My Name Is Julia Ross

Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Year Released: 1945
Rating: 2.0

Ms. Ross (Nina Foch), who needs a job badly, goes to what's probably the worst staffing agency in the world - yes, worse than Robert Half International - and winds up drugged and kidnapped by a certain Mrs. Hughes (May Whitty), who needs to find a replacement wife for her crackpot son (George Macready).  It's easy to see the influence of Hitchcock (specifically Rebecca) and Gaslight on this - trying to drive a woman bonkers - except I didn't find this one plausible: Foch's character is way too composed considering the situation and the "plan" itself more than a bit far-fetched.  For a very trim sixty-five minutes, however, it has a grim late-night appeal to it.