Abandoned (1949)

Pretty Paula (Gale Storm) travels to LA to look for her missing sister, who had a scandalous baby. A smart alack reporter (Dennis O’Keefe) takes a shine and helps her investigate. Raymond Burr is a shady PI.

The story centers on an illegal adoption racket that would make headlines a year later. Reporter Mark behaves more like a detective, coming and going as he pleases, roughing up suspects, and creeping on the lovely Paula. Old friends may remember Gale from the Christmas film It Happened on Fifth Avenue.

Black market babies is an unusual topic for a traditional noir, and there are aspects of the story forbidden by the censors. Specifically, the identity of the baby’s father. He is not identified, but there are hints.

Abandoned makes for an interesting story with a unique angle on the noir genre, but is otherwise unremarkable. I enjoyed the watch but won’t be revisiting it. AMRU 3.