Shadow of a Woman

Shadow of a Woman
Shadow of a Woman
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joseph Santley
Screenplay by	Whitman Chambers; C. Graham Baker
Based on	He Fell Down Dead; 1943 novel; by Virginia Perdue
Produced by	William Jacobs
Starring	Helmut Dantine; Andrea King; William Prince
Narrated by	Andrea King
Cinematography	Bert Glennon
Edited by	Christian Nyby
Music by	Adolph Deutsch
Production; company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	September 14, 1946 (United States);
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$427,000
Box office	$732,000

Shadow of a Woman is a 1946 American drama film noir directed by Joseph Santley and starring Helmut Dantine, Andrea King and William Prince. The film is based on the novel He Fell Down Dead written by Virginia Perdue.^[2]

Plot

A woman (Andrea King) on the verge of a breakdown marries a fraudulent medical doctor (Helmut Dantine) she hardly knows, putting her in the path of fear and danger. She suspects her husband is starving his young son from a previous marriage.

Cast

Helmut Dantine as Dr. Eric Ryder
Andrea King as Brooke Gifford Ryder
William Prince as David G. MacKellar, Louise's Lawyer
John Alvin as Carl. Emma's son
Becky Brown as Genevieve Calvin
Richard Erdman as Joe, Counterman at Owl Lunch
Peggy Knudsen 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 as Mike, Police Lieutenant
J. Scott Smart as Timothy Freeman
Leah Baird as Mrs. Calvin, Genevieve's Mother
Lottie Williams as Sarah the Calvin Maid
Paul Stanton as Dr. Nelson Norris

Reception

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 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."^[3]

TV Guide wrote about the screenplay, writing, "A slightly unrealistic story line hinders this drama that deals with a bride's terror."^[4]

Box office

According to Warner Bros figures the film earned $490,000 domestically and $242,000 foreign.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Warner Bros financial information in The William Shaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 27 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^ Shadow of a Woman at IMDb .
^ Schwartz, Dennis. Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews, film review, August 25, 2002. Last accessed: September 27, 2023.
^ TV Guide, film review. Last accessed: September 27, 2023.