Abandoned *** (1949, Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm, Jeff Chandler, Meg Randall, Raymond Burr, Marjorie Rambeau) – Classic Movie Review 11,442

The tense 1949 crime film noir thriller Abandoned stars Dennis O’Keefe as a crime reporter who helps a woman (Gale Storm) to try to find her missing sister, an unmarried mother. The trail leads to a shady detective and black-market baby ring.

Director Joseph M Newman’s 1949 American Universal Pictures black and white crime film noir thriller Abandoned [Abandoned Women] [Not Wanted] stars Dennis O’Keefe, Gale Storm and Jeff Chandler.

Dennis O’Keefe plays Mark Sitko, a local Los Angeles crime reporter newsman who helps Paula Considine (played by the charmingly named Gale Storm) to look for her sister, an unmarried mother, who has gone missing. But she turns up murdered, and the investigation trail leads to a shady detective and a black-market baby ring.

Based on an original story by Irwin Gielgud commissioned by producer Jerry Bresler, this tense adoption black-market scandal thriller yarn is one of a series of semi-documentary movies popular at the time.

Jeff Chandler as Chief MacRae, Marjorie Rambeau as a baby-snatcher called Mrs Donner and Raymond Burr as the sweaty detective Kerric help give this nifty little film noir a lift, and so do the atmospheric black and white cinematography by William H Daniels and Newman’s direction.

It is shot on the Universal backlot and on location in Los Angeles.

The main cast are Dennis O’Keefe as Mark Sitko, Gale Storm as Paula Considine, Jeff Chandler as Chief MacRae, Meg Randall as Dottie Jensen, Raymond Burr as Kerric, Marjorie Rambeau as Mrs Donner, Jeanette Nolan as Major Ross, Mike Mazurki as Hoppe, Will Kuluva as Little Guy Decola, David Clarke as Harry, William Frambes (as William Page) as Scoop, Sid Tomack as Mr. Humes, Perc Launders as Dowd, Steve Darrell as Brenn, Clifton Young as Eddie, and Ruth Sanderson as Mrs Spence.

Also in the cast are Frank Cady, Marcella Cisney, Edward Clark, Ben Conway, Sally Corner, Mary George, Beatrice Gray, Bruce Hamilton, Jerry Hausner, Charles Jordan, Edwin Max, Francis McDonald, Howard M Mitchell, Virginia Mullen, Franklin Parker, Maudie Prickett, Felice Richmond, Dick Ryan, Earl Smith, Brick Sullivan, William Tannen, Katherine Warren, Stuart Wilson and Isabel Withers.

Abandoned is also known as Abandoned Women and Not Wanted.

Abandoned is directed by Joseph M Newman [Joe Newman], runs 79 minutes, is made by Universal International, is released by Universal Pictures, is written by Irwin Gielgud and William Bowers (additional dialogue), based on an original story by Irwin Gielgud, is produced by Jerry Bresler, is shot in black and white by William H Daniels, is scored by Walter Scharf.

Release date: October 6, 1949.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,442

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Raymond Burr plays the sweaty detective Kerric.