After her sister goes missing in Los Angeles, a woman tries to find information about the disappearance at city hall. The police are not helpful, but she does get support from a local crime reporter. As the two investigate the disappearance together, they are led to a shady detective and a black-market baby ring.
The film uses a semi-documentary style of presentation that was popular at the time. It was based on an original story by Irwin Gielgud commissioned by producer Jerry Bresler.[5] Director Joseph M. Newman and Bresler had previously worked together in the shorts department at MGM.[6]Ann Blyth was originally announced for the female lead.[7]
It was shot on the Universal backlot and on location in Los Angeles.[8]
Jeff Chandler made the film before Broken Arrow. However, after being cast in that film, he was given star billing for Abandoned.[9]
A.H. Weiler's New York Times review was mixed: "But despite the advertisements, the newcomer is far from being 'the year's most sensational picture.' Sensational is hardly the word, since it is, in the main, a briskly paced thriller that merely indicates an insidious evil and then proceeds along conventional melodramatic lines to the climactic smashing of a baby adoption ring. As such it is a routine cops-and-mobsters number…..Gale Storm is natural and engaging as the harried young lady who manages to rescue her niece, if not her sister. However, Dennis O'Keefe, as the brash, fearless and charming newspaper man and her romantic partner seems closer to fiction than fact. Jeff Chandler turns in a competent characterization as the D.A., as do…Rambeau, Kuluva, Burr, and…Randall."[10]
This was Chandler's first film for Universal under a long term contract, and the positive response to his performance began his graduation into leading roles.[11]
^Silver, Alain (2010). Film Noir: The Encyclopedia. Overlook Duckworth. p. 23. ISBN978-0715638804.
^"JEFF CHANDLER MAN OF MANY FACES: He Can Play Any Kind of Character Role, and Is a Glamor Guy, Too Hedda Hopper Writes of Jeff Chandler" Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune May 6, 1951: c8.
^"DUVIVIER TO FILM 'THE FIRST LEGION': Emmett Lavery's 1934 Play Will Go Before Cameras in France Next Year" by THOMAS F. BRADY Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.. New York Times December 16, 1948: 41
^"Metro May Have Uncle Tom in Grooming Stage; Williams Bid for Italy" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times April 22, 1949: A7.
^"ANN BLYTH TO PLAY LEAD IN U-I MOVIE: She Will Be in 'Abandoned,' Film on Baby Adoption Gang -- Brooks Doing Melodrama" by THOMAS F. BRADY Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES.. New York Times April 11, 1949: 29.
^"Subway Terminal Storm Center of Movie Plot; Zinnemann Deal on Fire" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times May 9, 1949: B7
^"Jeff Chandler Finally Gets to 'Act His Age': Rising Young (31) Screens Player Considers Himself 'a Lucky Kid'" SCHEUER, PHLIP K. Los Angeles Times October 29, 1950: D3.
^A.W. "At the Criterion." New York Times, 27 October 1949, 35.
^Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune, "Jeff Chandler Man of Many Faces: He Can Play Any Kind of Character Role, and is a Glamor Guy, Too." May 6, 1951: c8. Hedda Hopper Writes of Jeff Chandler.
