The File on Thelma Jordon ***** (1949, Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Ridges, Richard Rober) – Classic Movie Review 2,255

Robert Siodmak’s marvellous, ultra-tense 1949 film noir thriller The File on Thelma Jordon stars Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale in love with a jewel thief (Richard Rober). Wendell Corey co-stars as hard-drinking, unhappily married district attorney Cleve Marshall.

[Spoiler alert] Director Robert Siodmak’s marvellous, ultra-tense 1949 thriller The File on Thelma Jordon stars Barbara Stanwyck as Thelma Jordon, a femme fatale in love with jewel thief Tony Laredo (Richard Rober), who persuades her to go to live with her rich Aunt Vera (Gertrude W Hoffman) and steal her jewels.

Wendell Corey co-stars as hard-drinking, unhappily married assistant district attorney Cleve Marshall, who is surprised when Thelma shows up late one night in his office with a story about prowlers and burglars. Thelma soon seduces Cleve, who promptly falls in love with her and she falls for him too.

She shoots her auntie during the robbery, makes it look like an outside job and, instead of phoning the police, calls Cleve, who helps her cover up any evidence that could incriminate her. Cleve then hires a lawyer to defend her and arranges that he himself is appointed state prosecutor in her case and intentionally loses his prosecution to save her, presenting the state’s case against her in court so she wins an acquittal. But then, Tony shows up again…

With Ketti Frings’s screenplay based on the story by Marty [Mary] Holland, this ingenious, hard-boiled, doomy film noir is stylishly and cleverly directed by Siodmak. Archetypal femme fatale Stanwyck in best Double Indemnity mode gives a typically gutsy performance as a splendidly duplicitous, murderous, lying lady and there is surprisingly strong support from Corey as her haunted victim she drives towards destruction. Corey has a lot to do, and does it really convincingly, with the right haunted, hunted look about him.

Joan Tetzel does okay with an ungrateful part as Corey’s loyal but clingy, whiny, father-dominated wife. Paul Kelly as Miles Scott, Stanley Ridges as Kingsley Willis and Barry Kelley as District Attorney Melvin Pierce are all spot on, producing memorable characters.

Siodmak attends to all the film’s aspects with the utmost loving care and imagination. George Barnes’s starkly bleak black-and-white cinematography is a major asset and so is Victor Young’s moody score, with sound and vision both setting the mood.

Also in the cast are Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Ridges, Richard Rober, Minor Watson, Barry Kelley, Laura Elliott, Basil Ruysdael, Jane Novak, Harry Antrim, Kate Lawson, Theresa Harris, Byron Barr, Geraldine Wall and Jonathan Corey.

Hard-boiled author Marty [Mary] Holland also wrote the novel that forms the basis of another film noir classic Fallen Angel (1945)

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,255

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