NOT WANTED
US, 1949, 94 minutes, Black and white.
Sally Forrest, Keefe Brasselle, Leo Penn.
Directed by Ida Lupino (Elmer Clifton).
Not Wanted is a story of a young girl who becomes pregnant. Familiar material, certainly the subject of many telemovies during the 70s and 80s. A perennial story.
However, this film is significant insofar as it was co-written and co-directed by Ida Lupino. Ida Lupino had made a name for herself as an actress and continued to act. However, she became interested in writing and directing. In the early 1950s she made a number of short and small-budget black and white features including Never Fear, The Hard, the Fast and the Beautiful, The Bigamist and The Hitchhiker. Stars Sally Forrest and Keefe Brasselle from this film appeared in other Ida Lupino films.
The film focuses on Sally Forrest and her playing girl who could not concentrate on anything in particular, dreams of having a wealthier life, falls in love easier. She becomes pregnant to a piano player. After the discovery of her pregnancy, she is looked after by a veteran from World War Two who is lame.
The piano player is played by Leo Penn (father of Sean Penn). While there is nothing new, it is interesting to look at how this subject was handled given the conditions and moral stances, especially of the Motion Picture Production Code, 1949.
1.The films of Ida Lupino? Her career as an actress? Her sensibility towards women's issues? Semi-documentary style? The realistic style? Interest in problems?
2.The title and the indication of a problem picture? Unmarried mothers, their place in American society around 1950, babies and their adoption? The repercussions for the mother? The film from a feminine perspective? Anticipating feminist issues and perspectives in the coming decades?
3.The brevity of the film, black and white photography, the city locations, the musical score?
4.The structure of the film - the focus on the heroine, her struggles, the flashbacks, the explanation of her story, the melodramatic turns, climaxes - and the questions of her future?
5.Sally and her age, experience, background? Pregnancy? The arrest, her experience in the prison, the cell, being bewildered?
6.Her home, her relationship with her parents, stresses, the nagging, her decision to leave, her not telling her parents? Her naivety in going out into the world?
7.The encounters with Steve, the piano, listening to him, the infatuation? Not appreciating his character, going out with him, dancing, making love, the sexual encounter? Revisiting and her torment? Her sad learning by experience?
8.The bus, the encounter with Drew? Meeting, talking, work? Sally and her moods, at work? The train, the carousel and being happy? The proposal and her collapse?
9.Going to the doctor, the interviews, the reality of her pregnancy, her options - and her leaving?
10.Drew, his strength of character, love for Sally, his decision to go to the city to search for her?
11.Mrs Stone, taking Sally in, her practical kindness? Joan and the other women, their talking, Sally and her practical learning about life, her calming down, having to face her future?
12.Her decisions, the birth and her detachment, the question of adoption, her sadness?
13.Her work at the laundry, walking the street, the children, taking the baby, her longing for a child and her realisation when she took the baby? The police, her bewilderment?
14.The chase, Drew and his support for her? A future?
15.The documentary style, a sense of realism for young women in this kind of situation at the time, the tackling of the problems and their social and personal dimensions? The non-judgmental tone of the film and offering it to audiences for their response and reflection?
