In London, Julia Ross (Nina Foch) goes to a new employment agency, desperate for work. When Mrs. Sparkes (Anita Sharp-Bolster, as Anita Bolster) learns that she has no near relations, she recommends Julia for a job as a live-in personal secretary to a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes (May Whitty, as Dame May Whitty). Mrs. Hughes approves and insists that she move that very night into her house. Two days later, Julia awakes as a prisoner at an isolated seaside estate in Cornwall.
All her possessions have disappeared and the young woman is told she is really Marion, the wife of Ralph Hughes (George Macready), Mrs. Hughes's son. The staff have been told that she has suffered a nervous breakdown; as a result, they ignore her seemingly wild claims, and her attempts to escape are all foiled.
Julia writes a letter to Dennis Bruce (Roland Varno), her only close friend and admirer, and cleverly leaves it where it can be found. The Hugheses substitute a blank sheet of paper and allow her to post it, unaware that Julia has anticipated them and written a second letter. That night, Julia discovers a secret passage to her room and overhears Ralph admit to his mother that he murdered his wife in a fit of rage and disposed of her body in the sea. Even so, when a "doctor" comes in response to a fake poisoning attempt, she blurts out her plan to him, only to discover that he, along with Mrs. Sparkes, is in on the scheme. He is dispatched to London to intercept the letter. When the real doctor shows up, Julia thinks he's also a fake and refuses to see him. The doctor recommends she be taken to a hospital immediately, but Mrs. Hughes persuades him to come back in the morning.
Julia's captors have to make it appear that she has committed suicide before the doctor can take her away.
Julia throws her gown out the window, making it look like she threw herself to her death, then hides in the secret passage. When the doctor drives up, Mrs. Hughes delays him so that her son can get to the body first. Ralph picks up a rock to ensure that Julia is really dead, but is stopped by Dennis and a policeman, who had been alerted by the letter. The fake doctor was apprehended in London when he tried to intercept the letter. When Ralph tries to flee, he is shot down. Later, Julia and Dennis drive away and talk about getting married.
A 1945 American Black & White film-noir thriller film directed by Joseph H. Lewis, produced by Wallace MacDonald, screenplay by Muriel Roy Bolton, based on Anthony Gilbert's novel "The Woman in Red" (1941), cinematography by Burnett Guffey, starring Nina Foch, Dame May Whitty, George Macready, Roland Varno, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Doris Lloyd, Joy Harington, Queenie Leonard, Olaf Hytten, Leonard Mudie, Harry Hays Morgan Jr., Ottola Nesmith, Reginald Sheffield, Evan Thomas, Leyland Hodgson, Milton Owen, Charles McNaughton, and Marilyn Johnson.
Dame Mary Louise Webster (1865-1948), known professionally as May Whitty and later, for her charity work, Dame May Whitty, was an English stage and film actress. She was one of the first two women entertainers to become a Dame. The British actors' union Equity was established in her home in 1930. Her film roles included Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "The Lady Vanishes" (1938) in which she played Miss Froy, a British spy posing as a governess who disappears on a train. After a successful career both on the West End stage and in British films, she moved over to Hollywood films at the age of 72.
A remake, Arthur Penn's "Dead of Winter" (1987), starring Mary Steenburgen, was loosely based on this. It was remade by Egyptian actress Fatin Hamama as "The Last Night" (1964).
Director Joseph H. Lewis was famous for setting up the camera in bizarre places and fashions (avoiding actors' faces quite often) and intentionally held scenes for awkward amounts of time to build tension. When the Columbia producer visited the set, he thought Lewis was crazy. They fought over schedules and budgets, as well as Lewis's artistic license to set up his scenes as he liked, and Lewis threw the Columbia producer off the set. Lewis was well on his way to becoming a pariah at Columbia until co-founder and president Harry Cohn screened the film. He supposedly shouted at his producer, "Send him a barrel of whiskey, because any man with this talent can take the time he wants to. Now don't bother him." The term "style over content" fits director Joseph H. Lewis like a glove. Significant peripheral detail was his stock-in-trade. His ability to elevate basically mundane and mediocre low-budget material to sublime cinematic art has gained him a substantial cult following among movie buffs. The Bonnie & Clyde look-alike "Gun Crazy" (1950), shot in 30 days on a budget of $400,000, is often cited as his best film.
A mystery melodrama with excitement, suspense, ominous atmosphere, and a psychological twist. It's fast paced and packed with tense action. Acting and low-budget production are excellent. A nice little gem.
