The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)

Directed by Robert Siodmak; produced by Hal B Wallis

An assistant district attorney (Wendell Corey), drunk and feeling sorry for himself because of his marital woes, meets a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) seeking help in protecting her aunt’s jewels. Despite an inauspicious beginning, the two hit it off and begin an affair. Risky at first, it doesn’t grow smoother when there is a robbery and murder.

There is a feeling to The File on Thelma Jordon that those involved were looking to make another Double Indeminity. The only connection among the cast and crew between the two films is the female lead, and though Stanwyck is usually enough to fill any cinematic requirement, there is no comparison. The File on Thelma Jordon doesn’t have the story, the suspense or the characters of the earlier movie. Nor does it have enough to be successful on its own merits.

As mentioned, one of the problems is the story. While the script is good, the plot itself doesn’t produce any surprises. What happens is pretty easy to guess, and, though the finale’s detail may differ from expectations, most viewers will arrive at the conclusion before the movie does. This is ironic considering the crime’s commission in Double Indemnity is explicit, but not shown here, yet the earlier film produces more suspense.

Another problem is the casting. Wendell Corey is meant to portray an ‘everyman’, caught up in intrigue and felony. But he is also meant to be someone whom two quite different women can’t live without. His performance does not convey that in the least. There is, in fact, nothing very appealing to his character; there is nothing repellent, either. He is a pretty mundane individual. Corey is very good at portraying the latter. This is no reflection upon his ability (check out his psychopathic murderer in 1956’s The Killer is Loose) but The File on Thelma Jordon demonstrates why he rarely appeared as a movie’s lead, and was usually cast in a supporting role.

Even Stanwyck does not make her character convincingly bewitching. The attraction between her and Corey and is not persuasive; at no point did I believe they were crazy in love with each other. I found Corey’s wife (Joan Tetzel) to be more alluring, physically and emotionally, than Stanwyck.

The File on Thelma Jordon was a missed opportunity, though it may have needed fundamental reconstruction before it became effective.