User Reviews

A young husband comes home only to discover her second wife has been having an affair behind his back with her own sister's boyfriend. David Starrling has entrusted his young daughter, Susan, by a previous marriage to Celia, a beautiful and sophisticated woman, who is more preoccupied in two timing the absent husband than caring for the girl. Into this picture enters Dell, Celia's own sibling, who discovers how her own sister has been deceiving her.

One night, after Dell has visited David and Celia, she returns to confront her sister. Unknown to her, Celia has been having a fight with David because, he too, has told her all that he has seen and the way he has caught her lying. After heated words are exchanged, a gun goes off and Celia lies dead on the floor. Susan, who evidently has seen it all from a side door, begins screaming hysterically.

David is accused of the murder of his wife and is found guilty. He receives the death penalty and is sent away to await the date of his execution. Susan's trauma lands her in a children's hospital, where the kind Dr. Caroline Canford, a specialist in psychological disorders is working with the girl to restore her mental balance. Dell, who has a lot at stake wants to get rid of Susan so that she can put behind this unhappy time she has been living. When she gets custody of the girl, wants her to come stay in her country place, Susan, who has suffered a great deal, suddenly sees a familiar shadow projected on the wall and screams for help, as the mystery is solved.

Pat Jackson, a British director, got an fine screen play from William Ludwig, which he turned into a satisfying thriller. He got helped along the way by the interesting music score Andre Previn composed and the cinematography by Ray June, with its dark shadows. The movie holds the viewer in a certain suspense, even when the culprit is known from the start.

Ann Sothern, who for some reason bears an uncanny resemblance of Agnes Moorehead in this film, has some good dramatic moments; she makes the best out of them. Sweet Gigi Perreau is seen as Susan, the girl at the center of all the intrigue. Nancy Davis, who went to be the First Lady of the land, makes an impact as Caroline Canford, the doctor that is able to untangle everything in the young girl's mind. Zachary Scott is only seen briefly. The rest of the players make a valuable contribution to make this picture worth seeing.

I'm not sure why some people are bashing this movie. My only thought is that they were either too young to remember it when it used to come on quite often on the late show in the 60's or they weren't born. This matters because of the way thrillers are made and shown today. Today Hollywood is very clever with FX and big budgets to make you believe almost anything. But back in the 50's and 60's, movies had to be able to trick you into believing with smoke and mirrors. Alfred Hitchcock was a master of this. Which is why his movies were the more popular and respected of the lot. But there are many "old" movies that captured audiences' imagination with just suttle hints of realism and great acting. I mentioned smoke and mirrors, but let's add shadows to that group. This movie did just that. The "shadow on the wall" indeed was the ingredient to make this one of the sleeper thrillers of that era. Right when you think that the killer just might get away with the crime, you are hit with an obvious but unconscious dose of child's innocence which breaks through all barriers of psychology. I remember well as a little girl watching this movie in the sixties and being shocked at the end of it. It was one of those "see it every time it comes on" movies for me and my friends. That's because in part that is was well acted and challenging to the psyche. If you are looking for the new type of "sixth sense" thriller, then this movie isn't for you. But, if you like a good time trying to figure out what's going to happen, then "Shadow on the Wall" is not disappointing. It is fun without the blood and gore.

Future First Lady Nancy Reagan is in Shadow On The Wall as a mental health therapist. Her client is young Gigi Perreau who got the career role of her life as the young girl who saw her stepmother being murdered and her father Zachary Scott going away for the crime.

Still Reagan suspects something's not quite right as Perreau fails to recover despite all kinds of treatments, some of which today would never be used. With dad in jail the closest living and she's not quite a relative is Ann Sothern, victim Kristine Miller's sister.

For those used to seeing Ann Sothern in roles like Maisie Revier on the big screen and Susie McNamara on television her portrayal here will be a revelation. In fact she murdered her sister and wants Perreau under her control to do away with her. She makes a few attempts to do just that during the course of the film.

Zachary Scott is also a revelation. Usually he's the scheming mastermind of plans like Sothern has for Perreau. For those who remember The Mask Of Dimitrios this is a totally different Zachary Scott.

This one is worth a look.

This is a nice change of pace for the still striking Ann Southern, moving into dramatic parts after nearly two decades in mostly comedies or musicals. She had spent nearly a decade earning a steady paycheck as salt of the earth Maisie, solving everybody's troubles like an older Shirley Temple. But here, she causes it, accidentally killing her evil sister and allowing innocent brother- in-law Zachary Scott face the chair. What's ironic is that Scott, finding out that she's been unfaithful, may have done it had the nasty deceased not knocked him out with a blow from her hair brush. Hodiak's young daughter (Gigi Perreau) saw Sothern's shadow and has had a breakdown. Along comes future first lady Nancy Davis as a child psychologist who vows to uncover the secrets Perreau has locked up inside her mind.

This glossy MGM film noir is interesting in its use of who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist and how the truth plays out. It's not easy to hate Sothern knowing how the gunshot happened, but her desperate state turns her into the monster of childhood nightmares, and Sothern plays the increasing anguish in excellent detail. Perreau is incredible as well, showing great depth as her horror comes and goes, giving quite the adult performance in the fact that this would be quite difficult to understand for a child in the situation, let alone play it out. Davis, often attacked for photographing oddly and simply for being the future Nancy Reagan, does manage to provide some warmth in spite of her seemingly public cold demeanor. This has many interesting facets that make up for some unbelievable bits, and of course, typical clichés that you could see coming from miles away.

Gigi Perreau is Susie, a traumatized child in "Shadow on the Wall," a 1950 movie also starring Zachary Scott, Ann Sothern, and Nancy Davis aka our First Lady from 1980-1988. Zachary Scott is David, who confronts his wife Celia about her affair with her sister's fiancé. A fight ensues, and Celia knocks him out with a hand mirror. Her angry sister Dell (Sothern) arrives and kills her. Susie enters the room and screams. David is accused of the crime, and, fuzzy about what happened as he was hit, believes he did it. With her father on Death Row, Susie winds up in a hospital being treated by Dr. Canford (Davis), who tries to recover the child's memory of the murder and what she's blocking.

Today, I doubt if Dad would be bringing his child an Indian doll, referred to in the movie as a "black Injun doll" that little Susie names Cupid. The doll figures in the story, however.

The script is slight though the performances hold up. For a change, Scott is not evil but rather as much a victim of his sister-in-law as his wife. He is charming with the adorable Perreau, who handles her large role very well. The role Sothern plays is unusual for her also. Though she's excellent, this isn't her métier. Her voice, looks, and vivacious personality were best used in comedy. And why was she in a B movie in 1950 at MGM a year after Mankiewicz costarred her in "A Letter to Three Wives" at 20th Century Fox? Davis is pretty and effective as the caring psychiatrist, but there wasn't anything particularly exceptional about her, which is why stardom eluded her. A different kind of stardom lay ahead. There is an interesting scene where she's talking with Dell over a hefty lunch. Given her appearance in later years, it may have been the last time she ate.

There's a major hole in this script regarding the murder weapon. David has a gun, and so does Dell. Dell uses her gun to kill Celia and presumably takes it with her. Wasn't the gun that was found tested? Also, when Dell gets rid of the clothes she wore that night, she doesn't send the gun over the bridge along with them. Bad writing.

"Shadow on the Wall" is of definite interest for the actors but ultimately disappointing because of the script.

I haven't seen many films of Ann Sothern, but apparently she starred in mostly light-hearted, comedic fare. But I feel she does a fine job in taking on this more serious, dramatic role. Nancy Davis takes a good turn as the caring psychiatrist assigned to help the young Susan remember what she saw. I must say she has never appealed to me as an actress (and even less as the psychic-obsessed First Lady). She always comes across rather vanilla and boring to me. I think the child actress did a great job as the daughter who witnesses her step-mother's murderer, but claims she can't remember anything.

I liked some of the imagery used in this film. The actual murderess is sitting having her hair done at the beauty Salon, and suddenly she envisions the salon chair and the hair dryer as the electric chair. There is a nice split-screen effect when young Susan is remembering the shadow on the wall and juxtaposes it with her "Injun" doll.

One oddity in the film I noticed is the court scene when the father is being sentenced - the jurors are all men. I guess this hearkens back to before women were "allowed" to be jurors. (As late as 1942 only twenty-eight state laws allowed women to serve as jurors, but these also gave them the right to claim exemption based on their sex. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 gave women the right to serve on federal juries, but not until 1973 could women serve on juries in all fifty states.) Also, there is a scene where the step-aunt (aka the murderer) is allowed to sit in a room behind a two-way mirror and observe the psychiatrist's working with Susan. This would never be allowed due to Doctor-Patient confidentiality. Also, there is a "bath therapy" where Susan is left ALONE in a treatment room in a bath hammock and almost drowns - again, something that would never happen.

My biggest complaint with the movie though is the attempts that the step-aunt/murderer, Dell, takes to murder her young step-niece. I just found it pretty disturbing.

Perhaps the best aspect of the film was the music score. I especially liked the opening sequence. It starts out with a happy tune, with a childish melody, then turns into a menacing, fearful tune. This sets the stage for the film. Unfortunately, the film doesn't quite deliver.

Best known for starring in the classic sitcoms "Private Secretary" and "The Ann Sothern Show", Sothern delivers a dynamic dramatic performance in this suspenseful thriller. Ann plays a woman who discovers that her sister is having an affair with her husband-to-be. Sothern confronts the sister, accidentally kills her, then flees the scene, allowing her brother-in-law to take the rap. The plot thickens, however, when it is discovered that Sothern's traumatized young niece witnessed the dreadful event, and the child is starting to regain her memory. The supporting cast also impresses, but this is Ann's vehicle all the way, and, as usual, she is magnificent.

But He doesn't in this case and I really don't blame Him. Never have I seen somebody more deserving of a bullet.

Celia Starrling is having an affair with her older sister Dell's (Ann Southern) fiance, Crane. Celia is married to a nice guy (Zachary Scott as David). He is a good provider, he loves her, he doesn't neglect her or cheat on her or beat her. He is easy on the eyes. But she takes the fiance because she can. But it all comes out at a dinner party. Later that night David and Celia are bickering over the situation. She tries to make it sound like it is nothing, but then David find's the fiance's monogrammed handkerchief in his bathrobe and angrily comes towards Celia with a gun in his hand. Celia knocks David unconscious with a heavy object. She is afraid she has killed him and calls her sister - the one whose fiance she stole - to help her. Dell comes over and assures her David is alive just unconscious and then they begin bickering over how Celia has always stolen what Dell has because she could. Celia flippantly says she will talk to Crane in the morning. This really angers Dell because basically she is GIVING Crane back to her. Like she is second choice. She picked up the gun earlier as Celia had asked her to do and on a whim just fires the gun into this horrible creature. YEEES! Dell, not planning on murdering her sister, runs away.

Now David actually THINKS he shot Susan right before she hit him in the head and knocked him cold, so he does not dispute being convicted or sentenced to death. Dell wants to speak out but is afraid of the death penalty if she does. Up to now it is easy to sympathize with Dell - losing her fiance and the crushing of her plans, her sister's sociopathic selfishness and cavalier attitude, the impulsive nature of the shooting, even her fear of speaking out. But then...everything changes. She becomes that villain.

Apparently David's six year old daughter saw not only the aftermath of the shooting but "the shadow on the wall" of Dell's rather distinctive hat with a big long feather in it. When Dell realizes her niece is a potential witness, she could have done nothing. The little girl is in a mental facility from the shock. There is a social worker there (Nancy Davis later Reagan) trying to get her to remember. So the thing to do is - ignore the situation. Stay away from it. Go on with your life. And if the kid ever accuses her - I can hear her attorney now - So the state, who so aggressively pursued one man and sentenced him to death for this crime is now saying that was a mistake but we're right THIS time? Based on the testimony of a six year old in shock and coached by an overzealous social worker? Case dismissed! But then Dell didn't have the advantage of watching twenty seasons of Law & Order as I have.

But nope, Dell hangs around the mental hospital, asking probing questions, and making a couple of pedestrian attempts at actually killing the girl that - had they succeeded - would have definitely put the finger on her.

Maybe the director realized Dell was sympathetic and had to villainize her because the original villainess is dead, but they also made her look stupid. How does this work out? Watch and find out.

This is a very good psychological noir with Hitchockian twists, and absolutely does not seem like the kind of product you'd expect from MGM in 1950. Plus this is Ann Southern's most un-Maisie role. She reminds me of Gloria Grahame in this part. Highly recommended.

I saw Shadow on the Wall when I was 11 years old as part of a double feature with Annie Get Your Gun. I have never forgotten it. Its major impact on me as a youngster was watching another young child being threatened so menacingly by a supposedly loving adult female. I was spellbound by the performances and sat on the edge of my seat throughout the film. The ending was fantastic. Previously, I had associated Ann Southern with light romantic or comedic performances on radio and TV, never as a villain, and such an evil one at that. It is the only movie that I remembered Nancy Reagan being in, and I thought she and Zakery Scot were great and that Gigi Pieureux was marvelous. I have described this movie to friends many times over the years, and now I look forward to seeing it again at age 71.

Beware of any murder mystery that ignores a police investigation and the particular details of subsequent court proceedings. And isn't that what happens here in Shadow on the Wall, the 1950 "B" potboiler directed by Pat Jackson?

The overlong setup lasting over twenty minutes chronicles the problem with the plot. Zachary Scott plays widower David Starrling, a successful architect, now married to the attractive Celia (Kristine Miller). David has a six year old daughter, the precocious Susan (Gigi Perreau), who is the main character here.

David gets wind that Celia has been having an affair with Crane Weymouth (Tom Helmore) who's engaged to Celia's sister Dell Faring (Ann Sothern). David and Celia argue and she knocks him out cold-afterward she picks up a gun David was holding (a souvenir from his war days) and is holding it when Dell enters and confronts her about having the affair with Crane.

Dell has been always bitter about how Celia has treated her through the years and the affair ends up as the last straw-after taking the gun from Celia, she shoots her dead at point blank range.

Susan hears the shooting and then spies the shadow of Dell on the wall-she's wearing a distinctive feather in her hat and it reminds Susan of a toy Indian whom she calls "Cupid."

Cut to court proceedings where David is found guilty of Celia's murder and is sentenced to the electric chair. Right away one can see something's wrong with this picture. What exactly is David's defense? He has no memory of what occurred but sheepishly confesses after being found guilty that he "probably" committed the crime.

Here's a man facing the death penalty and no defense is proffered. Even if one accepts the strong circumstantial case against him, given the affair Celia was having, couldn't a case for manslaughter at least have been made?

And that brings us to the lack of the police investigation shown. The discovery of information regarding Celia's affair with Crane would have led the police to perhaps focus on Dell whose resentment of her sister must have been known to some people in her circle. The fact that Dell is never shown to be considered a suspect by the police hardly rings true.

The lack of the police investigation in the film is necessary since it would have interfered with the basic narrative in which a child psychiatrist must help Susan uncover the traumatic memories of what she was witness to so the real murderer can be brought to justice.

And who ends up as the therapist helping Susan? None other than Nancy Davis (the future first lady) as Dr. Caroline Crawford. Davis is almost a caricature of a "by-the-book professional," utilizing so-called "scientific" techniques to question the traumatized child.

Anyone with a modicum of experience with children could have been just as successful in extracting the required information. Instead Dr. Crawford treats us to a surfeit of psychobabble to prove her "professional" credentials. This is the era in which psychiatry was first afforded its undeserved legitimacy in the public eye.

Ann Sothern, known for many comic roles, capably takes on the unsavory part of Dell, a murderer who goes further and decides to kill a child so that she is not found out There are two attempts to do little Susan in, including lacing the child's chocolate milk with an overdose of pills and attempting to drown her while she's sedated in a tub of warm water.

Dell goes to all kinds of lengths to save herself including disposing of the clothes she was wearing at the time of the murder. But she's still wearing the feather in her cap which causes Susan to recognize her as "Cupid" at film's end, leading to her confession to the crime. The oversight appears to be another plot hole.

Zachary Scott is charged with playing the thankless role of the poor schlub caught up in a web of murderous intrigue. On the other hand, Gigi Perreau (who later went on to act in television) steals the show as Susan who is quite convincing as a child who refuses to dredge up terrible memories.

If one looks here at the narrative a little more closely, it can only be concluded that this film ultimately holds little water.