☆ ☆ ☆ ½
My Name is Julia Ross (1945) – J. H. Lewis
Director Joseph H.
Lewis may be best known for Gun Crazy (1950) or The Big Combo (1955), two great
noirs, but this 65-minute thriller from 1945 is also a gem. Nina Foch plays the
title character who is tricked into accepting employment as a live-in secretary
for the Hughes family (mother Dame May Whitty and son George Macready) who subsequently
try to gaslight her into thinking she is someone else. Essentially she is trapped in the Hughes mansion
and everyone is led to believe she is crazy.
Great premise but not for those prone to paranoia. Macready is a perfect edgy villain (with Gilda
and Paths of Glory yet to come) but it is a shock to see Dame May Whitty on the
dark side, since I identify her strongly with her heroic spy in The Lady
Vanishes. As directed by Lewis, this is
a tight film, suspenseful, and ultimately fulfilling. Is it noir? Perhaps but Julia Ross does not
deserve any of this (perhaps that is exactly why it is noir!).
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