150 Word Review: 'Shockproof' (1949)
Mama knows best
Director Douglas Sirk's Shockproof is either a film noir with a melodrama's heart or vice versa. This crisp-looking ticket to the lower depths of Los Angeles seesaws between light and dark, but it never finds a balance.
Patricia Knight is a pair of heels when we first meet her, then a brunette who turns into a blonde. She's a parolee on a short leash after doing time for murder—she killed a man to protect her no-good lover, a degenerate gambler who's been waiting for her release. As her parole officer, Cornel Wilde is dashing and decent and a frustrating mama's boy who falls in love with Knight's ex-con, a dame who only has eyes for dangerous men.
The murderess and her babysitter fall in love. What about her dirty high roller? This is one weird love triangle, and then someone gets shot. Bottomline: you can't run from the law.