Without Warning! (1952) User Reviews

Undeservedly obscure thriller kills!

[dhogan-2 · 8/10 · 20 December 2005]

I'd been aware of this film's existence for some years, and although I never imagined it to be a classic, it did seem promising, given the highly competent Levy-Gardner-Laven team (The Rifleman, The Monster That Challenged the World, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue), and Adam Williams, a young character actor (The Big Heat, North by Northwest, The Space Children)I've always enjoyed.

On the most basic level, Dark Sky Films has put together a splendid, bargain-price DVD presenting a 35mm print that is flawless, except for a single, brief "cut" in the film stock late in the story. Otherwise, this b&w thriller is pristine, even shimmering, without speck, scratch or other visible flaw. Where has this print been all these years--Fort Knox? I was stunned by its beauty. A photo gallery is a pleasing extra, and the menu is imaginatively augmented with visual and audio snippets. Open the case and the inner sleeve is decorated with original ad art and a scene from the film.

As a murder thriller with strong overtones of police procedural (complete with v/o narration by the fabulous Reed Hadley), Without Warning is superior stuff, with effectively understated performances, smart, concise direction and plenty of suspense and surprise, including a shock moment near the beginning that will knock you back in your chair.

Williams is creepily attractive (or maybe attractively creepy) as the quiet, psychotic killer of women, with character vet Ed Binns appealingly dogged as the working-stiff police detective assigned to bring the monster to heel. Meg Randall is pleasant and convincing as the central female character(who ends up in considerable peril), and there's a nice turn (in this UA release) by pretty Columbia contract player Angela Stevens (Three Stooges shorts, Creature with the Atom Brain, lots of westerns), as a good-time girl who comes to a bad end.

As other reviewers have commented, Without Warning also is an invaluable visual and aural record of vanished Los Angeles, particularly Chavez Ravine. As archaeology alone, then, the picture is fascinating.

I can't emphasize enough the pleasure and satisfaction Without Warning provides. It's worthy on multiple levels; grab it!

Suspenseful, appropriately creepy

[Handlinghandel · 7/10 · 11 March 2008]

This story of a serial killer came out 55 years ago. It's dated primarily in that it isn't gory and graphic. At moments, it feels as if it's about to go that way. But of course the censors wouldn't have allowed it.

The director, though not in anyone's pantheon, has great noir cred. "Down Three Dark Streets" alone is something to be very proud of.

The pace is just right. The acting, by people wholly unknown to me, is professional and convincing.

We know almost from the start who the killer is. It's a matter of whether and when he will be caught. The film languishes more on his bland good looks than on the appearance of any of his victims. He's nice enough looking: rather baby-faced. We see him without his shirt in a long, not extraneous, scene.

The attention paid to the killer reminded me of "The Sniper," which came out at the same time. "The Sniper" is better known and was done on a higher budget. But I wouldn't say it's better. This is a very good, scary movie.

Without Warning! (1952)

[MartinTeller · 8/10 · 3 January 2012]

Like THE SNIPER and HE WALKED BY NIGHT, this film follows both the police and the serial killer they're trying to catch. And it lives up to that standard of quality. As usual, the procedural elements are the weakest parts, with nice attention to detail but rather dry and routine (the corny voice-over, the forensic evidence, the false confessions, the rounding up of the usual suspects, the psychological profiling, the dead-end leads and near misses). But the film absolutely shines when dealing with the killer. Adam Williams (recognizable as the baby-faced baddie from NORTH BY NORTHWEST) is creepy without being at all silly, an air of quiet danger hangs over him. There's a thick tension and dread as he stalks his victims and evades the authorities, with those conflicted moments when you almost don't want him to get caught. The supporting performances are not as memorable, but overall quite solid without anything to complain about. The photography is generally excellent, with terrific use of close-ups and a lot of good location work. Nice score as well. Well-paced and riveting film with some very fine qualities, a nice hidden gem. I'll be buying this one.

Better Than Expected

[dougdoepke · 8 August 2013]

The plot—a serial killer pursuing pretty blondes—is not exactly novel, however, the movie is better than I expected and very well done. Early on, the chase between cops and killer around the concrete jungle of LA freeways is both suspenseful and well staged. In fact the entire film appears to have been made on location, in parts of low-income east LA seldom seen on the Hollywood screen. For example, killer Martin's (Williams) slum-like hilltop neighborhood looks like the genuine thing, but with a good view of LA's downtown, plus the post-war grid of freeways slicing the urban landscape like concrete arteries.

Williams low-keys his psychopathic killer with little change of expression. That way we don't know what's boiling up underneath. Neither, for that matter, are the killings exploited for shock value. Instead the emphasis is on suspense as we follow the police investigators' attempts to track down the madman before the pile of blonde corpses gets higher. The influence of documentary-like approach to police methods is evident throughout. This was, after all, the era of Dragnet on TV. The movie also has a number of good touches. For example, the police chemist who needles the detectives in low-key fashion lends interest to a potentially routine scene; or the little girl with her broken doll that lends poignant flavor to the seedy hilltop neighborhood.

On the whole, the movie is done with care and imagination, and can hold its own with many of the better crime dramas of the day. One thing for sure, it at least merits inclusion in Leonard Maltin's too often unreliable movie guide. To me, it's a rather glaring omission even if it is an independent production with a no-name cast.

A gardener has a fetish for blonds.

[michaelRokeefe · 7/10 · 16 April 2008]

Film-Noir with less shadows. Really interesting for an early 1950s crime/thriller. Carl Mann(Adam Williams)seems to be an ordinary gardener going about his business and keeping his customers satisfied. He goes about his routine and the only real thing to make him stray is a beautiful blonde. Not just to be with them; murder is on his mind. Carl likes to pick up attractive blonde haired women that resemble his estranged wife. Lt. Hamilton(Ed Binns)and Detective Sgt. Warde(Harlan Warde)of the LA Police Dept. are baffled with the weapon being used by this serial killer. A small busted spring is what gives away Carl's secret. A spring belonging to a pair of gardening shears. Kind of creepy and very watchable. Also in the cast: Meg Randall, Angela Stevens, Marilee Phelps and John Maxwell. A little simple story line. No exuberant acting. Actually no standout acting at all; but still a flick worth watching.

Great DVD transfer not necessarily a great noir

[HEFILM · 6/10 · 5 March 2006]

This is a virtually spotless transfer and for Film Noir fans who have to put up with beaten up prints of unjustly forgotten films that alone I think perhaps has lead other writers here to rate the movie a bit too highly. It is a police procedure picture (with a surprising amount of forensics used for the time) that unfortunately comes to an obvious ending that reduces what came before it. It is especially well scored and photographed on real(and unique) locations that make it seem very fresh.

It is like THE SNIPER, though that film deals with wider issues and has a harder edge and most distinct style, where this plays out like a really good episode of something like THE NAKED CITY, or DRAGNET. The ending is safe and small. The characters although well acted are really stock "types" and don't really become three dimensional.

That said the first half of the film is very good and all the positives other writers on IMDb have said are true. But this doesn't ever become a drama, staying safely in melodrama land and that keeps it as mostly by the numbers B picture. Everybody does their job well but also safely within the confines of a programmer. The script just can't let them break out into a real classic noir.

He strikes without warning and no blonde is safe

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 6 December 2013]

This film noir is a typical Hollywood B picture of the early fifties, made on a low budget and with obscure talent. However, it works very well. It was the first film directed by Arnold Laven, whose subsequent career, which lasted until 1985, was mainly in American television series, although his second film was VICE SQUAD (1953), starring Edward G. Robinson and Paulette Goddard, so he was moving up from B status already. None of the actors in this film ever achieved significant status. The story concerns a psychotic serial killer, well played with suitably demented expressions and a great deal of tension by Carl Martin, who was jilted by a blonde of a certain type, so he repeatedly seeks out blondes who resemble her, in order to kill them and thus get back at her. From the beginning of the film, there is no secret about who the killer is, and we see him at work, stalking and stabbing the women to death with his garden shears (he is a professional gardener). The film is thus all about how they can identify and catch him, since his fingerprints are not on file and there are so few clues. The film lapses from time to time into a 'police procedural drama', but only briefly, and I suspect it was originally designed as one but then they decided to cut most of that out and just get on with the story, which was a good idea. For those who like early fifties noir, this film has a great deal of interest, is well made, and holds the attention.

Well paced straight forward thriller

[specialuse117 · 7/10 · 2 November 2013]

Saw this on YOUTUBE and the technical qualities were very good. Lots of familiar faces in this noir and the acting was excellent. The placement of the camera was really impressive. Many shots of just the torso, then extreme closeup to see the sweat on the face, then long shots for an isolation feeling. No gimmicks, direction added to the experience.

The narration was sparse but useful. Neither the cops nor the killer acted dumb or stereotypical. All the moves were logical,even when occasional humor was used.

This was one neat package that delivered what was promised. If you are a film noir fan this is a must see.

A Big Surprise!

[hennystruijk · 7/10 · 10 December 2019]

Found this on youtube--thought it might be campy and funny.... hardly! It's low-budget yes--but very well done. Wonderful to see what Los Angeles looked like in the very early 1950's!! Serial killer before that term was invented. Worth your time!!

"On the other hand, always remember that you may be dealing with a homicidal maniac!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 19 September 2017]

Usually I'm wondering why a particular movie is rated as low as it is by IMDb reviewers. In this case I'm going just the opposite. The thing is, I can agree with a lot of the positive comments made about the film on this board, but for me, a lot of the situations presented didn't pass muster as being realistic. For example, when Carl Martin (Adam Williams) got spooked at the tailor shop when he brought his jacket in to get repaired, he wound up taking it home to destroy it. But why even consider getting it mended in the first place, knowing that a significant clue to his identity was probably left behind at the crime scene? And why wrap and tie it into a package? Didn't make sense to me.

And then I got a kick out of Lieutenant Pete Hamilton's (Edward Binns) instructions to the women about to go undercover. Whenever asked a specific question on what they were supposed to do in given situations, virtually all of his answers were for them to figure it out themselves!

And come on Jane Saunders (Meg Randall)! You knew instinctively this guy Carl Martin was a creep and you still went with him! Before that, when she found the garden shears in his desk drawer along with the newspaper clippings of his murders, she left them right there out in the open. Even when Martin turned his back on her, she could have ditched the shears or held on to them to defend herself if anything happened, but preferred to remain clueless. I just didn't think any of this was the way a rational person would have responded.

Even so, I'm glad I came across this minor gem from the early Fifties, a film I had never heard of until running across it at my local library. It's a nifty addition to the list of noir films I've watched and reviewed here on IMDb, where my instinct about the picture was confirmed when I have them listed in order of their IMDb rating. It comes in at number sixty eight out of seventy nine films as I write this. So now I'm not so baffled having made my earlier comment.

Let us now praise Adam Williams and Ed Binns

[legalrcrtr · 9/10 · 6 August 2005]

Without Warning has been one of the Holy Grail films for film noir addicts. For years it has been mentioned in passing, but never available for viewing. Finally we have a DVD from a very nice looking 35mm print.

The film alternates between a police procedural with detailed forensic analysis, alternating with the meanderings of a psycho killer of beautiful blondes in early 50s LA. Adam Williams, memorable as Larry , the car bomber, in The Big Heat carries the heavy load acting duties here as Carl Martin, a mild mannered gardener, who likes to use his pruning shears on the backs of random blondes who remind him of his ex wife. Countering him is police detective Ed Binns. Unlike Dragnet's Jack Webb, Binns brings a relish to his duties, and a bemused enjoyment to his profession.

The film has a quick pace, with nicely edited chase scenes that take place under the over passes of LA's unfinished freeway system, and over head tracking shots of Williams frantically running through the Produce Market area. Even in the early 50s we can already see the heavy smog that LA would become known for. Williams lives in a shack on a hill over looking LA in an area called Chavez Ravine. For generations this area was a largely Mexican neighborhood with dirt roads, where people grew their own crops. Literally a Mexican hill town in the middle of a large American city. While the film was being made there were people being evicted for what would eventually become Dodger Stadium. It's on this hillside, outside his shack, where the police finally corner Williams just before he is ready to add to his tally of dead blondes.

Without Warning is a major rediscovery that now takes it's place in the noir canon. Slickly made, with all the actors turning in workmanlike performances, but especially ,this film is a time capsule to a vanished and lamented Los Angeles.

CSI in the early fifties!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 19 August 2019]

Like most people, probably, I had never heard about "Without Warning!" before, but it's a surprisingly tense and bleakly atmospheric mixture between film-noir and drama. The plot follows both a frustrated serial killer, who scouts for lurid blond women in sleazy Hollywood bars, and the police inspectors that are trying to catch him via profiling and the little pieces of forensic evidence that he leaves behind at each crime scene. I'm certainly not an expert of CSI-cinema, but since this film was released in 1952 already, it simply must be one of the earliest productions to make use of advanced & specialized researching techniques. The story of crazed killer Carl Martin is quite an unsettling one. With his good manners, baby-faced appearance and admirable job as a city gardener, he's the last person one would suspect to be a homicidal maniac. But at the beginning of each month, right after he cashed in his paycheck and can afford to dress up nicely and offer drinks to ladies, he prowls for pretty blonds that resemble his unfaithful ex-wife and lures them to remote places to stab them with his gardening shears. Police lieutenants Hamilton and Wade quickly figure out his patterns and profile, but can they arrest Martin before he unleashes his angers again on the innocent store owner's daughter Jane? Perhaps the film could have done without the redundant and overly dramatic voiceover guidance, but director Arnold Laven ("The Monster that Challenged the World") maintains a steady pace as well as a good balance between serial killer suspense and intriguing police work. The escape of Carl Martin following the murder of the stunningly hot nameless victim (Angela Stevens) that almost went wrong, as well as the entire finale up in the Hollywood hills, are genuinely exhilarating; - especially taking into consideration "Without Warning!" is a low-budgeted B-movie.

The beginning of the month or payday killer

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 9 June 2016]

***SPOILERS**** The police only clue to the string of killings in the L.A area is that he uses plow shears on his victims who are 30 or under blonde females and murder his victims on the first week of the month. That as it turns out is because it's right after payday and he's got enough cash to take them out on a date before he off them. The killer himself crazed and deranged gardener Carl Martin, Adam Williams, has this thing against young blonde women since his wife, also a blonde, kicked him out of the house when she realized that he was nuts as well as dangerous.

Doing gardening work for the Saunders plant and flower nursery Martin used it for covering up his crimes, with 25 pound bags of horse & cow manure, and keeping everyone including the police guessing to who he really is. A murderous psycho and woman heater who wants to get even with those-young blondes-that he feels have done him wrong. Martin even goes so far as getting into a gunfight with two highway patrolmen who caught him in the act. That's after he was caught red handed by them with a blonde, Angela Stevens, that he just murdered whom he picked up a a local bar the nigh before promising to show her a good time! With the L.A police lead by Lt. Pete Hamilton, Edward Binns, hot on his tail Martin slips up in trying to murder his boss Fred Saunders', John Maxwell, daughter Jane, Meg Randall,who besides being a blonde, those that he targets, but feels that she's on to him in his murderous actions around town.

***SPOILERS**** With Let. Hamilton and his partner Det. Sgt. Don Warde, Harlan Warde, arriving at his home to question as well as arrest Martin he slips out holding Meg , who came to pick up a plant he ordered for her, hostage. The final scene has Martin gunned down before he could do any more damage as both Let. Hamilton & Sgt. Warde double back and catch him off guard giving Meg a chance to escape.If Martin would have stuck to just gardening all this hurt and suffering on his part would have never happened. But the fact that his wife put the hurt on him by walking out on the creep flipped him out and used the tools of his trade, like plow shears and bags of horse and cow manure, to both commit as well as cover up his crimes!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, for murder!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 3 May 2022]

There's a serial killer running loose, one who uses garden shears as his weapon and prefers blondes victims, promoted the audience doesn't find out until the end. However, they do know the killer, and all they have to do is just watch the police track him to stop his killing spree. Adam Williams is the guilty party, a gardener with great knowledge of his profession, yet one with a mental illness he has out of control. The film follows his stalking of various women, and how they end up being found. There's one in a hotel room, another in the lake, and for Meg Randall, a girl he actually has feelings for, it could be on a cliff overlooking the highway coming out of Los Angeles.

This B film noir is well-paced and exciting, a great example how independent filmmakers could do more without a major studio behind them, and that means more creativity and more raw subject matter. The film goes into great detail about how the police track Williamstown, and there's never any doubt that they are not going to stop him. It's just a matter of how and when. One of his victims who manages to survive, a married woman, is simply dumped off unharmed in the middle of nowhere so, even though there's a car coming. There's also a little girl who keeps pestering Williams and it's not clear really who she is. Maybe not a film noir classic, but definitely one with originality in many ways, ith great photography and editing and a musical score that really adds to the tension.

Cops hunt for a serial killer

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 27 October 2021]

"Without Warning" from 1952 is a low-budget production that concentrates on the drudgery of police work.

It stars actors I'm not familiar with, including Adam Williams and Meg Randall; Edward Binns plays a police detective). The film is done in a very natural style.

The search is on for a serial killer (Williams) with a penchant for killing young blondes with pinking shears. The police are frustrated with a lack of evidence; slowly but surely, they come closer to tracking down the killer.

At one point they send in an undercover police woman - lucky for her, the perp realizes they're being followed. This wrecks the undercover operation, as he's not likely to try and pick up another blond.

Figuring out from soil samples that the killer may be a gardener, police begin to canvass gardening businesses that may have sold the pinking shears.

The film concentrates on forensic work - today it seems simplistic, but back then, it was cutting edge. The focus is on the hard work that police do - no glamor, just a lot of worn shoe leather.

Great Script Dull Handling

[boblipton · 7/10 · 29 October 2019]

Adam Williams is a serial killer. Edward Binns is the police lieutenant trying to figure out who he is.

It's an intelligent, well-written script by Bill Raynor which tries to seriously explain the phenomenon. Earlier, it seems to me, serial killers were considered maniacs, and little more, like Peter Lorre in M or the unseen Jack the Ripper in versions of Mrs. Lowndes' THE LODGER. There was an almost supernatural quality about them. They could hide in plain sight and strangle anyone, anywhere, leaving a corpse, a baffled constabulary, and a terrified city. Here, we ar given reasons why Williams kills; and the reason he can vanish so effectively is that 1: he is not an idiot; 2: he looks mildly pathetic, but not so you'd be interested in looking at him and 3: it's a big city. The only way to find him is through a plodding routine while hoping you find him before he kills again.

It's that plodding routine that Binns and his cops go through that make this less than thrilling. I can the classic editing technique of hunter and hunted, alternating between the cops and Williams. The problem is they are all so slow and methodical and what's at risk is another random victim; even at the end, there's no real sense of tension. It's all so plodding that I found myself bored, despite the strident score provided by Herschel Burke Gilbert. There's no drama in Joseph Biroc's camerawork. There's not even much character for anyone to care about. It's a shame, really, because that script is so intelligent that something might have been made of it, but Arnold Laven was the director to do so. It's still an interesting movie, but never in a way that strikes the heart.

"Lost Noir" Rediscovered

[Noirdame79 · 9/10 · 5 March 2011]

"In the annals of crime of any great city, there is always one case that for sheer savagery will never be forgotten. No professional criminal could ever match its fury, for it is the record of murder without reason, of fear and of terror of a killer who strikes without warning." So begins the story of the garden shear wielding love-killer, at large in 1951 Los Angeles, who has a murderous penchant for blondes.

Opening outside a motel with blaring jazz music, the police are investigating the murder of a lovely blonde who was killed by a large pair of gardening shears. It is determined that the woman was in her twenties and married, although her husband is clearly not in the picture. As the cops probe the scene, our love-killer, boyish gardener Carl Martin (Adam Williams, North By Northwest), collapses into bed, awakening the next day to head to a local gardening supply store, where he spots the owner's comely daughter Jane (Meg Randall) who is helping out her dad while her husband is overseas. (And let me just add, there is a little girl, Carmencita, who has the tendency to show up in some of the most inopportune moments for Carl). The police, meanwhile, think that the latest murder is linked to one a month earlier - the similarities are striking. While the authorities do everything and anything they can to stop and identify the murderer (including having pretty blonde decoys accompanied by plainclothed cops in an attempt to lure the psycho into a trap, studying torn fabric from the suit he was wearing at the time of the motel killing), Martin is still able to claim two more victims, but not before the police psychiatrist makes his diagnosis. The love-killer is a less than confidant guy who fell head over heels in love with, and married a woman (you guessed it, a blonde) who left him high and dry for another man. So the women he chooses as victims are prototypes of his ex-wife. Blonde, attractive, married but estranged from their husbands for whatever reason. He was unable to punish his wife so instead he punishes other women. Although Martin does pick up one of the decoys, while driving to an out of the way place, he notices that they're being followed and promptly drops her off - alive - but not before delivering a quick little speech regarding morals. It seems that he may be cunning enough at times to stay one step ahead of the law, but he's bound to be found out or exposed - it's just a question of when and how. By the time the detectives discover Martin's identity and that he is a gardener by profession, it may be too late for Jane, who finds herself alone with Carl as his murderous rage is about to explode - again.

Adam Williams spent most of his career in television, and I can't help but think that had he had more film roles, if his portrayal here is any indication, he may have become a star in the Richard Widmark mold.

"Without Warning" is also a very interesting viewing experience because it introduces some investigative techniques that have become much more prevalent and advanced in recent years - analyzing crime scenes, fabric fibers, cigarette butts, soil and criminal profiling. While not exactly what you'd see on CSI today, the determining of the type of suit the perpetrator was wearing and what motivates him to commit his crimes makes this early 50s noir a cut above the rest that I've seen. Also, Martin seems to get a perverse kick out of reading about his savage mayhem in the papers, and along with his clean-cut, seemingly "normal" exterior his inner rage simmers, his murderous intent could explode suddenly or could have him meticulously planning his next move. I couldn't help but think of Ted Bundy in that respect - Martin, like Bundy, seems on the surface to be last person you'd suspect to be capable of such savage killings.

Of course, I can't review this film without addressing what critics and fans of the genre have debated - whether Without Warning should be considered film noir or not. And I'm going to answer that as honestly as I can - yes and no. At times, it seems that the movie can't decide what it wants to be - a noir, a detective story, or a documentary-style thriller. It has very strong elements of all three, but I do think that it does earn the title of noir, even if it is missing some of the better known ingredients (femme fatales, hard-boiled detectives), and only a handful of scenes take place at night - which is usually considered a noir staple. The rest of the action (including a dramatic chase as Martin evades police after claiming his third victim, and the climax) takes place in broad daylight. The police detectives, while dedicated to their jobs, seem to be rather average Joes apart from it and there is no insight into their personal lives. Even Martin's primary target, Jane, is a regular gal who just wants to help out her father and innocently bide her time until her husband returns. However I suppose it doesn't matter that Jane is not a two-timing dame, because all attractive blondes of that age are the same in Carl Martin's eyes. The narration is on hand pretty much throughout, giving the story an air of realism.

Check it out if you can.

A town in search of a serial killer.

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 14 August 2020]

Released the same year as Edward Dmytryk's ''the sniper" , "without warning! " suffers by comparison; directing is MTV style and no scene can equal the last picture of "sniper";

But the film is interesting thanks to its half documentary/half fiction artistic choice ;the police are looking for a needle in a haystack.Clues are given little by little , with the scientific police , the before -his-time psychiatrist -profiler , and the legwork which involves the witnesses ,the shops ;their work is thwarted by the wrong men (and women) who want their fifteen minutes of fame .

The culprit is known since the very beginning ,like in Dmytryk's thriller :he is not a sinister-looking threatening man,but the nice boy-next-door :he looks as if butter would not melt in his mouth.We know almost nothing of him :he's a lonely young man,whose only friend is a little girl;his background is unknown ,but one can imagine his family left him to his own devices.

"There never was a good shortcut to a killer....they found that out."

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 6 June 2016]

"Without Warning!" is a film that actually caught me by surprise. While it's a low-budget picture with mostly no-name cast (the biggest star is the character actor Edward Binns), it is a first-rate film about the police and their relentless search for a serial killer. However, these cops don't work over witnesses or act tough--they do what real cops do and the film is well worth seeing for its CSI-like style.

The film is about the search for a serial killer who remains very true to type. He loves murdering young bleach blondes who look very similar. He also kills them the same way...with a pair of gardening shears. But with very, very few clues since the killer is very bright, the police must slowly put the pieces together and do a lot of legwork to catch up to Carl Martin...a very nasty but seemingly normal sort of guy.

The film excels at showing forensics and describing police work. It also is taut and keeps the viewer interested not just in procedure but in the story itself...which seems very real and free from glamour and clichés. Well worth seeing and a film that deserves to be seen.

good serial killer story

[petersjoelen · 7/10 · 29 September 2019]

This is the oldest sort of serial killer stories ( not based on a true story ) that i have seen ans it is a more than good suspence thriller abouth a killer that only murders blonde beautiful women because his ex was blond and now he hates them . unfortunately this back up story is only be given us by the specialist who gives advice to the police . It would have been even better to see some sort of back up story from the murderer his past or something like that . The suspence is well writen and a few chasing scenes are very good .

DVD Review "Without Warning" By Marcus Pan

[marcuspan-00524 · 6/10 · 21 November 2023]

DVD Review "Without Warning" By Marcus Pan

Hitchcock fans take note. This 1952 black and white noir thriller, given a recent facelift this year by noir rescuers Dark Sky, will thrill any old style mystery and slasher fan. From Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions, story and screenplay by Bill Raynor and directed by Arnold Laven, it's a very good foray into old style mysteries and murder thrillers.

Killer Carl Martin, played by Adam Williams ("North by Northwest") is a clean cut gardener who finds other more eccentric uses for his gardening scissors. After two murders the police's only leads are unmatched fingerprints, knowledge of the weapon being "scissors of some type" and a piece of a blue suit. The police frantically scramble to find this serial murderer with a hankering for pretty blondes and an unknown motivation.

While the police, featuring a detective played by Ed Binns ("12 Angry Men"), canvas the laundry and clothing repair shops waiting for the blue suit to turn up in need of mending, Carl Martin goes about his everyday business as a gardener while drawing the local garden shop owner's daughter (Meg Randall), who fits the bill under the pretty blonde category, into his trap of shearing madness.

Without success there, at least at the outset, Carl takes to the bars to find another of his blondes and the police nearly pick him up at the scene of a third murder. The following foot chase and cab jumps to throw the police off his tail serves for a little while, with the noose of the law now starting to draw closer around our gardening madman. A string of blonde beauties with detective backups is put out on the street in an effort to snare Carl, brilliantly using a habitual nuance of his to track down the right man. It was a piece of the murder weapon - his gardening shears - and a bit of excellent police work that bring Carl Martin to justice as the serial murderer.

Fans of "CSI" and other crime scene investigation style motion pictures would also find a lot to enjoy here, as the police explore the crime and seek to solve the murders using top of the line investigation methods of the 1950s. It will give you a great look at the investigation and police work efforts of the time.

I enjoyed this film, and without Dark Sky to pick it up and save it from a silent death in the back rooms with black & white master tapes of its time, it would have never reached me...or you. Hitchcock fans will enjoy the film for its charm and suspense and mystery buffs will enjoy this film for its old school step by step clue tracking. If you've watched "The Birds" or "Psycho" one too many times and need something new (old?) of this style, drop by Dark Sky and pick up Without Warning for some original thrills.

--- Originally published in Legends #152. Minor edits since. De-URLed.

Certainly worth checking out this film.

[scsu1975 · 7/10 · 19 November 2022]

Surprisingly good flick with Adam Williams as a psycho gardener who picks up "willing" blondes and then stabs them in the back with pruning shears. Yeah, I know it sounds distasteful, but we never actually see the murders, nor do we see any blood. Edward Binns plays the detective trying to crack the case. Robert Shayne has a bit as a psychiatrist who profiles the killer.

Williams is well-cast ... his unemotional, even bland, acting makes him very effective. There is some good police work, and occasional narration which gives this film a realistic look. And there is one scene which I did not see coming.

The narrator was Gene Wood, who did a lot of game shows.

One flaw I found in the film is that Williams is described as a paranoiac. Psychopath is probably the correct term.

Baby Face Killer of Blondes!!

[kidboots · 9/10 · 30 June 2017]

This movie was a major find for me - the fifties ushered in a more realistic noir genre (thanks to "He Walks By Night", "Dragnet" etc) zeroing in on loners, killers whose motivations were never fully explained, helped enormously by outside location shootings and casting unknown actors. Adam Williams is perfect casting as the fresh faced boyish loner, he is just appealing enough for it to be understandable why lonely women were taken with his charms.

Carl Martin is a gardener whose creepy personality was enough for his blonde wife to look elsewhere. Toward the end he tries to justify his behaviour on his wife's abandonment but from the start, with his barely concealed gun it is so obvious that he enjoys killing. As the film opens, the police are baffled by yet another "blonde killing" but this time they have a clue - the killer left a calling card in a piece from a blue coat and as the forensics guy says, an expensive one!! Martin is always one jump ahead of the police - they have been combing men's clothing repair shops but Martin realises this is just what they expect him to do and burns it!!

The pacing and editing keep you on the edge of your seat - usually with the expectation of violence that is always implied but never seen. As when a beautiful blonde gives him the "come on" in the bar, they get to talking in her car, the next scene shows her obviously dead. What follows is a really cracker of suspense - Carl and his "date" parked under a bridge are noticed by a passing policeman, he tries to drive off but the car becomes bogged in the dust - even that doesn't arouse the cop's suspicions. When the policeman wants to take a closer look at the girl who Carl says is just drunk, that precipitates a mammoth chase on foot along with gun play through unfinished freeways, zig zagging around the Produce Market where the killer thinks that by his fancy footwork with changing taxis, he has given them the slip!!

As well as trying to track through a murderer's mind there is also a routine police investigation going on - from the discovery of the murder weapon being a pair of secateurs, it is concluded that they are looking for a gardener. Carl has already lined up his next victim - she is the daughter of the man where Carl buys his gardening supplies. Initially turned off because she is married, he can't resist his compulsions which end in a shoot out, outside Martin's ramshackle house amidst a poor Mexican hillside settlement, soon to be demolished for Dodgers Stadium.

This definitely should be ranked along with "The Sniper" as one of the early 1950s best "unknown noirs"!!

Very Recommended!!

quite a good police procedural

[myriamlenys · 8/10 · 12 November 2019]

You can do worse than watch "Without Warning !", a fine police procedural about the hunt for an intelligent serial killer who knows that the authorities are looking for him.

Time has not been kind to all of the procedural aspects ; nowadays, no one would whistle with admiration at the idea of a little piece of fabric being examined under a microscope and yielding useful forensic results. As in many other police procedurals, there is also an element of dryness creeping in.

However, the movie boasts an interesting villain, in the shape of a highly dangerous man who looks like an all-American, law-abiding citizen. He's as mad as a World Mad Hatter Conference but quite capable of hiding, planning, dissembling, which leads to a tense cat-and-mouse game with the police. The killer's pursuit of his latest intended victim is suspenseful and provides for a superb finale. (Watch out for the motif of the small neighbour girl who keeps on asking him to repair her doll.)