The Shock - 1923

Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Lambert Hillyer
Writers: Charles Kenyon, William Dudley Pelley (story)
Stars: Lon Chaney (Wilse Dilling), Virginia Valli (Gertrude Hadley) and Jack Mower (Jack Cooper)
Release Date: 10 June 1923 (USA)
Budget: $90,220 (estimated)
Gross: $257,327 (Worldwide)
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 96 min  | 69 min (DVD)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White  | Color (tinted)
Trivia
A Jewel Production. Universal, lacking a proprietary theater chain, devised a 3-tiered branding system to enable it to market its feature product to independent theater owners: Red Feather (low budget programmers), Bluebird (mainstream releases) and Jewel (prestige productions capable of drawing higher roadshow ticket prices). This branding system ended in late 1929.  
Plot Keywords: Melodrama | Earthquake | San Francisco California
Genres: Crime | Drama
Mysterious, sinister Wilse Dilling receives a coded message to go to the home of Queen Ann, a powerful crime boss. When Wilse meets with her, she sends him to the town of Fallbrook, where he is to await her instructions. Being practically wheelchair-bound has not stopped Dilling from committing a lengthy series of crimes, but to his surprise, he finds that the small town atmosphere makes him feel differently about everything. He finds a good friend in banker's daughter Gertrude Hadley, who helps him believe that he can make a fresh start. But Wilse's new-found contentment is soon shattered by a series of new developments.