Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Spikeopath Shadow on the Wall is directed by Pat Jackson and adapted to screenplay by William Ludwig from the story "Death in the Doll's House" written by Lawrence P. Bachmann and Hannah Lees. It stars Ann Sothern, Zachary Scott, Nancy Davis, Giggi Perreau and John McIntire. Music is by André Previn and cinematography by Ray June.A nifty psychological hot pot this one. Story centers on a young child called Susan Starrling (Perreau), who after witnessing the murder of her step-mother, succumbs to amnesia. Which is inconvenient for her father since he has been convicted of the murder and sent down to await execution. Can determined psychiatrist Caroline Cranford (Davis) eek the truth out of Susan's troubled memory? Can the real killer ensure that that isn't the case?It's a personal thing of course, but I have always found there to be something off kilter about doll's houses, and here we are greeted to an opening shot of one, superbly accompanied by Previn's ominous music, it's a perfect mood setter as to what is to come. Story lacks any mystery dynamic since we are privy to exactly what has gone on regarding the who, why and what fors, and in truth the outcome of it all is never really in doubt. So for although it's a thriller pic dressed up in film noir clobber, it doesn't have the verve or devilment to really be classed full bodied as such. But that's by the by, visually and the presence of a child in peril, with main character disintegration the key feature, puts it into noir lovers considerations.Since the title features the word shadow it's no shock to find shadows and low lights feature prominently. The lighting effects are very striking, the changes in contrasts perfectly befitting the mood of certain scenes. Such as when dialogue is implying emotional discord, or the silent mindset of our antagonists, while a couple of neat shadow smother shots are killer narrative boosts. The main building of the piece is not the doll's house, but that of the hospital where Susan is receiving treatment, and at night photographer Ray June perfectly sets it up for peril and dastardly deeds. While we also get a bit of wobble screen to signify troubled mental confusion.Cast range from adequate to very good. Honours go to Perreau, who is never once annoying, turning in an involving performance that has us firmly involved in her world, whilst Davis (the future First Lady Reagan) is very understated, where she gets a well written female character whose not relying on male dominance to expand the part. And with Jackson directing in an unfussy manner it rounds out as a pic worth seeking out. 7/10

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!!!

ms_chele7 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.

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.