much better films than this, including The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Kidnapped.

Verdict: Minor but more than passable suspense film. **1/2.