Shock (1946) Film Noir Thriller
The film tells the story of a psychiatrist, Dr. Cross (Vincent Price), who is treating a young woman, Janet Stewart (Anabel Shaw), who is in a coma-state, brought on when she heard loud arguing, went to her window and saw a man strike his wife with a candlestick and kill her. It also stars Lynn Bari as Dr. Cross’s nurse/lover, Elaine Jordan.
As Stewart comes out of her shock, she recognizes Dr. Cross as the killer. He then takes her to his sanitarium and at Elaine’s urging, gives Janet an overdose of insulin under the pretense of administering insulin shock therapy. He can’t bring himself to murder her in cold blood, though, and asks Elaine to get the medicine to save her. Elaine refuses, they argue, and he strangles her. A colleague of Dr. Cross, Dr. Harvey, saves Janet’s life and Dr. Cross is taken into custody by a lawyer from the District Attorney’s office.
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Directed by Alfred L. Werker, produced by Aubrey Schenck, written by Eugene Ling (screenplay), Albert DeMond (story) and Martin Berkeley (dialogue), starring Vincent Price as Dr. Richard Cross, Lynn Bari as Elaine Jordan, Frank Latimore as Lt. Paul Stewart, Anabel Shaw as Janet Stewart, Stephen Dunne as Dr. Stevens, Reed Hadley as O’Neill, Renee Carson as Mrs. Hatfield and Charles Trowbridge as Dr. Franklin Harvey.