Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Abandoned Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 22, 2022

Joseph M. Newman's "Abandoned" (1949) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman; the short film "Easy to Get"; and vintage promotional materials. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

It is a dirty business and it might be thriving in your city. In fact, it is already thriving in your city, quite possibly right under your nose, too. You just don’t know it yet. We are about to reveal how it is set up and run, so after that, you better do your part to stop it.

What you just read above is a simple summation of the message that is channeled through Joseph M. Newman’s film Abandoned. In case you are wondering whether this means that it is one of those early post-war pseudo-documentaries hiding under the big umbrella of film noir, well, it is almost that kind of a film. Why almost? Because it does emphasize realism but without providing much room for the controlled politics that give the likes of The Undercover Man and Walk East on Beacon! their identity. So, Abandoned is a film noir with very distinct social conscience.

Paula Considine (Gale Storm) has come to the City of Angels to find out what has happened to her sister, who has had an out-of-wedlock baby and vanished without a trace. At city hall, Paula bumps into aggressive reporter Mark Sitko (Dennis O’Keefe) and he offers to give her a hand and buy her a drink. Assuming that Mark’s true intentions are very different Paula immediately turns him down, but after he reveals that the shady private detective Kerric (Raymond Burr) has been tagging her, she changes her mind.

Soon after, Mark begins using his contacts, one of which is his good old friend District Attorney McRae (Jeff Chandler), and is able to conclude that Paula’s missing sister had dealt with Mrs. Donner (Marjorie Rambeau), who helps wealthy couples that cannot have children become parents. Mark is also able to confirm that Mrs. Donner is in a business relationship with Little Guy Decola (Mill Kuluva), a prominent gangster, and that Kerric has been on their payroll. Mark and his friend the DA then set up a trap for Mrs. Donner and her partner, but a string of unexpected complications threaten to collapse the entire operation.

Newman would have ended up with a much better film had he avoided the somewhat preachy narration from the opening and closing minutes, and captured the mechanics of the dirty business without the melodrama that begins to flourish immediately after Storm and O’Keefe meet. Indeed, once O’Keefe begins digging for information it is very easy to guess what has happened to the missing girl and why it is bad, so with the narration and the evolving melodrama it feels like his film does not trust the intelligence of its audience, and this is its main flaw.

But it has to be said that it was most likely an unavoidable flaw, too. Even if Newman would have attempted to make the changes that are suggested above, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where the melodrama is eliminated in favor of gritty realism that accurately exposes a much more disturbing criminal practice. The 1940s were not the right decade to shoot such a ‘better’ film, so Newman and producer Jerry Bressler did what made perfect sense at the time -- play it safe.

Storm and O’Keefe are quite good and easily convince that their characters come from drastically different environments. However, the same cannot be said about Chandler and Burr since they have appeared in some excellent film noirs but here their contributions are instantly forgettable. Frankly, it feels like their characters are underdeveloped and placed in situations where there are simply no legit opportunities for them to impress. Kuluva made his acting debut with this film and even though his part is pretty small looks really good.

Newman relied on the proven reliability of Oscar-winning cinematographer William Daniels, who lensed the classic film noirs The Naked City and Brute Force

Abandoned Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Abandoned arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

In the United States, Kino Lorber released Abandoned on Blu-ray in 2020. The release was included in this three-disc box set. This Region-B release is sourced from the same older master that the folks at Kino Lorber used to prepare their release. This master comes from Universal's vaults.

I think that the master is good, but the film looks slightly softer than it should. Does this mean that you should be worried? No. Even on a larger screen, the visuals tend to look quite good. Ideally, grain should be a tad healthier and better exposed, but I think that they still have a fine organic appearance. The grayscale is convincing. Image stability is good. All in all, while the film could look better, the current presentation is perfectly fine. ((Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Abandoned Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The exchanges throughout the film are easy to follow. However, as I noted in our review of Kino Lorber's release, the audio becomes a bit thin at times. A good example is the sequence from the hospital at around the 1:10.45 mark. I did not find it distracting, but it is something that gives up the age of the film makes it easy to conclude that a proper restoration could eliminate the thinness. Dynamic intensity is very modest.

Abandoned Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman.

• Image Gallery - a gallery with original promotional materials for Abandoned.

• Easy to Get - this educational short film was directed by Joseph M. Newman in 1947. It is very funny. It warns about the many risks African-American soldiers face while having casual dates that end up with sexual fireworks. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. (22 min).

• Book - a limited edition exclusive 120-page book with new essays by Iris Veysey, Jill Blake, Karen Hannsberry, Sabina Stent, Sergio Angelini and Walter Chaw, extensive archival articles and interviews, new writing on the various short films, and film credits.

Abandoned Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The noir genre produced a wide range of films with a social conscience that are quite interesting to deconstruct because they reveal very particular biases, concerns, and fears. I really enjoy the ones that were influenced by unique developments from the Cold War era because they are capable of placing many contemporary events in a proper context. Abandoned is one such early genre film with a social conscience that puts the spotlight on an illegal business that most definitively isn't a thing of the past. It is a bit overly melodramatic but works well because its message is very clear and two leads quite good together. This release is sourced from an older but decent master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. It is included in Indicator/Powerhouse Films' upcoming six-disc box set Universal Noir #1. RECOMMENDED.