La tratta degli innocenti

If you ask a dozen film experts about what constitutes a movie that is 'film noir', you will likely get a dozen different answers. But a couple things will be constant...the toughness of the plot, the violence of the screenplay and the terrific camerawork and shadows. In this sense, clearly, "Abandoned" would qualify as Noir.

When the film begins, Mark, a nosey reporter (Dennis O'Keefe) notices that a lady is being followed. It seems that a very shady private dick (Raymond Burr) is following Paula (Gale Storm) and Mark intervenes. After chasing away the evil detective, Mark learns from Paula that she's in town looking for her sister...who has been missing for some time. The trail, it turns out, leads to a baby selling racket...and one which apparently killed this sister and stole her baby! Can the pair manage to get a lead on who is behind all this?

I loved the camerawork...particularly in the early portions of the film. The angles and shadows are great...and very moody. I also loved the incredibly violent and gritty ending where evil clearly is punished big time! Overall, a well written and acted film that never is dull and is well worth your time.

By sheer luck reporter Dennis O'Keefe runs into Gale Storm in town looking for her sister and a baby she gave birth to. Sadly they find her in the morgue, but no trace of the infant. What O'Keefe does notice is a sleazy private eye played by Raymond Burr shadowing Storm.

That's the start of Abandoned a good noir film about a baby adoption racket where the queenpin is society matron Marjorie Rambeau. In a cast of some excellent character players she tops the list. Had this been an A and not a B film Rambeau might have been in Oscar contention, she's that good and that scary.

As for Burr he's really rather stupid and out of his league with Rambeau and her gang. It costs him big time.

Up and coming Jeff Chandler is 3rd billed playing the police chief and friend of O'Keefe. As he did in a few films for Universal Chandler also narrates. Will Kulava and Mike Mazurki play a pair of Rambeau's goons , Meg Randall plays a pregnant border at Rambeau's house and Jeanette Nolan is a socially conscious Salvation Army major.

A good B film from Universal which should be better known.

This excellent thriller deals with the sale of stolen babies by baby broker racketeers. It is thus more relevant to today, when this problem is much more widespread, than it was in 1949. The plot is sound, the script first rate, and the acting is extremely good. It is interesting to see an early Jeff Chandler performance, in a supporting role, before his hair went prematurely white, and when he was so thin he looked like he needed a good meal. There is some crackling dialogue: 'I couldn't sleep, so I took my gun for a walk,' and 'The idea of you going straight is like a vulture becoming a vegetarian.' Raymond Burr, to whom the latter remark is addressed, is a heavy of suitably sour disposition. Dennis O'Keefe is an excellent clean-cut B hero, and Gale Storm is a rather sombre and expressionless 'good girl' from a small town who has come to the wicked city in search of her murdered sister and her stolen baby; she is convincing, though unexciting. A sinister sub-plot about the father of the two sisters making his daughter get rid of her illegitimate baby seems to have been cut because it was too shocking, but enough of it survives to show that it was clearly once there. Maybe the producers thought they had enough of a social message without getting that grim and frightening their audiences further. The sale of stolen babies was an issue that needed raising, and it was thoroughly portrayed in this film well ahead of its time. The director, Joseph Newman, did an excellent job, and at one point showed off by cutting from a match being struck by one character to a lit match being used by another character. Every thriller director is entitled to at least one arty moment, especially if it hypes the pace of the action, though this was probably in the script by Irwin Gielgud. Probably the few good one-liners constituted the 'extra dialogue' by William Bowers.

I discovered this gem in Leonard Maltin's Turner Classic Movies guide. He'd only given it 2 1/2 stars, but I'm so glad I gave it the chance to prove itself. As others have already detailed, the cinematography, script and performances all make this relatively short film highly enjoyable, and suspenseful. Give it a try if you're looking for a serious topic dramatized in a slightly noir styling with a crime ring at the center of it.

(Here are a few more words to satisfy the IMDB requirement for a 600 character review. I'm keeping mine short and simple since others have already provided many fascinating facts, descriptions and details.)

I had my doubts about bubbly ingénue Gale Storm (Paula) starring in a crime drama. But she's actually well cast and manages an appropriately restrained performance. Here she's the sister of a dead girl who's left a baby under mysterious circumstances. So Paula's investigating with help from brash newsman Sitko (O'Keefe). What they uncover is a ruthless ring that sells newborns and gets rid of mothers who complain.

Like many others of its time, the movie makes good use of LA locations, along with some effective noirish touches. However, these touches are not developed into a prevailing atmosphere, despite the presence of noir icon Raymond Burr (Kerric). Actually, it's hard to recognize Burr since he's either lurking in the shadows or peeking around corners. In my book, the best scene is when Kerric tangles with that other movie heavyweight Mike Mazurki (Hoppe). It's like King Kong taking on Godzilla. Also, the unexpected plot wrinkle with Kerric is a good one.

But my money's on Marjorie Rambeau (Donner). She's scarier than anyone else in a movie loaded with baddies. Too bad she doesn't have a face-off scene with that other formidable actress, Jeanette Nolan (Major Ross). Too bad also, that O'Keefe has drifted into obscurity. He was quite a good actor, at home in either comedy (Up in Mabel's Room {1945}) or drama. Here he's typically persuasive as an aggressive newshound.

All in all, the movie's a better than average crime drama, with a good cast, a crisp narrative, and a suspenseful climax. It's second-tier Universal coming up with better results than usual.