While Doris Day will be forever remembered for her sweet films and comedies, she occasionally made dark films like "Midnight Lace" and "Julie". As for "Midnight Lace", I wasn't very impressed with the movie...but "Julie" is a terrific and tense thriller...and one of Day's best.

The story begins in the Monterey, California area. Julie (Day) is a widow who recently married Lyle (Louis Jourdan). However, the honeymoon period in this marriage is short and soon Lyle begins bullying and physically abusing Julie. He also lets it slip that Julie's first husband did not kill himself as everyone believed but HE murdered him. Now Julie is rightfully scared to death of the man, but she's no dummy and soon she escapes and seeks the help of the local police...who are completely useless and unsympathetic. After no help whatsoever, with the help of a friend (Barry Sullivan) she makes her way to San Francisco. There, the police are more sympathetic but are also unable to do much as Julie has no evidence that her husband is a maniac...but they don't just drop the case. They keep an eye on her....and Lyle is determined one way or another to kill her. What happens next is truly amazing but I'll say no more as I don't want to ruin the suspense.

The story is very good from start to finish. Some might hate that some of the police don't seem to care about Julie...though for that time period, this is sadly realistic. An amazing film and one that really haunts you. Terrific and tense from start to finish.

'Julie' did have potential. Doris Day (my main reason for seeing it, with the film being part of my completest quest, watching the films of hers not yet seen) was an immensely talented performer, especially good in comedy and musicals and some of her dramatic stuff was good too. The cast is a talented one and am also a fan of thriller dramas.

While there are a number of good elements, it is agreed that 'Julie' is an uneven film. Frustratingly so. One of those films that starts off quite well and has one particularly riveting scene but later becomes a film of two or three sections that starts to unravel in the middle and then feels like a completely different film by the end. It does seem like this is the general consensus regarding 'Julie', but my honest feelings were actually exactly the same before reviewing it and hearing of its reputation.

Day looks radiant and is utterly convincing here, one of her better and more natural and never over-acted dramatic performances despite the film being one of the weaker dramatic films she starred in. Louis Jourdan is chillingly psychotic as the villainous husband, and there are perfectly pitched supporting turns from Frank Lovejoy and especially Barry Sullivan. Most of 'Julie' is well made, having a noir-ish look that gives the film so much atmosphere, while there is some above competent direction of Andrew L Stone.

Stone's direction particularly shines in his speciality for filming dramas in situations that happen in real life with props of great authenticity. Leith Stevens does provide some atmospheric music. 'Julie' does have some genuine tension and suspense and its most memorable and most famous scene, the plane landing scene, is riveting and its most memorably regarded scene for very good reason.

However, am going to be one of those people who will respectfully but strongly disagree with the Oscar nominations for best original script and best song, both to me among the most undeserved in their respective categories. Personally found the title song, even with Day singing it beautifully (as always),instantly forgettable and un-fitting with the rest of the film. Day has had far better songs in her career. Similarly, the dialogue a vast majority of the time was banal and overwrought.

Most of the film looks good, but not so at the beginning with some noticeably cheap and distracting rear-projection. It is the story where 'Julie' most falls down. It is wildly and frustratingly uneven, with seriously draggy pacing issues in the middle and the tension and suspense becomes replaced by over-the-top melodrama, repetition and implausibility that goes beyond ridiculousness at worst.

In conclusion, could have been frightening but instead makes the viewer annoyed at how such a potentially good film falls apart as much as it does apart from redeeming itself with that aforementioned memorable scene. 5/10 Bethany Cox

In 1956 Doris Day was cast in Julie between two of her best pieces of work, the highly dramatic Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much and her best musical The Pajama Game. Usually those two films are either or both listed on Doris Day's top ten. Julie never is.

There was nothing new by 1956 in leading ladies marrying psychopaths, Ingrid Bergman had done it twice already in Rage In Heaven and in Gaslight. But both of those films were intelligently done while Julie goes into the hysterically melodramatic.

Doris is cast in the title role in Julie as a woman with an obsessively jealous second husband in Louis Jourdan. Louis married Doris after her first husband committed suicide and about all there is to recommend him is that he's a great concert pianist. But after another pathological outbreak Day seeks some solace with an old friend in Barry Sullivan. And she's determined to leave Jourdan and give him the slip.

But Jourdan is one grimly determined psychotic. When she returns to her old job as an airline stewardess, Jourdan stalks her and ends up on her first airline job. After that things get real interesting over 15,000 feet.

Julie actually won two Academy Award nominations, the first for original screenplay. Impossible for me to believe but as Casey Stengel used to say in baseball, you can look it up.

The second Oscar nomination was for Best Original Song. That year Doris came out a winner of sorts because while the title song Julie didn't win Doris came home a winner with Que Sera Sera, a much better song from a much better film.

The over the top melodramatics throughout the film made what could have been a spine tingling climax into something quite camp and quite laughable. I won't reveal what the midair climax is, but just to say that it could have worked under different circumstances.