A Thrill for Thelma

The "Crime Does Not Pay" series from MGM is an excellent series of short films that illustrate crime stories and ALWAYS result in the criminals receiving justice. It's actually amazing how high the quality and how entertaining these films are even today. However, of all the films in the series I've seen so far, "A Thrill for Thelma" is among my least favorite. Now I am NOT saying it's bad, but it does suffer from an ending which just seemed a bit too preachy.

The story begins at a women's prison. The warden is talking with another law enforcement official and begins to talk about Thelma--a woman who just wanted too much. Then, they ask Thelma to tell them her story and what follows is the story of a good time girl who didn't initially mean to break the law. But, she was an idiot and when her boyfriend began committing robberies, she liked the money and thrill so much she agreed to help him. Her lack of conscience and foolishness, not surprisingly, result in her eventual capture. Overall, decent but not among the best--mostly because of the heavy-handed ending.

It's MGM Crime Does Not Pay Series #4. Thelma starts out with all the promise in the world but ends up as one of the woman inmates in the opening scene. She wanted to enjoy herself and becomes entangled by her husband Steve Black. He pulls her further and further into his crimes.

A lot of these Crime Don't Pay shorts are a little silly but this one is actually a good cautionary tale. Most women in prison are there due to their partners' crimes. That doesn't make this good cinema but most of these aren't.

Thrill for Thelma, A (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Fourth entry in MGM's "Crime Does Not Pay" series has Thelma (Irene Hervey) graduating high school and hoping for a thrilling life, which she gets when she meets a man (Robert Livingston) who just happens to be a criminal. Soon the two are running a scheme of robbing people who have pulled their cars over to do various things when the duo sneak up on them and take whatever they have. Everything is going good for Thelma and her boyfriend but soon the cops have a plan. This certainly isn't the best film in the series but there are enough interesting scenes to make it worth viewing. I think the best thing this film has going for it is the performance from Hervey who would go onto have a pretty good career. She's certainly very believable in the part and I thought she came off very natural in her scenes whether they were her freaking out over what's going on or her enjoying all the money it's bringing. Livingston is also very good and gets a scene which seemed to have been influenced by some films of Bela Lugosi as we get a close up of his menacing eyes. The story itself is probably the weakest thing here as there really aren't any surprises as everything that happens is so easy to see coming that no one will be fooled.

An MGM CRIME DOES NOT PAY Short Subject.

Living in the luxury provided by robbing parked motorists provides A THRILL FOR THELMA--until the Law starts to close in...

This was the fourth entrant in MGM's series illustrating the futility of crime. Some of the acting is reasonably good and the production values are competent, making the brief film an enjoyable time filler. All of the players are unbilled--William Tannen appears as the MGM Reporter; sturdy Robert Warwick plays the police captain; and Irene Hervey is the luckless Thelma. A fine bit of acting is provided by Robert Livingston as Thelma's violent lover.

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Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

As we learn in the fourth episode of MGM's long-running series, crime may not pay, but it's fun while it lasts. Red-headed Irene Hervey wants everything while she's young, so she and her husband, Robert Livingstone, take up heading over to lover's lane and robbing canoodling couples. She has second thoughts, of course, when their first robbery winds up killing someone, but eventually she decides there's a downside to everything, and it can be fun and games even after someone gets hurt. Besides, it's all Livingstone's fault for talking her into it.

Anyway, that's the story she tells to police captain Robert Warwick -- you may remember that he was Raffles The Amateur Cracksman about twenty years earlier, cricketer by day but jewel thief by night, so I have my doubts, especially with MGM Crime Reporter popping up from behind a desk to remind us that CRIME DOES NOT PAY. So don't do that, and don't go 'round breaking ladies' tambourines.