Sweet young Betty Miller (Norma Moore) moves from a small town farming community to work in a big department store in Los Angeles, where she falls into the clutches of her co-worker, smooth super-cad Don Bigelow (future Man From U.N.C.L.E star Robert Vaughn), who induces her to take part in a failed stick-up. Betty ends up pregnant and abandoned.
After visiting a drunken abortionist (Timothy Carey), she decides to give the baby up for adoption and ends up in a home for unmarried mothers but has a change of heart. The adoption procedure shown in the film is ridiculous.
The climax – with a minister and his wife taking in Betty and her baby – is a classic slice of melodrama from a master of the genre, Walter Doniger, who was the director of TV’s Peyton Place.
Unwed Mother was released in parts of the US on a double bill with Joy Ride (1958).
Betty Miller
Norma Moore
Don Bigelow
Robert Vaughn
Diana
Diana Darrin
Gertie
Billie Bird
Mrs Horton
Jeanne Cooper
Ben
Ron Hargrave
Linda
Kathleen Hughes
Mr Paully
Sam Buffington
Mrs Miller
Claire Carleton
Louella
Colette Jackson
Doctor
Timothy Carey
Elsie
Eve McVeagh
Probation Officer Ray Curtis
Ken Lynch
Mrs Paully
Dorothy Adams
Mary Ellen
Joan Lora
Reverend Benton
Ralph Gamble
Director
Walter Doniger