Shadow of a Woman is an American drama film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

 directed by Joseph Santley

Joseph Santley

Joseph Santley was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatrical plays and motion pictures....

. The drama features Helmut Dantine

Helmut Dantine

Helmut Dantine was a film actor remembered for playing many Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. The Vienna-born actor appeared uncredited in Casablanca early in his career .Dantine's father was the head of the Austrian railway system...

 and Andrea King

Andrea King

Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.-Early life:Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France...

. The film is based on the novel He Fell Down Dead written by Virginia Perdue.

Plot

Woman (King) on the verge of a breakdown marries a man (Dantine) she hardly knows, putting her in the path of fear and danger.

Cast

• Helmut Dantine
  Helmut Dantine
  Helmut Dantine was a film actor remembered for playing many Nazis in thriller films of the 1940s. The Vienna-born actor appeared uncredited in Casablanca early in his career .Dantine's father was the head of the Austrian railway system...
  
   as Dr. Eric Ryder
• Andrea King
  Andrea King
  Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.-Early life:Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France...
  
   as Brooke Gifford Ryder
• William Prince
  William Prince (actor)
  William LeRoy Prince was an American actor who appeared in numerous soap operas and made dozens of guest appearances on primetime series as well as playing villains in movies like The Gauntlet and Spontaneous Combustion.-Biography:Prince was born in Nichols, New York, the son of Myrtle , a nurse...
  
   as David G. MacKellar, Louise's Lawyer
• John Alvin
  John Alvin (actor)
  ----John Alvin was an American film, stage and television actor. He appeared in over 25 films for Warner Brothers and numerous television and theater roles throughout his career, which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s....
  
   as Carl. Emma's son
• Becky Brown as Genevieve Calvin
• Richard Erdman
  Richard Erdman
  Richard Erdman is an American film and television actor and director.-Notable roles:...
  
   as Joe, Counterman at Owl Lunch
• Peggy Knudsen
  Peggy Knudsen
  Peggy Knudsen was an American character actress.-Biography:Born Margaret Ann Knudsen in Duluth, Minnesota, she made her Broadway debut in My Sister Eileen. She began her film career in 1946 in A Stolen Life opposite Bette Davis...
  
   as Louise Ryder, Eric's Ex
• Don McGuire as Johnnie, MacKellar's Photographer
• Lisa Golm as Emma, Eric's Sister
• Larry Geiger as Philip Ryder, Eric's Son
• Monte Blue
  Monte Blue
  Monte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles....
  
   as Mike, Police Lieutenant
• J. Scott Smart as Timothy Freeman
• Leah Baird
  Leah Baird
  Leah Baird was an American actress of the silent screen, and a screenwriter.-Life:She began her film career in 1910 in Jean and the Waif opposite Jean, the Vitagraph Dog. She played several leads in William F. Brady's troupe, opposite Douglas Fairbanks...
  
   as Mrs. Calvin, Genevieve's Mother
• Lottie Williams as Sarah the Calvin Maid
• Paul Stanton
  Paul Stanton
  Paul Frederick Stanton is a former professional ice hockey player.Drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1985 as a high school senior, Paul chose to play for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and was named an NCAA West All-American in 1988.He played his first NHL game in the 1991 season for the...
  
   as Dr. Nelson Norris

Reception

Recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz panned the film, writing, "A failure in every possible way. Joseph Santley flatly directs this film noir adapted from Virginia Perdue's novel He Fell Down Dead. The script by writers C. Graham Baker and Whitman Chambers was lacking credibility. The acting was hammy and unconvincing. The film offered hardly any entertainment value and the irrelevant story was more of a turn off than anything else. On top of all that, there were serious gaffes in the plotline that filled the story with holes the size of craters. This postwar B-film melodrama reunites Hotel Berlin

Hotel Berlin

Hotel Berlin is a film set in Berlin near the close of the Second World War, made by Warner Brothers in late 1944 - early 1945. The film was released in March, 1945....

co-stars Helmut Dantine and Andrea King. Shadow of a Woman might be remembered by film buffs only because it played in an early restaurant scene "How Little We Know", the Hoagy Carmichael song that Lauren Bacall sang in To Have and Have Not

To Have and Have Not (film)

To Have and Have Not is a 1944 romance-war-adventure film. The movie was directed by Howard Hawks and stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, and Lauren Bacall in her first film...

."

TV Guide

TV Guide

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

wrote about the screenplay, writing, "A slightly unrealistic story line hinders this drama that deals with a bride's terror."

External links

• Shadow of a Woman film trailer at Turner Classic Movies
  Turner Classic Movies
  Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
  
   Media Room
• Shadow of a Woman at the Official Andrea King
  Andrea King
  Andrea King was an American film and stage actress. She was sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.-Early life:Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry in Paris, France...
  
  web site