Geraldine Jordan Movies
- 1949
No one is as good as Barbara Stanwyck when she's bad. Here Stanwyck plays Thelma Jordon, a woman who late one night shows up in the office of happily married Assistant DA Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey) to seek help in solving the string of robberies at her wealthy aunt's estate. Before Cleve can stop himself, he and Thelma are involved in an illicit affair. But Thelma is a mysterious woman, and Cleve can't help wondering if she is hiding something. His suspicions are confirmed when Thelma confesses to him that she is married to Tony Laredo, though she swears that she never wants to see him again. When Thelma's aunt is found murdered, Cleve's suspicions are aroused once again, but he is too love-struck to keep himself from being drawn into the complicated series of events that ultimately lead to his ruination. Siodmak directs with his usual skill and polish, but the film really belongs to Barbara Stanwyck who is magnificent as Thelma. Unlike the usual cold, passionless femme fatale of film noir, Thelma has a heart and a conscience. She comes to love Cleve, and has concern for his life and his future. However, despite her wish that her life could be different, she realizes that she belongs in Tony's world, and despite her attempts to sacrifice herself to save Cleve, he is doomed, by his love for her and by his own weaknesses. The File on Thelma Jordan is a romantic, unusual mystery, with a great performance and superior direction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, (more)
- 1948
Jason (William Holden) is a World War II veteran going to college on the GI Bill in the hope of bettering himself. He has recently married his sweetheart, Peggy (Jeanne Crain), who has learned that they're having a baby. However, money is tight for the young couple, and inexpensive housing is at a premium in the post-war boom times. Peggy meets Professor Henry Barnes (Edmund Gwenn), an instructor at the college who lives alone in a huge house. Barnes is convinced that the best years of his life are over, that he has no purpose in life, and that our culture has sacrificed its highest ideals. But Peggy convinces Prof. Barnes to let her and Jason stay in his attic. As the newlyweds try to turn the cobwebbed space into a home, the professor gets to know his tenants better, and their enthusiastic optimism rubs off on him, giving him a sense that there are things left to be accomplished and reasons to go on. Apartment for Peggy reunited director George Seaton with actor Edmund Gwenn, who had clicked the previous year in the classic Miracle on 34th Street. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Edmund Gwenn, Jeanne Crain, (more)
Steve Thompson (Burt Lancaster) returns home after a few years of knocking around the country following his divorce from good-time girl Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). Getting his old job back driving an armored car, and not even convincing himself that he's making a new start, he also wants his old wife back. When he finds Anna, he quickly learns that she is involved with gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea). Nonetheless, they carry on a clandestine affair, with Steve foolishly believing that Anna will return to him. Even after she marries Slim, Steve, with her encouragement, masochistically clings to this doomed obsession. So when Slim catches them together, Steve ad libs plans for an armored car robbery that includes Slim. The two rivals form an uneasy and untrusting collaboration, but Steve and Anna plan to double cross Slim. However, the title of Robert Siodmak's film noir gem is, not incidentally, Criss Cross. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
Richard Widmark plays the borderline-psycho owner of a combination road house and bowling alley. Widmark's singer, Ida Lupino, begins exhibiting an interest in his manager, Cornel Wilde. To get even with Wilde, Widmark frames him on a robbery charge, then has the unlucky fellow released in his custody. The sadistic Widmark takes every opportunity to flaunt his control over Conte, but this only serves to deepen the relationship between Wilde and Lupino. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, (more)
