{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Shadow of the Past | image = Shadow_of_the_Past_film_Theatrical_release_poster_(1950-2).jpg | caption = British trade ad | director = Mario Zampi | producer = Mae Murray (Associate producer) | writer = {{ubl|Aldo De Benedetti|Ian Stuart Black}} | story = Aldo De Benedetti | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Joyce Howard|Terence Morgan}} | music = Stanley Black | cinematography = Hone Glendinning | editing = Giulio Zampi | studio = Mario Zampi Productions (as Anglofilm) | distributor = Columbia Pictures Corporation (UK) | released = {{Film date|1950|09|04|UK|df=yes}} | runtime = 83 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English }} '''''Shadow of the Past''''' (also known as '''''Lady in Black'''''<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Shadow of the Past |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150055753 |access-date=26 April 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>) is a 1950 British crime film directed by Mario Zampi and starring Joyce Howard, Terence Morgan, and Michael Medwin.<ref name="BFIsearch" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/50253|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119030811/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/50253|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-01-19|title=Shadow of the Past|work=BFI}}</ref> The screenplay, by Aldo De Benedetti and Ian Stuart Black, involves a man who catches sight of a woman believed by everyone to be dead.
==Plot== In an apartment unused for two years, John Harding sees a mysterious woman dressed in black. He later discovers that the woman looks identical to the apartment owner's wife, thought to have died in a car accident. It transpires that she is in fact the late wife's sister, and tha the wife had not died in an accident: she was murdered by her husband.
==Cast== * Joyce Howard as Lady in Black * Terence Morgan as John Harding * Michael Medwin as Dick Stevens * Andrew Osborn as George Bentley * Wylie Watson as caretaker * Marie Ney as Mrs. Bentley * Ella Retford as daily help * Ronald Adam as solicitor * Louise Gainsborough as Susie * Ian Fleming as doctor
==Critical reception== ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Although the melodrama is slow moving and artificial, curiosity is maintained since the secrets of the plot are kept to the end."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1950 |title=Shadow of the Past |volume=17 |issue=193 |pages=105 |id={{ProQuest|1305818833}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}</ref>
''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "The picture has little reason and less logic, but its cast and camera are used to advantage and between them they create a good atmosphere of mystery."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 June 1950 |title=Shadow of the Past |volume=400 |issue=2248 |pages=20 |id={{ProQuest|2738575356}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>
''Picturegoer'' wrote: "Terence Morgan does quite a good job as the forthright and gallant hero, and Joyce Howard flits to and fro elegantly as the shadowy heroine. But it is the cameraman, rather than the cast, who creates what tension there is and puts a few thrills into the climax. A cut above average crime-fiction, it has a strong appeal for women."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 September 1950 |title=Shadow of the Past |volume=20 |issue= |pages=17 |id={{ProQuest|1705087615}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}</ref>
''Picture Show'' wrote: "It is a little confusing but is efficiently acted and directed."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=7 October 1950 |title=Shadow of the Past |volume=55 |issue=1436 |pages=12 |id={{ProQuest|1880316242}} |magazine=Picture Show}}</ref>
''TV Guide'' gave the film two out of four stars and described it as a "modest murder mystery... Tightly paced with several highly tense sequences."<ref>{{cite web |title=Shadow Of The Past |url=http://movies.tvguide.com/shadow-of-the-past/review/117379 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209022535/http://movies.tvguide.com/shadow-of-the-past/review/117379 |archive-date=9 Dec 2014 |work=TV Guide}}</ref>
In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Modest but quite tense; twists in the plot are well concealed."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd. |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=373}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0178890}}
{{Mario Zampi}}
Category:1950 films Category:1950 crime films Category:Films directed by Mario Zampi Category:British crime films Category:British black-and-white films Category:1950 English-language films Category:1950 British films Category:Films scored by Stanley Black Category:English-language crime films