For about the first 30 minutes of Paramount's THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN (aka "Thelma Jordan") you get the impression that it is going to be another love triangle with unhappily married District Attorney Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) having the hots for 'ready for a fling' Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck). But then the movie begins to find its purpose and turns out to be a splendid noir thriller. Produced for the studio by Hal Wallis in 1949 it was beautifully written for the screen by Ketti Frings and sharply photographed in monochrome by George Barnes. Adding greatly to the picture is the marvellous atmospheric score by the great Victor Young and the whole thing was masterfully directed, in his best noir style, by Robert Siodmak. Siodmak was a exceptional - but inconsistent - director. In 1945 he directed "The Spiral Staircase" one of the finest suspense thrillers ever made. Followed the next year with one of the best noirs ever produced the unequalled "The Killers". But he was prone to surprising diversity too! He could go from these supreme thrillers to directing such things as the entertaining but clownish swashbuckler "The Crimson Pirate" (1952) and the stiff and clunky western epic "Custer Of The West" (1967). Nevertheless he is best remembered today for his ingenious noir efforts.The plot of THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN has Thelma Jordan (Barbara Stanwyck) being accused of the killing of her aunt (Gertrude Hoffman) and robbing the safe in her grand mansion. Pleading innocence, she sends for her lover Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) to help her. He arrives and commences to divert any blame for the murder away from her. But to no avail she is arrested anyway for the killing and charged. Cleve, as the District Attorney, now plans to prosecute her in court and purposely lose the case so that she will be acquitted. The plan works but to Cleve's chagrin it turns out that she did, after all, murder her aunt and not only that but she also has a husband (Richard Rober) with whom she had planned the whole thing from the beginning. With Cleve now totally dispirited and his career in tatters Jordan, with her husband, go away together to start over but with a change of mind and heart she deliberately causes the car they are in to crash and explode into flames.One of the most tangible aspects of the picture is the musical contribution from the great Victor Young. The main theme first heard over the titles is a gorgeous sweeping melody that becomes a ravishing love theme later. It is one of the composer's loveliest melodic inspirations and gives the lover's early scenes together a tender romantic aura. Then there is the exciting martial cue for the film's terrific set piece as Jordan is being walked hurriedly from the Jailhouse across the street to the Courthouse, flanked by milling press and public, to hear the jury's verdict. The entire pace of this sequence is achieved through the brilliant use of music.THELMA JORDAN is Young's best noir score!Performances are excellent! Stanwyck has rarely been better, doing her powerful devious Femme Fatale bit just as good as anytime before. Excellent too is Wendell Corey! The only actor I know who can deliver lines without moving his lips. An actor who usually played second male lead Corey had heaps of screen presence but was never the ideal leading man. Stanwyck who could be overshadowed quite easily by a stronger male star such as Holden or Ray Milland probably chose Corey for that very reason. She chose him again the following year to play opposite her in Anthony Mann's "The Furies".THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN is a classic film noir but isn't it a shame that it is not available on DVD. It was on VHS at one time but now I think its about time Paramount gave serious thought to a DVD presentation.

From her first entrance, Stanwyck kept me captivated by her performance in this film. There is something about her that draws you in and holds you. You know there is more to her than meets the eye - but you're not sure what exactly. I have always admired Stanwyck. She was born Ruby Stevens, a Brooklyn girl that worked for a phone company and then became a chorus girl, before finally going to Hollywood to chase her dreams. She was nominated 4 times for an Oscar for Best Actress ("Stella Davis", "Ball of Fire", "Double Indemnity", "Sorry ,Wrong Number") but never won - except for an Honorary Oscar near the end of her life. She was considered a gem to work with for her serious but easy going attitude on the set (unlike many of her contemporary peers). This makes me like her even more!I thought the cinematography in this film was outstanding. I loved the elaborate sets and and set decorating.The plot kept me intrigued as well. Corey plays the perfect fall guy for Stanwyck. His average looks and dull exterior tend to make you feel sympathetic for this guy. Some have commented that they didn't have much chemistry together. I agree that they are an unlikely couple, but it helps you see how he could get so caught up in her and be willing to sacrifice so much. She was obviously outside his league.There are some nice twists and turns in the plot that will keep you interested - especially at the end. It's worth a watch.

A woman with an unsavory past lures a troubled, married assistant D.A. into an adulterous affair; when her aunt is murdered, she's accused of the crime and her lover tries to sabotage the prosecution's case with tragic results.Dissatisfaction with the suburban American Dream is an undercurrent in a few Films Noir and this one is reminiscent of Andre de Toth's PITFALL in that respect. There's also a doomed romanticism that recalls Siodmak's earlier CRISS CROSS with its all-too-human femme fatale along with a curious, mixed-message moral ambiguity: trying to change what he was cost Cleve Marshall dearly -but when Thelma Jordon tried to change what she was, it proved fatal. Breaking out of private traps is a futility in Film Noir and is shown to good effect here. Barbara Stanwyck's Thelma is a Phyllis Dietrichson with heart and she plays well off the weaker Wendell Corey's Cleve. Authority figure Paul Kelly is always a welcome presence and daddy's girl Joan Tetzel is appropriately sympathetic as Cleve's neglected wife. THE FILE ON THELMA JORDON may be a minor entry in the canon that's not very impressive on a visual or technical level but this Hal Wallis/Paramount production is still worthwhile for those addicted to the genre.

***MAJOR SPOILERS*** Much like her big 1944 film noir classic "Double Indemnity" Barbara Stanwyck in the lead, and films title, role of Thelma Jordon is about as manipulative and cold blooded as they come but, unlike in "Double Indemnity" she has a conscience. That conscience on Thelma's part makes up for all the harm that she does to her lover in the movie Assistant District Attorney Cleve Marshall, Wendell Corey. But sadly it also cost the foolish and love-sick, for Thelma, man his career and possibly his marriage to his long suffering wife Pamela, Joan Tetzel.Not expecting to find the totally drunk Cleve Marshall to be in the D.A's office, Thelma actually wanted to talk to the D.A himself Niles Scott (Paul Kelly), Thelma soon realizes that he can help her with a pressing problem that she has in regards to her old and wealthy Aunt Vera, Gertrude Hoffman. Aunt Vera has been worried that someone is trying to break into her home and steal her valuable jewelry locked in her living-room safe.Having Cleve think that she's in love with him Thelma has him slowly trapped in a sinister plan that she concocted with her gangster boyfriend Tony Laredo, Richard Rober, to rip off Aunt Vera of her jewelry. It turns out that Aunt Vera somehow gets wind of what's going on and one evening when she hears some noise in her house and investigate, with her bedside firearm, Aunt Vera is shot and killed, off camera, by the unseen burglar. Thelma who was sleeping upstairs hears the gunshot and comes running down to find Aunt Vera dead and the safe opened,I'm not quite sure if the jewelry were in the safe and taken, and immediately calls Cleve, feeling that she'll be the prime suspect in Aunt Vera's murder, for help.Being the good friend, as well as Thelma's secret lover, that he is Cleve does everything to clear Thelma of anything that has to do with her Aunt Vera's murder. Cleve goes so far in covering up Aunt Vera's death that he actually, in his secret lover affair with Thelma, implicates himself in the killing! Walking a tight rope Cleve is now in the unenviable position, by being appointed as the state prosecutor, of both trying Thelma for murder and at the same time by purposely blotching the case in his very obvious, to his boss D.A Scott, attempt in getting her off Scot-free!The missing piece of this very strange and complicated puzzle is Thelma's estranged boyfriend Tony Lerado. Tony is always seen snooping around Thelma's home as well as in the courtroom as if he's in some way trying to either blackmail or intimidate, with his gangster friends, her. It's only much later in the movie, after Thelma's trial, that the truth comes out about just what the relationship is between the two, Thelma & Tony. This comes as a complete shock to the by then very relived, in the jury verdict, Cleve Marshall who's ready to leave his wife and family for, the playing him for a sucker, Thelma Jordon!It's just too bad that in 1950 the code of morality, or Hayes Commission, had full control of Hollywood , not foreign, released films. Making the movie have a tragic yet feel-good ending spoiled everything that was both interesting and realistic about "The File on Thelma Jordon". Despite that major fault, which was really no fault of the movie's screenwriters, "The File on Thelma Jordon" ranks right up there with film noir classics like the aforementioned "Double Indemnity" and "Out of the Past", two movies that were also hampered by the Hollywood morality code, as one of the best of it's kind even though nowhere, the film is rarely shown on TV, as popular.