"Shockproof" is a 1949 Douglas Sirk film starring Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight. Wilde is Griff Marat, who gets a paroled prisoner, Jenny Marsh (Knight) on his caseload. She refuses to give up the bad acquaintances that got her into trouble in the first place; this includes her old boyfriend, Harry (John Baragrey) whom she continues to meet secretly. Griff has taken Jenny into his home to care for his blind mother (Esther Minciotti),and over time, they fall in love. Though she's still pulled toward Harry, she balks when Harry wants her to convince Griff to marry her, a clear violation of his job ethics and her parole. Because Griff has political ambitions, they will then have them where they want him. Gradually Harry realizes that Jenny is not going to cooperate, and he ends up gravely injured. Griff and Jenny go on the run to avoid her arrest.

This is a pretty good noir with two heavyweights attached, Sirk, the director, and Sam Fuller, who co-wrote the script. Unfortunately, the characters aren't fleshed out enough so that we understand their sudden turnarounds - a man on the side of the law with political ambitions decides to throw it all out the window, marry a client secretly, and go on the run riding in boxcars and living in shacks because though the shooting was accidental, Griff feels Jenny won't be believed. That's just Griff - in reality, all three of the main characters do complete reversals during the course of this film with little or no justification.

Wilde does a good job here, and Knight, a new actress to me, is beautiful and has good chemistry opposite her then husband Wilde. She didn't work much longer, as after their divorce, her career dried up.

Entertaining.

I chose to watch this film because it was written by Sam Fuller--and Fuller was a freakin' genius at making exceptional small-budget films. However, as you'll notice from the IMDb trivia that Fuller's original tough-as-nails ending was changed--and a cheap clichéd ending was added. And, after watching it, I would agree that the ending was terrible--but what occurred before that wasn't a whole lot better.

The film begins with a lady getting paroled. She'd murdered someone and her parole officer (Cornell Wilde) insists she cannot see her old boyfriend as a condition of parole. However, the next day she's caught with him. Instead of violating her parole, he instead treats her very, very strangely. Like a total sap, he brings her and another parolee home to meet his family and have dinner with them! Soon, he hires her to look after his blind mother--and she's practically part of the family.

You wonder if any officer could ever have been that stupid or have such poor personal boundaries! You assume that any parole officer behaving like he does during the film would be immediately fired! Throughout much of the film, it's obvious she's playing her parole officer and secretly meets with the old boyfriend. Eventually, however, it's uncertain--could she be falling in love with Wilde? You sure as heck know he's falling for her! This is a film where you very seriously have to suspend your sense of disbelief--otherwise the plot simply won't make any sense. After all, Wilde's character is absolutely unbelievable...and as the film progresses, he gets worse and worse! As for me, I wasn't able to suspend my belief THIS much! I am not sure how much of this was due to Fuller and how much was due to studio meddling, but it was a problematic script from the outset. It MIGHT have worked if Wilde had played a dishonest p.o. from the outset--not the super-officer he was supposed to be. The one redeeming value the film has is the great dialog--very gritty and enjoyable for fans of film noir (except for the inexplicable line about 'getting a crook' and moving to California). But the story just didn't make any sense and it clearly could have used a re-write or just an entirely new plot--and an ending that is believable. The story could have worked, but instead of tense film noir it sometimes closer resembled "Dumb and Dumber"! Could a supposedly smart man act dumb over a 'dame'? Sure--but the film just didn't sell the idea well at all.

A pretty stodgy thriller in the Hitchcock mould. Cornel Wilde plays a handsome young parole officer who accidentally falls in love with a prisoner who's been recently released and is now trying to go straight. Patricia Knight is the femme fatale and object of his affections. Despite his best intentions, she ends up hooking up with her sinister criminal ex-boyfriend, leading to unforeseen consequences for all involved.

Despite an intriguing storyline, SHOCKPROOF misses the mark for the most part, content to spend the majority of its running time with long-winded dialogue scenes and mild romance. Things only pick up when the couple go on the run, but that's towards the end of the production and SABOTEUR this ain't. The leads are rather weak and John Baragrey bags the best role as the conniving ex.