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.

bkoganbing 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.

RanchoTuVu 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.

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.