ABANDONED (1949)

Distributed by Universal Pictures, this seventy-nine-minute film is a police versus crime melodrama. William Daniels' cinematography raises the bar, as does director, Joseph Newman, who lays out a rapid pace. The film stars Dennis O'Keefe, Gale Storm and Jeff Chandler. O'Keefe seems to be extending his character from the film Cover Up, of the same year, with his oft-used charming, witty characters. I would have liked more of a balance between this and his previous T-Men role. Storm restrains her typical bubbly light performances, while Chandler's periodic appearance as a no-nonsense police chief fits him. He also provides opening and periodic voice-over narration for a pseudo-documentary style as if ripped from actual cases. As per the era, camera filters are used to suggest nighttime.

Storm inquires about her lost sister at the missing person's bureau of the city hall. Happening upon the scene is crack news reporter, O'Keefe, who overhears the conversation and charmingly offers his services to help her locate her sister, sensing a headline story or maybe hoping for a date. William Bowers' snappy dialogue has a number of characters delivering witty quips, none delivered better than O'Keefe.

O'Keefe and Storm team up, after a fashion, and he first tests some witty dialogue out on her. Expect an eventual "get to know each other" moment with small talk as they stake out a residence inside their car. Oh...they like each other. Someone is tracking them and it sets up more bits of clever dialogue. Raymond Burr is yanked from behind and the reporter lifts a revolver from Burr's coat and sarcastically states, "I know. You couldn't sleep so you just decided to take your gun out for a walk." The unethical private eye's client has him trying to find the whereabouts of the sister as well. The three head for the city morgue and discover the sister is no longer missing, an assumed suicide victim. The sister's out-of-wedlock baby establishes the crux of the film, a baby black market of illegal adoptions. Burr's client is society matron, Marjorie Rambeau, the despicable ring leader of her criminal crew, led by the menacing Will Kuluva. Burr is now up to his neck in Kuluva.

Under assumed names as a married couple, O'Keefe and Storm arrange to meet the two-faced Rambeau, who is all sweetness. Anticipating a large payoff, Burr arranges to have Storm take charge of her sister's baby and told to wait at the house. Not being a very stealthy private detective, Burr is apprehended by Kuluva and undergoes matchbook torture for the truth. He quickly becomes useless to Rambeau. With a knock at the room's door, Storm just opens it without asking who it is. It is not O'Keefe. Thus begins the climax, the only tense action in the film, with implausible details, complete with Universal International's gunshot sound effects. Narration closes the film with, "...This did happen in the city which may be your home."

Note: There are other reviews of this film and some of those discovering the film more recently tend to be cynical about the production, finding it boring. Interestingly, older posted reviews tend to appreciate the acting. Though these mid-century films are dated in many respects, and sometimes unintentionally humorous, one has to mentally return to that era to give them a fair assessment.