Unwed Mother (1958) User Reviews

Like a low-budget version of "Room at the Top".

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 8 August 2010]

The film begins with a nice girl moving to town and getting a job in a department store. Soon she meets a smooth playboy-type (Robert Vaughn) and it's obvious to every viewer that his an insincere jerk. However, the girl (Norma Moore) is not only naive but a bit dumb and she eventually falls for his routine. Over time, he bleeds her of money and pretends to love her while he chases other women at the same time.

Eventually, the lady proves she's actually a lot dumber than we'd first suspected. Not only does she reject her mother's advice to leave the jerk, but gets pulled into a robbery with him! When they are arrested, the real shocker is revealed...she is pregnant. Now the once nice girl is expecting a baby AND on probation! What will she do with no place to go and no way to provide for the little tyke? Will she have an abortion, put it up for adoption or keep it herself? the entire second half of the film has to do with this dilemma--and is the stronger half of the film.

While this is NOT a great film, it is certainly interesting. I think it's biggest shortcoming is that Robert Vaughn's character is so transparent and slimy that you really are forced to see Moore as less a victim and more a complete idiot. Had they made her a tad less dumb, I think the film might have been easier to believe.

By the way, while it's NOT a perfect parallel, the film did remind me a lot of the film "Room at the Top"---which also featured an incredibly amoral man sleeping and scheming his way ahead in life. This is a much better film and well worth seeing. "Unwed Mother", on the other hand, is only okay...and certainly not one to rush out to see.

What A Stinker Vaughn Is

[boblipton · 5/10 · 24 January 2024]

Robert Vaughn has gotten Norma Moore in trouble. And it's not just the euphemistic trouble that the movie's title indicates. He's gotten her to drain her savings account and help him rob a movie theater. She agrees to go back to her frozen-faced mother, Claire Carlton, as part of her parole. Vaughn agrees to marry her as part of his, but he's such an utter rotter that she says no. But what is she going to do about the baby?

It's directed by Walter Doniger, who would late direct more than 170 episodes of Peyton Place, and you can see why they chose him to direct this. It's not just soap, it's girl-gone-bad soap, about as far as you could go at Allied Artist in the waning days of the Production Code.

Weak But Still Kind of Fun

[daoldiges · 5/10 · 3 February 2024]

I had no idea what to expect when I started watching Unwed Mother, but after having seen it I guess it couldn't have gone any other way. Robert Vaughn gives a good performance as the sleazy, manipulative boyfriend and all of the scenes he is on are interesting. Norma Moore is another story. I've never seen her in anything else before but at least in this picture she is the weak link and offers the viewer a very bland and uninteresting performance. That's a shame because i think this film could have been elevated if a stronger actress had played this part. Despite some shortcomings Unwed Mother was still kind of a fun watch.

When you're really young and restless, you aren't the cake and ice cream type.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 18 February 2016]

Obscure B actress Norma Moore really did find secret storms in 1958. Not only did she appear as the troubled as Susan Ames on "The Secret Storm" but she was the prudish young girl who ends up in the family way in this exploitation drama. Not sure exactly what I would call a raving beauty, she's basically a department store version of the same character that Shelley Winters played in "A Place in the Sun" without a fear of water and a nagging disposition. Instead, there's ladies man Robert Vaughan who plays around with their possessive boss and any other wealthy young lady whom he can convince to bring him into society. Young Moore finds more trouble when Vaughan gets her mixed up in a movie theater robbery.

Moore isn't much of an actress, lacking in the charisma of Vaughan and Claire Carleton, who plays Moore's strong willed mother. There are elements of "Caged" and other women's prison movies with the shot of Moore behind bars with a ton of tough dames including the aging and spunky burlesque queen Billie Bird who seems to be arranging "dates" for younger performers on the side. There are hints of lesbianism with the un-billed actress playing the pawing Elsie.

After a contemplation of abortion in a very seedy clinic (run by nefarious doctor Timothy Carey and a spooky looking nurse), Moore ends up in a home for unwed mothers who intend to give the children up for adoption, run by none other than "The Young and the Restless's" Jeanne Cooper, unaware that her own soap opera was just 15 years off. It seems at first that Cooper has financial motives on her mind in having an aging couple adopt Moore's baby, but she has a secret of her own. This is obviously very exploitative, often filled with clichés and definitely moving in too many directions in a very short running time. This is however a very interesting find on DVD, not a film that you are likely to see much on TV.

Decent

[Michael_Elliott · 26 February 2008]

Unwed Mother (1958)

** (out of 4)

Another "warning/message" film telling girls to not have sex until marriage. A young, sweet girl from the country (Norma Moore) moves to L.A. with her mother and meets a young man (Robert Vaughn) who she thinks is just perfect. That is until she gets pregnant and he's on his way to jail. Here's another warning film that is somewhat well made but it's so over-dramatic that you can't help but laugh when the film tries to be serious. Moore gives a pretty bland performance, which doesn't help matters but vaughn comes out pretty good and he's certainly the main reason to watch this film. There's plenty of campy dialogue and situations that keep the film moving but in the end there's nothing too special here.