Kidnapping

Original title: Abandoned

1949
Approved
1h 19m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dennis O'Keefe and Gale Storm in Kidnapping (1949)

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

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

1.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos13

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The Pyramid Clubs mentioned had sprung to prominence the year this film was released, first in California and then across the nation. Club members joined for $1.00 with the promise of making $2000.00 in a relatively short time. The notion was the basis for what became Multi Level Marketing. The fad had a resurgence several times in the 20th century and has come to be referred to as a pyramid scheme.

Goofs
Nighttime scenes are filmed using a filter to make the scene appear to be night. But night skies often alternate between being light and dark, while distant objects are often obvious or are obscured by the darkness. But the night sky is always black and distant objects fade to nothing in the dark.

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

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

User reviews26

Featured review

8/10

Tough and gritty...and a lot of Noir elements to make it interesting.

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.