In London, Julia Ross (Nina Foch) is totally broken and unsuccessfully seeking a job. Her previous love affair with the lawyer Dennis Bruce (Roland Varno) has ended and he has just married with another woman on the previous night. When she sees an advertisement in a newspaper in the boarding house where she lives, she goes to the employment agency and she is interviewed by Ms. Sparkes (Anita Sharp-Bolster). When she learns that Julia is alone in London with neither relatives nor boyfriend, she offers a job position of private secretary with the wealthy Mrs. Hughes (Dame May Witty) and her son Ralph Hughes (George Macready). Julia is immediately hired and Mrs. Hughes tells that she must move to her house that night. Julia goes to the boarding house of Mrs. Mackie (Doris Lloyd) to pack her things and she meets Dennis that called off his wedding. They schedule a date for the next Friday and she goes to the house. Julia wakes up two days later at a seaside manor in Cornwall. Further, the employees believe that she is Marion Hughes, the wife of Ralph, who is unstable due to a nervous breakdown and delusional. Soon she learns that Ralph has killed Marion and now she is his alibi. Further he is plotting a scheme to kill her as if she had committed suicide. What can Julia do to save her life?"My Name is Julia Ross" is an entertaining film with an original story unlikely to happen. Julia Ross trapped in the mansion usually does not take the correct attitudes. Arthur Penn's "Dead Winter" uses a different storyline that slightly recalls the general idea of "My Name is Julia Ross". My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Trágico Álibi" ("Tragic Alibi")

This is a nifty little suspense film...never mind that it is somewhat improbably (all the more so since there are holes in the plot)...it's still entertaining.It was a rather cheap B-picture, but that didn't keep one actress from shining through -- Dame May Witty as the mother who is protecting her adult son from being discovered as the murderer of his wife. To do so, they kidnap a young lady looking for a job (Nina Foch), and publicly treat her as having had a nervous breakdown, with the intent of murdering her and making it look like suicide so they can identify her body as the long-dead wife. Witty was always pretty interesting in films, and no less so here. Foch is a little less interesting, but does okay...sometimes it seems as if she is sleepwalking...but I don't mean that in terms of the plot. The son is played nastily by George Macready.It's a rather short film, just over and hour, so it moves along at a good pace, and it makes you want to forgive the the unevenness of the script. At least until the ending, which is about as bad as any I've ever seen in a film. Still, it's an interesting suspense film which could have done extremely well with a better director. I'll give it a "7" barely, although the ending made we want to drop it to a "6".

"My Name is Julia Ross" is a very, very rare sort of picture. It was created with a very modest budget and cast in order to be the second, or 'B' picture at a double-feature. However, when the film was screened, people liked the film so much that at many showings, it was the premier picture! This is rather unheard of and says a lot about the story from Muriel Bolton and Anthony Gilbert--as well as the direction by Joseph H. Lewis.The film begins with Julia (Nina Foch) looking for work. She's frustrated in her search and is excited when she sees that a new employment agency has opened. They interview her for a job and during the course of the interview, they have some strange questions--does she have any family, does she have a boyfriend and the like. Well, she can answer no to most of the questions but lies about the boyfriend part--telling them she has no one in her life. They are thrilled and offer her a job. Here's the bizarre twist. She suddenly finds herself drugged! And, she wakes up two days later in a prison-like mansion!! And, these strangers begin referring to her by another woman's name! She insists that she IS Julia Ross and demands to be set free but they treat her like she is insane. Her 'mother-in-law' (Dame May Witty) and 'husband' (George Macready) obviously have something awful in mind--but what? And, with all the neighbors having been told that she is a schizophrenic, she cannot convince any of them that she is telling the truth! What's next? See the film for yourself.Th bottom line is that everything works well in this film--the acting, writing, direction, sets. The only negative, and it's a minor one, but back in the 1940s, Hollywood had the Production Code and according to this code, evil had to be punished so viewers know that somehow things WILL work out for good. A similar film that works even better is the 1960s French film "Diaboliquement Vôtre". Likewise a man has been kidnapped and folks work very hard to convince him he's someone else. But because there is no code to restrict the film, the ending is VERY dark and more satisfying. Still, both are exceptional films and I recommend both very highly.

This was a typical grade B movie in 1940s Hollywood and yet it succeeded way beyond its expectations. Why? It has a wonderful plot and backed up by Nina Foch, George MacReady and Dame May Witty, as a female villain, of all people.When a young lady answers an advertisement for a secretary, she certainly gets more than she bargained for. The only talents her employers are seeking are those which will lead to her demise. Seems that Witty and MacReady want to pass her off as their daughter-in-law and wife, respectively. MacReady killed his real wife and wants to do Foch in as well so that a body can be claimed.The film deals with how Foch tries to get town people to believe her and how she is thwarted in practically everything she does. Why don't people believe her?