#joan tetzel

[poppingmary]

Joan Tetzel

[gatutor]

Joan Tetzel (New York City, 21/06/1921-Fairwarp, Sussex, England, 31/10/1977).

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[streamondemand]

'The File on Thelma Jordon' – Barbara Stanwyck plays her mark on Criterion Channel

Robert Siodmak’s The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) is one of the most low key film noir dramas of its era. Barbara Stanwyck in fine form as a gentle seductress who targets assistant D.A. and married man Cleve Marshall (Wendell Corey), playing into his self-pity during a drunken night out. When she becomes the prime suspect in the murder of her aunt, a high society matron who names her in her…

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

The File on Thelma Jordon

Barbara Stanwyck is such a good actress that she never tips her character’s hand in Robert Siodmak’s last Hollywood film noir, THE FILE ON THELMA JORDON (1949, TCM, YouTube). Whenever she talks of her character’s past, it’s an acting lesson in how to personalize the most minute detail simply and effectively. Even more impressive, she manages to look at Wendell Corey with passion in her eyes. Corey had been playing supporting roles effectively for producer Hal Wallis since his film debut in 1947, so the producer promoted him to leading man as the assistant district attorney who risks his family and career when he falls for Stanwyck and tries to help her dodge a murder rap. Initially, she comes to his office to ask for police protection for her rich, elderly aunt (Gertrude Hoffman, who deserves more screen time), claiming there have been break-ins at the old woman’s mansion. He’s drunk when they meet and immediately comes on to her. That she seems to tumble for him suggests she’s up to no good since a) he’s not all that hot, and b) he plays the drunk scene all wrong, giving into the disorientation rather than fighting it. Later he has to play innocent in a scene with the D.A. (Barry Kelley), and his mock sincerity is so phony you expect the boss to laugh in his face. Corey only scores in one scene, in which he confronts Stanwyck with her checkered past. His gaunt face and height work well there. For the rest, I couldn’t help wishing Wallis had given the role to his main leading man at the time, Burt Lancaster. I appear to be in the minority on this. A lot of critics, even today, think it’s a solid performance. Well, that’s just the kind of hairpin I am. Anyway, it’s a pity, because Siodmak and cameraman George Barnes have created a terrific-looking film, and, except for some misguided “comic” music during Corey’s drunk scene, Victor Young creates a powerfully romantic score. I should have guessed he wrote the music when the first few bars of the title cue made me weak in the knees. There’s also a great supporting cast, with Paul Kelly as a homicide detective, Joan Tetzel as Corey’s long-suffering wife, Richard Rober as Stanwyck’s evil friend, Mary Gordon in an effective, silent bit as a cleaning woman and, best of all, Stanley Ridges as Stanwyck’s defense attorney. The veteran actor has a great, florid, barnstorming role and he seizes it with gusto. In his main scene with Stanwyck, they connect so well, you’ll wish they had more time together.

[byneddiedingo]

Wendell Corey and Barbara Stanwyck in The File on Thelma Jordon (Robert Siodmak, 1950)

Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly, Joan Tetzel, Stanley Willis, Richard Rober, Minor Watson, Barry Kelley, Gertrude Hoffman. Screenplay: Ketti Frings, Marty Holland. Cinematography: George Barnes. Art direction: Hans Dreier, A. Earl Hedrick. Film editing: Warren Low. Music: Victor Young.

The chief problem with The File on Thelma Jordon is casting. Barbara Stanwyck's performance is terrific, of course, Robert Siodmak keeps a complex plot from snarling, and George Barnes's lights and shadows are eloquent. But Stanwyck is paired once again with Wendell Corey, who was her ineffective leading man in Anthony Mann's otherwise splendid The Furies, also made in 1950. Corey has no charisma and no depth. The screenplay may be at fault in not letting us see why Cleve Marshall's antagonism to his father-in-law is driving him to drink -- and into the arms of Stanwyck's scheming Thelma Jordon -- but Corey's hangdog manner doesn't help. Nor does he bring much visible intelligence to Marshall's scheming to undermine his own defense of Thelma when she's brought to trial for killing her aunt -- a murder he helped her cover up. The ending is also a bit of a muddle, largely because the Production Code meant that Thelma's crime had to be punished. What could have been a classic film noir ends up only a passable one.

[frankenpagie]

2.3.20

[beautifulactres]

Joan Tetzel (1921-1977)

[miguelmarias]

The File On Thelma Jordon (Robert Siodmak, 1949)

Tampoco El caso de Thelma Jordon, film “negro” ejemplar y más bien tardío dentro de la cronología del género, y quizá, para mi gusto, la obra cumbre de la larga y variada carrera de Robert Siodmak, se ha librado de la acusación de convencional, sin duda porque es tan característica y típica del género que buena parte de lo que se nos cuenta se nos antoja familiar y hasta lo tomamos, imprudentemente, por previsible, pese a que tanto la estrategia narrativa de Siodmak como la de su guionista (la infrecuente pero bastante ilustre Ketti Frings) y tal vez la del autor de la novela en que se basa, Marty Holland (el de Fallen Angel, ¿Ángel o diablo?, 1945, de Otto Preminger)  consiguen frustrar varias veces nuestras expectativas, y además con un criterio bastante realista: no son los personajes genios del mal, de la conspiración y de la astucia criminal, sino más bien aficionados chapuceros, que cometen errores hasta cuando hacen trampas a sus cómplices o improvisan coartadas poco convincentes con premura y atolondramiento.

Vista hoy, parece The File On Thelma Jordon un perfecto arquetipo del film noir en su vertiente individualista y no institucional, que es una de las muy fértiles variantes que caben dentro del género, con su buena dosis de imaginería casi expresionista (algo en principio nada hollywoodense, pero importado por Siodmak y los restantes alemanes y centroeuropeos que enriquecieron el clasicismo americano, cuando Hitler les forzó a la emigración) y sus personajes turbios y ambiguos, contemplados con una cierta curiosidad distanciada que evita toda tentación de fomentar la identificación o simpatía del espectador con ellos. Ni el personaje convincentemente interpretado por Barbara Stanwyck ni, sobre todo, el encarnado por el muy extraño y notable actor que fue Wendell Corey parecen fiables, y más bien inspiran permanente desconfianza, cuando no cabal sospecha. Algo suena a autoindulgencia y quejumbrosería, cuando no a victimismo, en la desesperación alcoholizada del asistente de la fiscalía que interpreta Corey, algo de falsedad y disimulo se percibe en cada gesto de Stanwyck: no parecen gente de fiar, y encima se precipitan y aturullan con facilidad, se ponen nerviosos y se agitan en todas direcciones sin una idea clara de qué hacer. Tememos por su suerte, pues es lo que nos están contando, y por su futuro, aunque sin poder creer que vayan a tener mucho ni que el que les quede pueda ser muy prometedor. Lo cual basta para mantenernos intrigados, en vilo, pendientes de lo que intuimos que se  proponen, casi deseando inconscientemente que se salgan con la suya o que se libren de lo peor que puede caerles encima, pero, al mismo tiempo, siempre conscientes de sus muy escasos escrúpulos y por ello, sin verdadera simpatía hacia ninguno de los dos, que reciben, en el fondo, lo que han hecho bastante para merecer.

Naturalmente, todo esto no suena a novedad y es fácil que hoy se trate, curiosamente, con cierto desdén, sin tener en cuenta que no está al alcance de cualquiera crear arquetipos ni mitos, como se siente en grado agudísimo en la mayor parte del cine que se hace hoy, que parece haberse quedado huérfano de dos de sus rasgos antaño esenciales: la fantasía y la imaginación, como prueba la abundancia –que tampoco es nueva, pero nunca tan abrumadora– de secuelas, series, remakes y versiones traspuestas de un género o una época a otro u otra. Si añadimos que Siodmak, como tantos muy hábiles artesanos que procuraban no aburrir y sacar el máximo partido de los argumentos que les encomendaban, está hoy olvidado –aunque tuvo mucho prestigio tanto en Alemania y Francia como en Estados Unidos, casi tanto como William Dieterle, Georg Wilhelm Pabst o Fritz Lang– y nada de moda, parece oportuno revisar películas como las suyas, que podrían aún servir de ejemplos en varios aspectos. Fíjense, por ejemplo, en la intrincadísima trama, llena de giros y con un nutrido elenco de personajes secundarios –entre ellos uno siempre descuidado o maltratado, el de la esposa engañada que interpreta Joan Tetzel–, que Siodmak cuenta magistralmente en tan sólo cien minutos; de rodarse hoy un remake, apuesto que la misma historia, peor narrada, exigiría como poco dos horas y cuarto, si no se inflaba y estiraba hasta convertirse en una serie de televisión.

Miguel Marías

Cineclub Santander, agosto-2020

[ilovetocollectart]

Paul Cézanne - Bend In The Road Through the Forest, 1873-75. Oil on canvas / 

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Partial gift, George Tetzel in memory of Oscar Homolka and Joan Tetzel Homolka 

[gatutor]

Joan Tetzel-Alan Ladd "Infierno bajo cero" (Hell below zero) 1954, de Mark Robson.

[nemesisbinxartifactseries]

Artifact Series J

J. Allen Hynek's Telescope

J. Edgar Hoover's Tie

J. McCullough's Golf Ball

J. Templer's Wind-Up Tin Rooster *

J. C. Agajanian’s Stetson

J.T. Saylors's Overalls

J.M. Barrie’s Swiss Trychels

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Jack Kerouac's Typewriter

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The Japanese Nightingale

Jar of Dust from the Mount Asama Eruption

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Johannes Gutenburg's Memory Paper *

Johannes Gutenburg's Printing Press *

Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Keys

Johannes Kepler's Planetary Model

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John A. Macready's Ray-Bans *

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Jumanji

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Justus von Liebig's Fertilizer Sack

Justus von Liebig's Mirror

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2017) - #377: The File on Thelma Jordon (1950) - dir. Robert Siodmak

Director Robert Siodmak, inarguably one of the masters of the film noir genre (Phantom Lady, The Spiral Staircase, The Killers, The Dark Mirror, Cry of the City, Criss Cross), made yet another entertaining and fast-paced drama with The File on Thelma Jordon. It’s not the best film that Siodmak or his stars, Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey, ever made, but it draws the viewer in with its unsettling story of murder, greed, social ambition and other forms of moral turpitude.

Assistant District Attorney Cleve Marshall (Corey) is blindsided when elegant Thelma Jordon (Stanwyck) walks into his office late one night while he is on a bender, busy drowning his troubles in booze to avoid going home to a concerned wife (Joan Tetzel) and a stuffy father-in-law (Minor Watson). Before long, Cleve confides in Thelma about being misunderstood by his wife and, as you would expect, the pair are soon romantically involved. All of a sudden, Cleve finds himself tangled up in a bizarre crime scene when Thelma tells him that her wealthy aunt Vera (Gertrude Hoffman) has been shot in a home invasion. There is no question that Thelma is connected to the murder, but of course Cleve is such a dupe that he believes exactly what he sees and he helps Thelma throughout the police interrogation process. Even after she is brought to trial, he figures out ways to convince the jury to acquit her.

As the drama unfolds, a familiar noir narrative presents itself. Thelma is a woman from the wrong side of the tracks, desperate to better herself and experience the best that life has to offer; Cleve is a typically gullible protagonist, susceptible to the femme fatale’s allure. There is a definite similarity between this film and Stanwyck’s noir masterpiece, Double Indemnity (1944), in which she plays a housewife who persuades a life insurance salesman to help her kill her husband. (There is even a snapshot of Thelma from an earlier point in her life, sporting a long blonde wig that makes her look exactly like Double Indemnity’s Phyllis Dietrichson character.) Despite the unoriginal and often predictable story, File serves up fine performances by the two leads, Paul Kelly as another lawyer in Cleve’s office and Richard Rober as Thelma’s slimy ex-boyfriend. George Barnes’ black-and-white cinematography is also quite good, although that’s no surprise if you’re familiar with his fine work on such varied titles as Gold Diggers of 1935, Rebecca, Ladies in Retirement, Jane Eyre and Spellbound.

[adrian-paul-botta]

Harry Carey, Joan Tetzel, Charles Bickford, Walter Huston, Joseph Cotten, Jennifer Jones, Gregory Peck, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Scott McKay and Otto Kruger - Duel in the Sun David O. Selznick

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Ann Todd and Charles Laughton in The Paradine Case (Alfred Hitchcock, 1947) Cast: Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn, Ethel Barrymore, Louis Jourdan, Alida Valli, Leo G. Carroll, Joan Tetzel. Screenplay: David O. Selznick, Alma Reville, James Bridie, based on a novel by Robert Hichens. Cinematography: Lee Garmes. Production design: J. McMillan Johnson. Alfred Hitchcock was at the end of his seven-year servitude to David O. Selznick when he was roped into The Paradine Case, a project Selznick had been nursing since 1933, when he bought the rights at MGM hoping to star Greta Garbo as the "fascinating" Mrs. Paradine. Garbo declined then and later, saying she didn't want to play a murderer. Hitchcock's involvement in the belated project was grudging, given that the other two features, Rebecca (1940) and Spellbound (1945), on which he had been forced to work directly with Selznick had been difficult experiences, producer and director having decidedly different views on almost everything about filmmaking. But he went ahead with crafting a screenplay, enlisting his wife, Alma Reville, playwright James Bridie, and Ben Hecht. In the end, however, Selznick rewrote the screenplay, sometimes after individual scenes had been shot, and claimed credit, relegating Reville to "adaptation" and Bridie to "treatment in consultation with," and leaving Hecht off the credits entirely. Moreover, Hitchcock's initial cut was three hours, which Selznick then scissored down to 132 minutes and after premieres to the extant 114 minutes. It's hard to say what was lost in the process, except that Anthony Keane's (Gregory Peck) supposed erotic fascination with Mrs. Paradine (Alida Valli) barely registers in the current version, making Gay Keane's (Ann Todd) jealous moping almost nonsensical. It also robs the climax of the film of any real emotional impact. But miscasting also may be responsible for those failures: Peck, never a very interesting actor, becomes even duller in his attempts to play a distinguished British barrister. Peck was 31, and the gray streaks in his hair do little to convince us that he's a man with a long career at the bar. Moreover, his attempts at a British accent are fitful: You can almost see him tense up every time he has to pronounce "can't" as "cahn't." Valli, in the key role, is more sullen than mysterious, and Todd is pallid. What life exists in the film comes from Charles Coburn as the solicitor in the case and from Charles Laughton, deliciously haughty as the judge with a reputation for hanging women, who shows clear evidence of his sexually predatory nature when he makes his moves on Mrs. Keane. Ethel Barrymore for some reason was nominated for an Oscar for her small role as the judge's wife, who sweetly admonishes her husband for his ways, but otherwise has little to do. There is not much Hitchcock could do stylistically in the film with Selznick hanging around: He attempts some impressive long takes -- many of which Selznick chopped up in the editing room -- and an experiment in collaboration with cinematographer Lee Garmes in lighting changes during Keane's interrogation of Mrs. Paradine. He also introduces Louis Jourdan's character by keeping him in shadows and half darkness, to heighten our suspicion of the character's nature, but such occasional tricks only stand out from the general flatness of the drama.

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International Best Movie Il caso Paradine Also Known As (AKA) (original title) The Paradine Case Argentina Agonia de Amor Austria Der Fall Paradin Belgium (Flemish title) Het proces Paradine Belgium (French title) Le Proces Paradine Bulgaria (Bulgarian title) Делото Парадийн Brazil Agonia de Amor Canada (French title) Le procès Paradine Chile Agonia de Amor Germany (DVD title) Alfred Hitchcock: Verführt – Schuldig oder nicht schuldig? Denmark Sandheden om Mrs. Paradine Spain El proceso Paradine Finland (Swedish title) 2 droppar vin Finland 2 pisaraa viiniä Finland (alternative title) Kaksi pisaraa viiniä Finland (alternative title) (Swedish title) Två droppar vin France (reissue title) Le mystère de l'affaire Paradine France Le procès Paradine Greece (transliterated) Ypothesis Paradine Hungary A Paradine-ügy Italy Il caso Paradine Norway (alternative title) Paradine-saken Norway Sannheten om Mrs. Paradine Norway (video box title) The Paradine Case Poland Akt oskarżenia Portugal O Caso Paradine Sweden En kvinnas hemlighet Soviet Union (Russian title) Дело Парадайна Turkey (Turkish title) Celse açiliyor USA (complete title) Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case Venezuela El caso Paradine West Germany Der Fall Paradin West Germany (alternative title) Haßliebe Yugoslavia (Serbian title) (literal title) Slucaj Paradin Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Music by Franz Waxman Writing Credits Robert Hichens ... (from the novel by) Alma Reville ... (adaptation) David O. Selznick ... (screen play) James Bridie ... (treatment in consultation with) Ben Hecht ... (additional dialogue) (uncredited) Release Dates USA 30 December 1947 (Los Angeles, California) (premiere) USA 8 January 1948 (New York City, New York) Mexico 29 June 1948 (Mexico City) Sweden 26 August 1949 Portugal 29 November 1949 France 21 December 1949 Norway 10 April 1950 Chile 1951 Finland 21 September 1951 Italy 2 February 1952 Denmark 25 February 1952 West Germany 14 November 1952 Japan 19 February 1953 Austria 1954 Argentina 12 January 1955 Finland 14 September 1962 (re-release) Spain 6 July 1967 (Madrid) France 9 August 1967 (re-release) East Germany 28 March 1981 (TV premiere) France 29 April 2009 (re-release) Argentina 11 April 2013 (DVD premiere) technical specifications Runtime 2 hr 5 min (125 min) 1 hr 52 min (112 min) (Portugal) 1 hr 59 min (119 min) (re-release) 2 hr 12 min (132 min) (original release) 1 hr 34 min (94 min) (edited television) 1 hr 55 min (115 min) (re-release) filming locations Lake District, Cumbria, England, UK Langdale Chase Hotel, Windermere, Cumbria, England, UK (Hindley Hall, the Paradine estate) The Drunken Duck Inn, Barngates, Cumbria, England, UK (Station Hotel) Cast Gregory Peck Gregory Peck ... Anthony Keane Alida Valli Alida Valli ... Maddalena Anna Paradine (as Valli) Ann Todd Ann Todd ... Gay Keane Charles Laughton Charles Laughton ... Judge Lord Thomas Horfield Charles Coburn Charles Coburn ... Sir Simon Flaquer Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore ... Lady Sophie Horfield Louis Jourdan Louis Jourdan ... Andre Latour Leo G. Carroll Leo G. Carroll ... Sir Joseph Joan Tetzel Joan Tetzel ... Judy Flaquer Isobel Elsom Isobel Elsom ... Innkeeper