The File on Thelma Jordon

Robert Siodmak's 1950 drama stars Barbara Stanwyck as gentle seductress Thelma Jordon, who targets bitter assistant D.A. and married man Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey), surely one of the most weak-willed and deluded patsies in the history of film noir. When Thelma becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her high-society aunt—after she's named in the matron's will—the self-pitying Cleve doesn't just miss the signs that she's playing him, he blatantly ignores them to cover up incriminating evidence. Interestingly, Siodmak generates more sympathy for Thelma—the poor cousin pressured into criminal behavior by her predatory crook of a boyfriend (Richard Rober)—than for Cleve. While Thelma comes off as victim as much as victimizer, Cleve can never quite justify his corruption apart from his romantic obsession. In fact, Cleve is not let off the hook for his betrayals and misdeeds: there's a price to pay in his life and career for every decision and action. One of the era's most low-key film-noir offerings—slower and more subdued than such classics as The Maltese Falcon or Siodmak's own The Killers—this is an elegant and compelling movie in its own right, largely because of a superb performance by Stanwyck. Bowing on DVD and Blu-ray, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)