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.
