'My Name is Julia Ross' has a fairly unique premise: a young lady desperate for work jumps on a job opportunity that ends up being a nightmare. Without giving too much away, she's held captive by the parties who hired her.
While this film does have lots of suspense and wonderful sinister performances by George Macready as the disturbed son and May Whitty as the protective mum who'll do anything to cover for her son, the fatal flaw is ultimately the believability of their plan. Really, they'd go to these lengths? I just couldn't buy it.
My other issue is the lead character Julia Ross' complete ineptitude at escaping her situation. Hysterically played by Nina Foch, the character is pretty much the dumbest protagonist I've ever seen, thwarting her own smart plans in the stupidest of ways. Certainly, the writer could have built the suspense and dashed the audience's hopes while not making the hero so bloody thick.
Anyway, it's not totally without its suspenseful moments and very good baddies, which probably explains why it was remade by Arthur Penn as 'Dead of Winter', but ultimately the premise that makes it so different also makes it extremely hard to believe.
While this film does have lots of suspense and wonderful sinister performances by George Macready as the disturbed son and May Whitty as the protective mum who'll do anything to cover for her son, the fatal flaw is ultimately the believability of their plan. Really, they'd go to these lengths? I just couldn't buy it.
My other issue is the lead character Julia Ross' complete ineptitude at escaping her situation. Hysterically played by Nina Foch, the character is pretty much the dumbest protagonist I've ever seen, thwarting her own smart plans in the stupidest of ways. Certainly, the writer could have built the suspense and dashed the audience's hopes while not making the hero so bloody thick.
Anyway, it's not totally without its suspenseful moments and very good baddies, which probably explains why it was remade by Arthur Penn as 'Dead of Winter', but ultimately the premise that makes it so different also makes it extremely hard to believe.