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Highly Overrated But Still Good

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Ann Sothern (Dell Faring), Zachary Scott (David Starrling), Joan Davis (Dr Canford), Gigi Perreau (Susan Starrling), Kristine Miller (Celia Starrling), John McIntyre (Pike Ludwell), Tom Helmore (Crane Weymouth), Helen Brown (Miss Burke), Barbara Billingsley (Olga), Marcia Van Dyke (secretary), Anthony Sydes (Bobby), Jimmy Hunt (boy with chocolate milk), Roger Moore (Townsend), George Eldredge (prosecutor), Thomas Browne Henry (judge), Don Haggerty (rescuing physician), John Maxwell (jury foreman), Johnny Indrisano (juror), Pierre Watkin (Dr Hodge), Ruth Lee (nurse). Director: PAT JACKSON (billed as Patrick Jackson). Screenplay: William Ludwig. Based on the 1943 novel Death in the Doll House by Elizabeth Head Fetter (under the pseudonym, "Hannah Lees") and Lawrence P. Bachmann. Photography: Ray June. Film editor: Cotton Warburton. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Eddie Imazu. Set decorator: Edwin B. Willis and Ralph S. Hurst. Costumes designed by Irene. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Music composed and directed by Andre Previn. Montage: Peter Ballbusch. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Producer: Robert Sisk.Copyright 16 November 1949 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture. New York opening at the Palace: 18 May 1950. U.S. release: 19 May 1950. U.K. release: 18 March 1950. Australian release: 13 April 1950. 7,539 feet. 84 minutes.SYNOPSIS: When a six-year-old child's memory is restored by a psychiatrist, she remembers a puzzling detail about her mother's murder. COMMENT: Although slow to get going, this unusual "B" from Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer turns out to be an engrossing little film noir. Admittedly, the casting is a bit disconcerting. Perennial heavy Zachary Scott plays the good guy, a victimized innocent, while fluffy Ann Sothern of the light-headed "Maisie" series is the chilling murderess. (I'm not giving the plot away as the audience is aware of this fact almost as soon as the action finally commences). It's probably true that this switch adds to the film's appeal. And I'm not advocating that the opening scenes should be trimmed either. Not only are they essential to the plot, but they feature the gorgeous Kristine Miller, whose performance is the best in the movie. (Not that Ann Sothern doesn't run her close).A creditable support cast also helps. Gigi Perreau (the intended victim) is especially convincing. And I liked Joan Davis (the too- trusting doctor) and John McIntyre (the hero's too-pragmatic friend and lawyer). English director Pat Jackson seems right at home with Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer's technicians, including expert cinematographer Ray June and smooth-as-silk film editor Cotton Warburton.

A child (Gigi Perreau) witnesses the murder of her soon-to-be step-mother but "represses" the memory until a psychiatrist at a children's hospital (Nancy Davis) succeeds in bringing out what really happened that night. The dead about-to-be step-mother, engaged to the father of the child (Zachary Scott) was romantically involved with her sister's (Ann Sothern) fiancé. Sothern blames her sister for ruining her life. So there are actually two characters that have possible motives for killing the wayward sister. The shadow on the wall is a nice touch as is the performance of Gigi Perreau, but Sothern makes something considerably less than the cold-blooded murderer she's supposed to play, although she isn't too bad in her attempts to silence the girl for good that take place within the confines of the children's hospital. As for Zachary Scott, he's been in a few better films than this one.

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!!!

Shadow on the Wall starts out with some promise as a marital spat between New York sophisticates escalates into violence. But the rest of the film centers on their daughter, who has witnessed but repressed the scene, and her psychologist, Nancy Davis (later Reagan). It's hard to say which of them is more insufferable. The movie will probably keep your attention (it's blessedly short) but it's hard to work up much affection for a vehicle that so totally miscasts, and wastes, Ann Sothern.