Movies from before the time I was born intrigue me largely because they are a form of historical record.  In some ways, they show as the world was in reality at a given time.  In other ways, they reflect how people wanted the world to be or how it was regarded from a certain perspective.

1949 Shockproof is yet another noir I have seen where somebody on parole is not allowed to get married.  I did some internet sleuthing and am uncertain whether this is still part of the parole process.  The answer wasn’t clear.  Also, if this practice was discontinued, I couldn’t find any information from when it ended.  I did, however, start to realize that my internet history is going to look awfully strange if my wife ever gets curious as to what I’ve been up to.

In this movie, parole officer Cornel Wilde tells Patricia Knight, his latest assignment, that he has two primary rules: she can’t carry a weapon and she can’t marry.  I was especially curious as to whether men on parole were usually restricted in doing the latter.  The restriction on carrying weapons was, hopefully, something both genders were subject to, though it does seem like many people freshly out of prison might be the ones who most need something for protection.  Also, I’d like to see a list of what constitutes a weapon.  There are many things you can harm a person with: screwdrivers, sandpaper, 70’s novelty hit single “Disco Duck”.

Wilde especially warned Knight from fraternizing with John Baragrey.  She is going to repeatedly ignore that direction, as she says of that man, “He waited 5 years for me.  A college education.  A refined man.  And he waited for me.”  But we can tell from the man’s general demeanor that he probably didn’t wait even five minutes after she was incarcerated to take up with another woman.

I’d say her parole officer is an even worse prospect for her, and it is no surprise he will be her downfall.  I was wondering at what point his interest in her would cross the line into inappropriate behavior.  It is very questionable he gets her a job assisting a blind woman…who just happens to be his mother (Esther Minciotti).  Of course, that means her new place of residence will be a room in the house where he lives with his mother, as well as younger brother Charles Bates.

There isn’t much I can say about the plot of this.  Knight longs for Baragrey, Wilde longs for her.  She alternates between being attracted to Wilde and pushing him away.  I’d say that just the potential for the relationship to be exploitive means she should steer clear but, if she does that, we wouldn’t have a movie.

Frankly, I didn’t feel it was much of a movie until the third act, when Wilde does something rather out of character which results in he and Knight on the run.  The performances are a bit stiff for the most part.  I wasn’t sold on Knight falling for Wilde and I think that is largely because his abuse of his power over her creeped me out.

A lesser grievance is I didn’t believe Minciotti was the mother of Wilde and Bates, nor that the boys were brothers.  She looks too old to be even the mother of Wilde, and that is taking into account the actor’s actual age and not the younger age I believe the filmmakers want us to think he is.  Then there’s the age disparity between the guys, as Wilde looks like he could be the father of Bates instead of being the older brother.

Circling back to the time capsule aspect of this, there is some interesting footage of Los Angeles of the time.  There’s The Bradbury and its famous, and highly photogenic, atrium.  Most viewers today likely best remember it from Blade Runner.  There is also some street footage, though some of it may be the studio lot, but it was convincing enough to pass for the real thing.  I like the very first shots of the picture, where pedestrians are stepping all over “Hollywood Blvd” as painted on a corner curb.  I suspect there is a metaphor to be found in that imagery.

Shockproof didn’t impress me much, landing somewhere in the fair-to-good rankings of noir in my book (as for that book, it should be an old school reporter’s notepad which I update using the pencil kept behind my ear).  Given the picture was directed by Douglas Sirk, I was surprised it was more grounded in traditional noir than in melodrama.  One line here amused me, if only because of the director going on to specialize in that genre: “Don’t be so melodramatic.”  Oh, give it time.

Dir: Douglas Sirk

Starring Cornel Wilde, Patricia Knight, John Baragray, Esther Minciotti

Watched on Powerhouse/Indicator UK blu-ray (region B)