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.

Containing Two of the Tropes Familiar to Film-Noir (not counting shadows), Amnesia and Psychiatry/Psychology, this Off-Beat Little Movie is Big on Suspense and Contains an Unusual Lead Role for a Child.Reminding of Val Lewton, the Film has an Ethereal Quality that gives it quite an Edge. The Cast is Better than Average with Zachary Scott and Ann Sothern Playing Against Type and Nancy Davis giving a Low-Key, Restrained Good Turn as a Psychiatrist that Works Fine for the Film.The Child Actress Gigi Perreau is in Many Scenes and Holds more than Her Own with a Performance that is Spot On as the Disturbed and Haunted Little Girl. The Movie has Style with a Number of Ominous Scenes and Flourishes that Enhance the Mood.A Definite Film-Noir with MGM Finally Deciding to Slum and Forego the Haudy Studio Persona, Finding Itself Forced to Play the B-Movie Game by 1950 with Changing Post-War Audience Expectations. They gave the Genre this somewhat Underrated Gem that many Folks seeing it as Children were Definitely Affected by its Dreamlike Setting.

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.

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.