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Julia
Julia “Two young girls from differing
  backgrounds who became firm friends
  into adulthood face the challenges
  and the perils of life as one, plagued
  by writer’s block, strives to become
  a playwright and the other becomes
  embroiled in a new and dangerous
  world overshadowed by the rising
  of the Nazis in Julia...”

WITH A SEEMINGLY CHARMED LIFE AND BROUGHT UP with wealthy grandparents and an absent mother, the excitable Julia (Vanessa Redgrave) befriends the shy Lillian Hellman (Jane Fonda) and they become close and lifelong friends.

During their childhood (Young Julia is played by Lisa Pelikan; Young Lillian by Susan Jones) they are inseparable, but when Julia is offered a place at Oxford to study medicine and then completes her studies in Vienna, they see less and less of each other.

“A brilliant and
enthralling movie based
on Lillian Hellman’s
experiences, Julia has
an amazing cast and
enough mystery to make
an intriguing tale of the
rise of the Nazis.
Jane Fonda and Vanessa
Redgrave just dazzle
and Meryl Streep
in the minor part
of Anne Marie doesn’t
fail to get noticed!”
While in Vienna, Julia writes of the threat of Fascism and the Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler. She warns ominously of the holocaust that is on its way and cannot understand why the world doesn't see it coming.

As Lillian reminisces, it is 1934 and she is living with a successful writer, "Dashiell "Dash" Hammett (author of The Maltese Falcon, beautifully played by the late Jason Robards).

Lillian suffers writer's block, making her difficult to live with as she is given to outbursts of frustration, and Dash suggests she visits Paris, getting some inspiration and perhaps getting in touch with her old friend Julia, who is still in Vienna.

Having spent a while in Paris struggling with the play, Lillian has difficulties getting in touch with Julia. She witnesses marches and Police intervention in the French capital and Vienna is also troubled. The violence escalates, with reports of shooting in the streets and buildings ablaze.

Finally she hears from someone with a message from Julia and when she reaches Vienna she finds that Julia has been seriously injured and is facing an operation. She also gets a message from her friend to leave there and when she contacts the hospital they deny that she was ever there.

Lillian is contacted by Johann (Maximilian Schell), a friend of Julia's who belongs to a small group working against Hitler and asks Lillian to smuggle $50,000 into Berlin — a highly dangerous and foolhardy task in Nazi Germany. She is to find out more puzzling things about her friend that seem unsolvable and, given also that Lillian is Jewish, the odds of coming out alive and well are stacked against her…

A brilliant and enthralling movie based on Lillian Hellman's experiences, Julia has an amazing cast of professionals and enough mystery to make an intriguing tale of the rise of the Nazis. Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave just dazzle and Meryl Streep in the minor part of Anne Marie doesn't fail to get noticed!

Julia also features: Hall Holbrook as Alan; Rosemary Murphy as Dottie; Dora Doll as Woman Passenger; Elisabeth Mortensen as Girl Passenger; John Glover as Sammy; Maurice Denham as The Undertaker; Cathleen Nesbitt as Grandmother.

Music is Composed and Conducted by Georges Delerue; Director of Photography is Douglas Slocombe; Screenplay is by Alvin Sargent, based on the story by Lillian Hellman; Produced by Richard Roth; an Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

* Julia is released in the UK on DVD, courtesy of Odyssey DVD, on 29 September 2014. Running Time: 117 minutes | Catalogue Number; DVD OD577 | RRP: £12.99.

"A brilliant and enthralling movie based on Lillian Hellman's experiences, Julia has an amazing cast of professionals and enough mystery to make an intriguing tale of the rise of the Nazis. Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave just dazzle and Meryl Streep in the minor part of Anne Marie doesn't fail to get noticed!" — Maggie Woods

"Miss Fonda and Miss Redgrave are marvellous" — NY Times