Summary

SHOCK, THE

Source Archive Films by Getty Images
Title: SHOCK, THE
File Number: AFP-6HR 16mm AFP-6HS 16mm VTM-6HR Beta SP VTM-6HS Beta SP
Color: B W
Type: Silent Feature
Year: 1923
Description: B W 1923 Silent crime melodrama starring Lon Chaney. Contains an excellent earthquake sequence (could work as a recreation of the infamous San Francisco earthquake of 1906). Wilse Dilling is a crippled criminal underling whose boss, a vampish tough girl named "Queen Ann", operates out of a sleazy Chinatown dive. She sends Dilling to a small town to keep an eye on a local banker, and while awaiting further instructions he falls in love with the banker's pure-hearted daughter, Gertrude. It turns out the gang has been blackmailing the banker, who is guilty of embezzlement but when Dilling receives instructions to turn up the heat, he refuses and instead destroys the evidence against the banker by blowing up his safe with dynamite. Furious at his doublecross, "Queen Ann" abducts Gertrude and is about to exact revenge when an earthquake strikes, which not only kills all the bad people and allows the virtuous to escape, but ultimately cures Dilling's crippled legs, thus paving the way for a romance with Gertrude free of the burden of physical handicap. Cast: Lon Chaney (Wilse Dilling), Virginia Valli (Gertrude Hadley), Jack Mower (Jack Cooper), William Welsh (Mischa Hadley), Henry Barrows (John Cooper, Sr.), Christine Mayo (Anne Vincent ["Queen Anne"]), Harry Devere (Olaf Wismer), John Beck (Bill), Walter Long (The Captain). 00:27:34:00 B W 1923 ws Street scenes, people milling around at night turn of the century look, somewhat seedy neighborhood [a studio set]. 00:52:19:00 B W 1923 cu Burning fuse and dynamite sticks (sequence in which man blows up a bank safe) brief shot of explosion, EXT BANK at night. 00:28:17:00 B W 1923 ws, ms Scenes inside a Chinatown cafe ("The Mandarin Cafe - a whirlpool of vice and intrigue"), a smoky restaurant with dangling Chinese lanterns, could work for opium den man and woman at restaurant table, man struggles to eat with chopsticks. 00:54:01:00 B W 1923 ws, ms Aftermath of explosion: people emerge from storefronts, begin running (night) man digs through rubble, uncovers body of woman, lifts her out others come to rescue. 00:45:00:00 B W 1923 ms Middle-aged man sits at desk, reads letter, looks worried good image of anxiety, money troubles. 01:05:26:00 B W 1923 ws, ms Young woman in hospital bed, first she is comforted by middle aged man (doctor or father), then by nurse iris closes on patient's face. 00:45:16:00 B W 1923 ecu Alarm bell ringing (two bells on an old fashioned telephone). 01:07:12:00 B W 1923 cu Woman peeks out from behind curtain, only one eye and her fingertips are visible mysterious shot, spying, intrigue. 00:45:28:00 B W 1923 cu, ms Telephone conversation, intercut shots between vamp type woman and worried looking middle-aged man, both talk on old fashioned telephones woman hangs up, man looks frightened, devastated. 01:12:30:00 B W 1923 ws, ms Horse drawn carriage drives down narrow street at night, stops vampish woman and two men get out, walk into narrow alleyway. 00:47:45:00 B W 1923 ms Man paces around in office, wringing his hands worry, anxiety, stress. 01:20:00:00 B W 1923 ws EXCELLENT earthquake sequence: WS city street, facades of buildings crumble people run through streets as rubble falls around them CU crack opens in street WS house on cliff, cliff crumbles into sea INT cafe, rubble falls on people wrecked buildings catch fire. 01:23:50:00 B W 1923 ws Man in wheelchair (Lon Chaney, but distant, hard to recognize) gets up, walks unsteadily toward woman park setting a miracle
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