My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
Directed by: Joseph H.
Lewis.
Written by: Muriel
Roy Bolton based on the novel by Anthony Gilbert.
Starring: Nina Foch (Julia Ross),
Dame May Whitty (Mrs. Hughes), George Macready (Ralph Hughes), Roland Varno
(Dennis Bruce), Anita Sharp-Bolster (Sparkes), Doris Lloyd (Mrs. Mackie).
My Name
is Julia Ross is a brisk little noir thriller – it clocks in at just over 65
minutes, and that’s just about the
perfect length for this film. Any longer or more drawn out and the silliness of
the plot may well have become too apparent and easier to roll your eyes at. And
yet, at this length, My Name is Julia Ross doesn’t waste a second of time, and
becomes a stylish and entertaining noir thriller. Also, there is something
underneath the surface level that makes this thriller perhaps a little scarier
than it otherwise would be. This is a film not unlike Gaslight in terms of its
outlook on male/female relationships.
Nina Foch
plays the title character – young Julia living by herself in London, currently
unemployed and single – one of the other boarders living in the house, Dennis
Bruce (Roland Varno) had just left to get married, making her wonder what could
have been. At the same time, she gets offered a new job – being the secretary
to an elderly lady, and Dennis moves back into the boarding house – the
marriage, apparently, having been called off. Things are looking up. That is,
until she falls asleep at the house of her new job, and wakes up miles away in
a large house on the coast, where everyone acts as if she is the crazy wife of
Ralph Hughes (George Macready). The kindly old woman she thought she would be employed
by is now saying she is her mother in law – Mrs. Hughes (the wonderful Dame May
Whitty) – and that the whole family is here for her, and just want her to get
better. We know this is all an elaborate ruse – the details of which we will
only get slowly over time.
The film
was directed by Joseph H. Lewis – one of those talented craftsman of the studio
era who didn’t really get the attention he deserved during his career. He is
probably best known for the noir Gun Crazy (1950) – a crime spree thriller that
was a forerunner of Bonnie & Clyde (1967) and films of that kind. He made a
few dozen films in his time – a lot of Westerns, a lot of film noir – and he
spent the last decade of his career directing TV episodes – before retiring,
and not directing anything for the last three decades of his life.
In My
Name is Julia Ross he kind of directs like Hitchcock on a budget – as if the
master of suspense had been hired by Val Lewton. Yes, there are a lot of
clichés directorial tricks trotted out throughout the film – but all of them
are used to great effect, to keep the plot moving. Lewis just keeps up the
tricks – and delivers what on the surface is a highly entertaining film. The
ending is probably too upbeat – but then again, that was fairly common in that
era.
But there
is an undercurrent to My Name is Julia Ross that makes it scarier – and even
timelier – than it is at first glance. This really is a female nightmare of a
film – a story about a woman who is told she is crazy, whose identity is stolen
from her, and who can be controlled and abused, and no one will believe her.
Gaslighting has become a term for a type of abuse in intimate relationships – because
of the play/movie of that name. My Name is Julia Ross is somewhat in the same
vein – and just because its wrapped up in such a stylish, entertaining package,
doesn’t make it less terrifying.
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