Abandoned (1949)

Newspaperman helps girl find her sister's illegitimate baby, gets mixed up in baby-adoption racket.

Director:

Joseph M. Newman (as Joe Newman)

Writers:

Irwin Gielgud (story by), Irwin Gielgud (screenplay by)

Stars:

Dennis O'Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Mark Sitko
Gale Storm	...	Paula Considine
Jeff Chandler	...	Chief McRae
Meg Randall	...	Dottie Jensen
Raymond Burr	...	Kerric
Marjorie Rambeau	...	Mrs. Donner
Jeanette Nolan	...	Major Ross
Mike Mazurki	...	Hoppe
Will Kuluva	...	Little Guy Decola
David Clarke	...	Harry
William Frambes	...	Scoop (as William Page)
Sid Tomack	...	Mr. Humes
Perc Launders	...	Dowd
Steve Darrell	...	Brenn
Clifton Young	...	Eddie

Storyline

An expose of the baby-profiteering racket as told through the story of an unwed mother whose family and friends start an investigation as to the whereabouts of her baby. This leads to and through an organized gang led by a society matron. The girl is found dead, and while it looks like a suicide, the girl's sister and a newspaper reporter think it is murder.

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Plot Keywords:

black market baby | pot boiler | female gang leader | cigarette smoking | police chief | 

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Taglines:

NO NAME FOR HER BABY...only a PRICE! (original posters and print ads-mostly caps)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 1950 (Albania)

Also Known As:

Abandoned Woman

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Kerric: [to Mrs. Donner] I was just thinking how nice life used to be when I stuck to blackmail and petty larceny.

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Connections

Referenced in Love Is a Roller Coaster: Woman on the Run Revisited (2016)

User Reviews

Quick and dirty crawl through babies-for-sale racket

In Abandoned's opening shot, that iconic edifice, the Los Angeles City Hall, looms menacingly into the night sky. From then on, it's a fast, rough ride through a brutal baby-adoption racket. Gale Storm is best remembered (if at all) as TV's My Little Margie, but she co-starred in a few noirs like Underworld Story and Between Midnight and Dawn; Abandoned is the best of them. She's come to town hunting for her vanished sister, knowing only that there's an out-of-wedlock baby girl involved. Storm links up with Dennis O'Keefe, a newspaper man, and Raymond Burr, a private detective supposedly hired by the missing girl's father back east (an enigmatic specter hanging over the story: Storm confides that her sister left home because "he wouldn't leave us alone"). Turns out that Sis was murdered for developing maternal instincts after having giving the baby up. The web of baby-nappers includes grandmotherly but lethal Marjorie Rambeau, some even less savory characters behind her, and, of course, Burr. Abandoned, despite its Hollywood-"happy" finish, stands as one of the grittier offerings in the noir cycle (Burr's being tortured with matches is one especially painful speck of grit).