Not Wanted

Lupino’s first film as a director, NOT WANTED, was to be directed by Elmer Clifton. However, he suffered a heart attack during the filming and Lupino served her directorial apprenticeship by completing the production. NOT WANTED tells the story of an unwed mother named Sally who gives up her baby for adoption, then regrets it and kidnaps another child to replace the child she has lost. Lupino co-wrote the film’s screenplay. While the film is often unduly melodramatic, it is still important as a pioneering examination of what was then considered a taboo social problem, and the film is also noteworthy as Ida Lupino’s maiden voyage as a director. (Wheeler Winston Dixon)