[2] Successful stage director Jim Downs (Ferrer) is driven to a mental breakdown by his domineering wife Ann (June Allyson).

Institutionalized, he confides in Dr. Bellman (Kendall Clark) and Dr. Barrow (Isabel Bonner), and he finds a kindred spirit in Charlotte Moore (Joy Page).

Reviewing for The New York Times, A. H. Weiler wrote: Allyson later said her husband Dick Powell and all her advisers opposed her making the movie: But it was a challenge I could not resist.

As it turned out, the picture was a wonderful flop, but I do not regret deciding to play the vixen, Ann Downs.

Other than my personal satisfaction in making my own decision, The Shrike was fun, and I even dreamed vaguely of an Academy Award.