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Not Wanted
Not Wanted
7.2
/10
197 Ratings

NOT WANTED

Directed by Ida Lupino, Elmer Clifton
United States, 1949
Drama

Synopsis

Sally, a bored young waitress, lives in a do-nothing, go-nowhere town, but longs for something bigger and brighter. When suave young musician Steve comes through town, Sally falls head-over-heels and follows him on the road—until she winds up pregnant and pursued by Steve’s creepy friend.

Synopsis

Sally, a bored young waitress, lives in a do-nothing, go-nowhere town, but longs for something bigger and brighter. When suave young musician Steve comes through town, Sally falls head-over-heels and follows him on the road—until she winds up pregnant and pursued by Steve’s creepy friend.

Our take

Ida Lupino’s first film as a director is this taboo-busting, compassionate melodrama about an unwed and unwanted pregnancy. A woman’s perspective and her intimate subjectivity refreshingly lie at the center of this drama, which highlights the era’s ludicrous, conflicting attitudes to sex and love.