Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

recommended

Nice effects though.

Unheralded little thriller with a number of nice touches. Little Gigi Perreau (Susan) has the pivotal role and comes through beautifully. If we don't identify with her or her emotional trauma, the movie doesn't work. Fortunately, we do. The movie scared the heck out of me as a boy, mainly because I was viewing the menace through the eyes of my peer, little Susan. Still, it's the movie's ability to engage even adults through Susan's eyes that drives the suspense. For the little girl, it's an adult world only dimly comprehended that one night turns so shockingly ugly, she must repress it totally. Nancy Davis Reagan-- perhaps surprisingly for many viewers-- is very persuasive as the doctor helping Susan to recover.Looks like this was another B-movie from MGM's Dore Schary period when he was refashioning the studio's star-studded image. The under-rated Scott and Sothern are certainly playing against type, he as a kind-hearted father, she as a cold-hearted murderess. Oddly, the screenplay shares focus among these four players instead of centralizing one or two as is usually the case. In terms of actual screen time, it's probably Nancy Davis's movie, though she was likely too unknown to get star billing. Then too, whatever happened to Kristine Miller as Scott's faithless wife. She certainly looks the part and acts it wickedly.Speaking of talented unknowns, director Pat Jackson put this neat little package together. His career appears a rather brief one, mainly in England, where he also directed several episodes of the cult TV series, The Prisoner. Too bad he disappeared so quickly, because there are a number of nice directorial touches here. Note Pike's (John McIntire) shadow engulfing Dell (Sothern) at movie's end indicating the retribution to come; the blurry special effects mirroring little Susan's traumatized mental state; the suggestive hair-drier closing over Dell's head like an electrocution helmet; the great noirish shot of Dell framed against ominous skyscrapers suggesting dark powers looming over Susan. Anyway, this all adds up to a very effective little thriller, proving that even though late to the party, MGM could B- movie with the best of them.

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.

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.

This was a pretty decent movie. Nancy Davis (Reagan) was solidas the psychiatrist trying to help little Susan (Gigi Perreau in a very good performance) remember a horrible event which she hadwitnessed. Zachary Scott, one of my favorites, proved real men canhandle supporting roles with as much flair as the more substantialroles. And imaginative casting with Ann Southern as the baddie --she handled it well without going over the top (as somecomedians are tempted to do with dramatic roles). Script couldhave used a little more meat and the ending could have been a bitmore imaginative, but, all in all, not a waste of ninety minutes ofyour time.