Shadow On The Wall (1950)

After finding out her sister (Kristine Miller) is having an affair with her fiance (Tom Helmore), a woman (Ann Sothern) shoots her sister out of anger. Her brother in law (Zachary Scott) is convicted of his wife's murder and sentenced to death. But there was a witness, her six year old niece (Gigi Perreau), who has blocked the incident out of her mind. But when a psychiatrist (Nancy Davis, later Reagan) works with the child, it's only a matter of time before her guilt is revealed ..... unless she murders the child. Based on the novel DEATH IN THE DOLL'S HOUSE by Lawrence Bachmann and Hannah Lees and directed by the British director Patrick Jackson (his only American film). This is a nifty little thriller that treads on some unsavory territory. Harm to children has always been a touchy subject in movies and that's actually the focus of this film so it's hard to avoid. Still, the film minimizes it as much as it can and one murder attempt is done off screen to spare the audience. The film's psychological therapy seems rather primitive by today's standards and it could be argued do more harm than good. Ann Sothern's character goes from being the most sympathetic character in the film to the film's villainess and she does a good job of showing the desperation of a murderess as she slowly unravels. The effective score is by Andre Previn. With John McIntire and Barbara Billingsley.