"Schockproof" looks like a blueprint for Sirk's works to come ,particularly "Written on the wind" .Patricia Knight is the bad girl (because of a tormented childhood,poverty ,parents loss....) we find again in the 1956 effort:¨besides Knight resembles Dorothy Malone,who,unlike her,will play a rich spoilt kid ,playing around with the gas station men,and driving along a road of derricks (also present in "shockproof") "Shockproof" is too predictable to be considered a Sirk classic (like such works as "written on the wind" "all that heaven allows" "imitation of life" or "a time to love and a time to die" ,to name but four).The script borrows from two Fritz Lang works of the thirties ,one of which is a masterpiece ("You only live twice" ) ;in the other one, much less absorbing "You and me" ,Sylvia Sydney plays a woman in the same situation as Knight.Also handicapped by a happy end ,very artificial.
The best scenes are to be found in the parole officer's house ,when Knight discovers that the other guest is also on parole;this family unit (an old blind mom,two kid brothers) desperately needs someone ,it's obvious.The rebuilding of a family will emerge again in "all that heaven allows" "there's always tomorrow" and particularly "Imitation of life" and "All I desire"
The best scenes are to be found in the parole officer's house ,when Knight discovers that the other guest is also on parole;this family unit (an old blind mom,two kid brothers) desperately needs someone ,it's obvious.The rebuilding of a family will emerge again in "all that heaven allows" "there's always tomorrow" and particularly "Imitation of life" and "All I desire"