My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)

A young girl (Nina Foch) applies for a live in secretarial position with a wealthy widow (Dame May Whitty) and her son (George Macready, GILDA). When she wakes up after being sedated for several days, the woman and her son insist she is, in fact, his wife and her daughter in law recovering from a nervous breakdown. Though he'd been working in Hollywood for about eight years, this stylish and economical (it runs five minutes over an hour) thriller made director Joseph H. Lewis's reputation and he would go on to direct such noir classics as GUN CRAZY and THE BIG COMBO. What sets JULIA ROSS apart from the usual damsel "being driven mad" in distress scenario (think GASLIGHT) is the plucky resourcefulness of its heroine. As played by Foch in a nicely thought out performance, she's no pushover or delicate rose wringing her hands at her plight. It's also quite amusing to see Dame May Whitty, usually cast as sweet old ladies or likable dowagers, as a crafty villainess. With Roland Varno and Queenie Leonard. Based on the novel by Anthony Gilbert, it was remade (without credit) in 1997 as DEAD OF WINTER by director Arthur Penn.