Summaries

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

An expose of the baby-profiteering racket as told through the story of an unwed mother whose family and friends start an investigation as to the whereabouts of her baby. This leads to and through an organized gang led by a society matron. The girl is found dead, and while it looks like a suicide, the girl's sister and a newspaper reporter think it is murder.—Les Adams <[email protected]>

Paula Considine of Beaver Brook, PA has just arrived in Los Angeles in search of her older sister, Mary Considine, who went missing a week earlier after sending a letter home from a hospital, said hospital staff, when questioned by Paula, not recognizing Mary's name as ever having been a patient. Paula's father had hired a private detective, Kerric, to locate Mary when she first moved to Los Angeles a year ago, he never having been able to locate her. In going to the city's Missing Person's bureau, Paula meets newspaper reporter Mark Sitko, who is always on the lookout for a possible story. While Paula is reluctant to tell anybody about the nature of Mary's disappearance, Mark decides at least to keep the Considines' names out of any possible story when he learns why Paula is so secretive: Mary left home when she became pregnant with an illegitimate child, with the assumption being that Mary was in the hospital having something to do with the baby's birth. Mark decides to help Paula using his reporter skills and his connections, including with District Attorney McRae in they following some leads which seemingly have a criminal element. What Mark, Paula and McRae don't know is that the web of activity involved in Mary and her baby's disappearance is more widespread than they could imagine placing their own lives in danger.—Huggo

Details

Keywords
  • police detective
  • damsel in distress
  • crooked doctor
  • black market baby
  • baby mill
Genres
  • Drama
  • Film-Noir
Release date Dec 21, 1949
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) Approved
Countries of origin United States
Language English
Filming locations Los Angeles City Hall - 200 North Spring Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
Production companies Universal International Pictures (UI)

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 19m
Color Black and White
Aspect ratio 1.37 : 1

Synopsis

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