My Name Is Julia Ross

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

1945 1h 5m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 74

ThrillerMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Julia Ross secures employment with a wealthy widow and goes to live at her house. Two days later, she awakens in a different house in different clothes and with a new identity.

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

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Cast

Nina Foch
Julia Ross
May Whitty
Mrs. Hughes
George Macready
Ralph Hughes
Roland Varno
Dennis Bruce
Anita Sharp-Bolster
Sparkes
Doris Lloyd
Mrs. Mackie
Queenie Leonard
Alice (uncredited)
Joy Harington
Bertha (uncredited)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writers: Muriel Roy Bolton
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 65-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

81 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Henry Batista shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Nina Foch and May Whitty and George Macready carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0037932 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph H. Lewis directs. Burnett Guffey behind the camera. Mischa Bakaleinikoff scores. Henry Batista cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 65-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
281 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Joseph H. Lewis, shot by Burnett Guffey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Mischa Bakaleinikoff. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Henry Batista shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Nina Foch and May Whitty and George Macready carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "She went to sleep as a secretary ... and woke up a madman's "bride"!".
8IMDB entry: tt0037932 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 74 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
10Classified under 9 themes, including "kidnapping", "identity crisis", "cornwall, england", "film noir".

The technical file

Cinematography: Burnett Guffey
Original score: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Editing: Henry Batista
Costume design: Jean Louis
Sound: Glenn Rominger
Runtime: 65 min · 1h 5m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

Also by

Joseph H. Lewis

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2013-11-19
★ 8/10
We're doing everything in our power to make you well again. My Name Is Julia Ross is directed by Joseph H. Lewis and adapted to screenplay by Muriel Roy Bolton from The Woman in Red written by Anthony Gilbert. It stars Nina Foch, Dame Mary Witty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Anita Sharp-Bolster and Doris Lloyd. Music is by Mischa Bakaleinikoff and cinematography by Burnett Guffey. Julia Ross (Foch) out of work and in debt arrears to her landlady, hastily accepts a in-house secretarial position to Mrs. Hughes (Whitty). Starting work in the Hughes house in London the first night, she wakes up two days later in a cliff-top mansion in Cornwall. She is told she has been away with mental health problems, her name is Marion Hughes and she is married to Ralph Hughes (Macready)... A very important film in the career of the great Joseph H. Lewis, My Name is Julia Ross would effectively put the director on the map, with noir fans subsequently rewarded with the likes of Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. Compact in running time (65 minutes) and budget, it's a film that showcases just what real good work could be achieved by a director and photographer noir team working under tight restrictions; classical noir production if you like. Story as it is is pretty straightforward and familiar, but atmosphere and visual smartness ensure this is no walk down retread lane. It falls into the Gothic noir spectrum of films, following in the traditions of Rebecca, Gaslight and Suspicion. In fact, it's also very much "old dark house" on staple terms, with eerie staircase, wood panelled rooms, secret passageways and even a black cat. While the setting, house on a seaside cliff where the mist rolls in at night, is splendidly moody. The characterisations (very well performed by the cast) are vivid and odd, with us clearly meant to note that Julia Ross is clearly the only normal being in the Hughes household! Best of the bunch is Macready's Ralph Hughes, the catalyst for all the things that are happening, he fondles his knives like a fetishist, a truly memorable noir antagonist. Ultimately it's what Lewis and Guffey bring to the fore that makes the film better than it is on the page. Expressionistic touches are here of course, but it's the skew-whiff camera placements and up close POV shots that bring the viewer into Julia's confused new world. Memorable scenes are frequent, be it a rain sodden street or Julia peering through the bars of her bedroom, there's visual treats aplenty here. The ending is all to quick and as is often the case in this type of narrative, implausibilities need to be ignored. But that is easy to do, because with atmosphere unbound and not a shot wasted, this is a safe recommendation to the Gothic noir faithful. 8/10

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