My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

Director:

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers:

Anthony Gilbert (novel)
Muriel Roy Bolton (writer)

Release Date:

8 November 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

She went to sleep as a secretary ... and woke up a madman's "bride"!

Plot:

Some sources cite this as an early example of British film noir, which is rather interesting since it...

Plot Keywords:

Secret Passage | Mother Son Relationship | Murder Plot | Black Cat | Kidnapped

Cast

Nina Foch	...	Julia Ross
Dame May Whitty	...	Mrs. Hughes
George Macready	...	Ralph Hughes
Roland Varno	...	Dennis Bruce
Anita Sharp-Bolster	...	Sparkes (as Anita Bolster)
Doris Lloyd	...	Mrs. Mackie

Also Known As:

The Woman in Red (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Goofs:

Continuity: When Sparkes calls Mrs. Hughes from the employment agency, she begins dialing the phone with the writing end of her pencil. In the next shot she's dialing with the eraser end.

Quotes:

Julia Ross: I've been wondering if maybe you and your mother aren't right about me. I've been thinking maybe I really have been ill.
Ralph Hughes: Have you, Marion?
Julia Ross: Yes. So I've been trying to look back and remember things. What was my name before we were married?
Ralph Hughes: Campbell. Marion Campbell.
Julia Ross: And what about my family? Where are they?
Ralph Hughes: Your parents are dead, Marion.
Julia Ross: Haven't I any family at all? No one to visit me?
Ralph Hughes: No!
Julia Ross: Or to write?
Ralph Hughes: [Looking out at the ocean] Beautiful, isn't it? Would you like to listen to the sea and hear what it says? It doesn't say anything, does it? That's what I like about the sea. It never tells its secrets, and it has many - very many secrets.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Remade as Dead of Winter (1987)

Outstanding Low Budget Film

Greatly enjoyed this 1945 mystery thriller film about a young woman, Nina Foch,(Julia Ross) who is out of work and has fallen behind in her rent and is desperate to find work. Julia reads an ad in the local London newspaper looking for a secretary and rushes out to try and obtain this position. Julia obtains the position and is hired by a Mrs. Hughes, (Dame May Witty) who requires that she lives with her employer in her home and wants her to have no involvement with men friends and Julia tells them she has no family and is free to devote her entire time to this job. George Macready, (Ralph Hughes) is the son of Mrs. Hughes and has some very strange desires for playing around with knives. This was a low budget film and most of the scenes were close ups in order to avoid the expense of a background and costs for scenery. This strange family all live in a huge mansion off the Cornwall Coast of England and there is secret doors and plenty of suspense.