The Shock

1923 Drama 64 minutes Directed by Lambert Hillyer

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About The Shock

In 1906, crippled Chinatown gangster Wilse Dilling is sent by his boss, Queen Ann Cardington, to Fallbrook. He is to watch banker Micha Hadley, a former lover she blackmailed into embezzling. Posing as a telegraph operator, Wilse falls in love with Hadley's daughter Gertrude, who is engaged to Jack Cooper. He tries to blow up the bank to hide the evidence and injures Gertrude. Cooper's father makes Jack drop her. Queen Ann kidnaps Gertrude. Jack will not help. Wilse faces the gang in their cafe as the San Francisco earthquake hits, killing Ann and her men. The shock lets him walk, and he starts over with Gertrude.

Cast & crew

More about The Shock

Lambert Hillyer directed. Arthur Statter and Charles Kenyon wrote the scenario from William Dudley Pelley's magazine story The Pit of the Golden Dragon. Carl Laemmle presented it for Universal. It was released on June 10, 1923. Wikipedia says the $90,000 picture returned a large profit. The running time is given as 64 minutes, 7 reels, 6,738 feet.

Themes

  • A crippled gunman
  • Blackmail of a banker
  • The 1906 earthquake
  • Wilse Dilling
  • Queen Ann
  • Gertrude Hadley
  • Fallbrook
  • San Francisco earthquake

Background

The last reel uses the San Francisco earthquake of April 18, 1906. Queen Ann and her gang die in it, and Wilse walks again.

Look

Dwight Warren photographed the Chinatown scenes, the bank blast, and the earthquake.

Music

Silent.

Preservation

A print is held by Film Preservation Associates.

Notes

  • Lon Chaney is Wilse Dilling. Virginia Valli is Gertrude Hadley. Christine Mayo is Ann Cardington, called Queen Ann. Jack Mower is Jack Cooper. William Welsh is Micha Hadley. Henry A. Barrows is John Cooper Sr.
  • Walter Long plays the Captain. Harry De Vere is Olaf Wismer. John Beck is Bill.
  • Wikipedia notes this is one of the few Chaney films in which his character ends with the woman he loves.
  • A lobby card and the poster art have both been reproduced online.

Scenes

  • Queen Ann sends Wilse to Fallbrook to watch the banker.
  • The bank blast injures Gertrude, and Jack's father ends the engagement.
  • The earthquake kills the gang, and Wilse finds he can walk.

Influenced by

  • The Pit of the Golden Dragon, a magazine story by William Dudley Pelley

Also available

  • Internet Archive (TheShock)
  • Wikimedia Commons (The Shock (1923).webm)

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