The File on Thelma Jordon 1950

“I wish so much crime didn’t take place after dark. It’s so unnerving,” says the title character (played by a tense Barbara Stanwyck) in Robert Siodmak’s 1950 Paramount noir. One night she walks into the office of alcoholic, lonesome, and married Assistant District Attorney Cleve Marshall (played by a loose-but-tightening Wendell Corey) to report that her rich aunt is being stalked by jewel thieves. The smitten Cleve initially believes her, but the more he learns about Thelma’s past, the less certain he is. Olive Films’ Blu-ray release (typically bare-bones, lacking even a trailer) marks the first time Siodmak’s film has been made available for home video retail, and while the murky transfer falls short of honoring cinematographer George Barnes’s gorgeously gloomy original images, it fills a void nonetheless.