My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

Julia Ross secures employment, through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, ... See full summary »

Director:

Joseph H. Lewis

Writers:

Muriel Roy Bolton (screenplay), Anthony Gilbert (novel)

Stars:

Nina Foch, May Whitty, George Macready

Cast

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

Storyline

Julia Ross secures employment, through a rather nosy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes, and goes to live at her house. 2 days later, she awakens - in a different house, in different clothes, and with a new identity. She's told she is the daughter-in-law of Mrs. Hughes, and has suffered a nervous breakdown. Is Julia really 'Julia', or, is it true that she's lost all memory of who she is?

---

Plot Keywords:

employment | psychopath | nervous breakdown | cornwall | secretary | 

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Woman in Red

Box Office

Budget:

$175,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

65 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was remade in 1987, as "Dead of Winter" staring Mary Steenbergen and Roddy Mcdowell.

---

Goofs

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

Ralph Hughes: It's all Marion's fault. She shouldn't have cried.
Mrs. Hughes: Ralph, you never told me - was it an accident, or did you intend to kill her after she made her will?
Ralph Hughes: I didn't plan it. I liked her well enough, but when she found out I'd been lying about my income, she accused me of marrying her for her money. I said of course that was what I'd married her for. Then she cried. She was always crying. Then she slapped me. I had my knife in my hand, and I...
[...]

---

Connections

Version of Dead of Winter (1987)

User Reviews

A Charming and Truly Suspenseful Little Gothic Thriller

Nina Foch delivers a surprisingly strong performance as the title character in this fun little Gothic nail-biter. She accepts a position as secretary to a London society dowager (played imperiously by Dame May Witty) and her creepy son (the effete and bothersome George Macready). Before she knows it, she awakens to find herself in a seaside manor she's never seen before, where Witty and Macready are calling her Marian and trying to convince the servants and the nearby townspeople that she's Macready's mad wife. Of course this pair can only be planning dastardly deeds, and even though we know Julia has to eventually escape her trap, director Joseph Lewis builds real suspense in answering the question of just how she'll manage it.

"My Name Is Julia Ross" has nothing stylistically to set it apart from any number of films that came out at the same time period, but I was surprised by how well it held together despite its shoe-string budget and B-movie pedigree. There are quite a few moments that just may have you on the edge of your seat, and I found myself really rooting for Julia as she caught on to the scheme underfoot and began to outsmart her captors. In any other Gothic thriller, the heroine would have swooned, screamed and dithered, waiting for her hero to come and save her. So I can't tell you how refreshing it was to have the heroine in this film use her brain and figure out how to save herself.

Well done.

Grade: B+