Mitchell Leisen's traditionally independent woman takes a film noir beating in No Man of Her Own, based on Cornell Woolrich's I Married a Dead Man. Here Barbara Stanwyck, pregnant and deserted, takes whatever she can get, and so much for pride. On the run to nowhere from her bleak existence, she is involved in a train crash and is mistaken for another pregnant woman on board who has been killed. She goes along with the impersonation for the sake of her newborn, landing at her wealthy "in-laws" who are none the wiser. There she finds happiness and love, but this so-called women's picture ("A tearjerker"-New York Times) doesn't take long to return to its literary roots in pulp mystery. Stanwyck's scheme leads to blackmail and, ultimately, to murder. Leisen tells the story in flashback to underscore its fatalism and throughout much of the film, the new mother is enshrouded in shadows of the the darkest noir.