Shockproof

Written by none other than the great Sam Fuller, this superior blend of love-on-the-run thriller and social comment, filtered through film noir, follows the fraught, doomed relationship between a parole officer and the female ex-con with whom he falls in love. The depiction of the ways in which society refuses to forgive criminals for their past misdemeanours is none too sophisticated, but Fuller's punchy, tabloid-like script, Sirk's stylishly economical direction, and the unsentimental characterisations lend it power. A pity about the contrived ending, imposed on Sirk by Columbia, but the film still looked good enough for Richard Hamilton to base a series of paintings on its shots of Knight.