mark.waltz 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.

kidboots Ann Sothern was her own most caustic critic. In an interesting interview in "Films in Review" (March 1988), she was very scathing of her early films and finished up with a hope that her new film "The Whales of August" (1987) would garner her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Academy Awards (it did)!!! Every film I have ever seen her in she is usually the star to watch. Even watching "A Letter to Three Wives" - she had so much vibrancy, she put the other two wives in the shade (Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell). Almost straight after "A Letter to Three Wives" she played a cold blooded murderess in "Shadow on the Wall" and played it to perfection.Initially, she wasn't cold blooded at all. She played Dell Faring, sister of the beautiful Celia (Kristine Miller) who had made it her life's work to take everything that was precious to Dell - yes one of those sisters!!! Celia has it all, marriage to a devoted husband David (Zachary Scott) and a sweet step daughter Susan (Gigi Perreau). But Susan has reservations about Celia that are well founded for Celia is having an affair with Crane, Dell's fiancée. David finds out and makes it known to Dell who then comes to Celia's apartment for a showdown. Celia and David have had words and when David comes out of his stupor (he has been hit on the head) he finds Celia dead and that he has been charged with murder!!! He can't remember anything but believes he did it. But there is a witness - Susan, who is in shock and by the help of a caring psychiatrist (Nancy Davis) is being persuaded to remember!!The movie really belongs to the talented Gigi Perreau, she has always had an ethereal aura (she was magical in "Enchantment") and was groomed as a successor to Margaret O'Brien. While at first she was a happy little girl, most of the movie is set in the trauma ward of a children's hospital. She is just first rate as she retreats into a world of her own, only remembering the hideous shadow on the wall. Sympathy for Dell evaporates as she becomes more and more determined to conceal the truth - even if it means killing Susan. There is a particularly chilling scene when Dell poisons Susan's chocolate milk. After asking a little boy to drink it as she thinks it tastes "nasty and bitter" they are both saved when it is accidentally spilt.This is a stylish film noir and Ann proved, once again, that she had what it takes to be a big star. Whatever she thinks about herself, she was definitely a survivor - there weren't many actresses who started in 1927 and were nominated for Academy Awards in the 1980s!!!

PudgyPandaMan 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.

blanche-2 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.