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.

jotix100 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.

Ripshin FOLKS, please stop abusing the term "film noir." This flick is a very mundane B movie, with a ridiculous plot.The actors are adequate, certainly, but this film is little more than a "filler." Scott, Southern and Davis are fine, considering the material with which they are working.The first twenty minutes are promising, but the film quickly falls apart, once the plot is centered on the young girl.It's great to have access to these obscure movies on TCM. However, this is simply a poorly constructed film. And, to reiterate, this is NOT A FILM NOIR.

grendel-37 I'm convinced that movies that have SHADOW in the title have a better than average chance of being good flicks. This flick SHADOW ON THE WALL upholds that little axiom. It starts slow, but stick with it, it picks up steam quickly.This one eschews the normal trappings of noir, such as the seedy private eye, and the femme fatale while maintaining the stark cinematography and riveting suspense. Ann Sothern turning in a surprising performance, always the good girl in movies, here the director plays on that, to create a character whose actions becomes ever more... egregious. And because she is so much one of us, one of the good people, we are carried along... with her fall.A movie that ultimately revolves around four women as central characters, would hardly seem to fit the noirish mold, but this film is far less lifetime network and far more grim, and gritty. The only foray into the the world of Noir by its director Pat Jackson, and the only script ever done by its writer Hannah Lees, the movie is deserving of far more recognition than its received. A solid little thriller. *** out of **** stars.