That was an excellent one.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

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!!!

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.

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.

A young girl(Gigi Perreau)suffers amnesia after witnessing her stepmother's murder. Zachary Scott is the husband mistakenly put in prison for the murder. Ann Southern, straying from her comedic roles, has trouble hiding her guilt and even thinks of causing harm to the little girl to keep her quiet.Fast moving film-noir also starring John McIntire and Nancy Davis. This was before Miss Davis became Mrs. Ronald Reagan. Small roles for familiar Barbara Billingsley and Jimmy Hunt.