No Questions Asked

1951
Approved
1h 20m

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

1.1K

YOUR RATING

Arlene Dahl and Barry Sullivan in No Questions Asked (1951)

An insurance lawyer unhappy with his rate of company advancement becomes a middleman in deals to recover stolen property from the Mob, thus earning a nice living. But his actions attract police attention and set him up for a double-cross.

Play trailer2:44

1 Video

27 Photos

Film Noir Crime Drama Mystery Romance

An insurance lawyer unhappy with his rate of company advancement becomes a middleman in deals to recover stolen property from the Mob, thus earning a nice living. But his actions attract pol... Read allAn insurance lawyer unhappy with his rate of company advancement becomes a middleman in deals to recover stolen property from the Mob, thus earning a nice living. But his actions attract police attention and set him up for a double-cross.An insurance lawyer unhappy with his rate of company advancement becomes a middleman in deals to recover stolen property from the Mob, thus earning a nice living. But his actions attract police attention and set him up for a double-cross.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

1.1K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:44

Official Trailer

Photos27

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This film flopped at the box office, resulting in a loss to MGM of $377,000 (about $4.6M in 2024) according to studio records. It did not even make back its negative cost, let alone expenses for duplication, distribution, and advertising.

Goofs
A policeman alerts patrol cars in the vicinity of "18th Street". In Manhattan all numbered streets are divided into East and West, so anyone giving an address would say "East 18th Street" or "West 18th Street," never the number alone.

The reporting policeman's notification came from a police call box. The location of that box as well as the cop's "beat" would have allowed headquarters to know the general location. However, the broadcast policeman's failure to provide that general location would have led to all squad cars along the ~2 mile stretch of (East and West) 18th Street to be on alert.

Quotes
[first lines]
Steve Keiver: [voice-over narration as he hides in the night-time shadows from passing police cars] My name is Steve Keiver. That's what all the sirens are about, they were screaming for me. I was very popular that night--everybody wanted me, dead or alive. Big Franko wanted me dead. I don't think it mattered to the police how they got me, just so they got me. You'd think there'd be a thousand hiding places in a large city, but there aren't. No, not when they want you.
[more police cars arrive, blocking the street]
Steve Keiver: They turn a spotlight on you and they keep narrowing the circle, closing in for the kill. They let you wear yourself out until you're too tired to run anymore. You stand there hypnotized waiting for them to get it over with. You wonder how it happened and where it all really began. It started somewhere out there beyond the searchlights and the sirens. You had ideals and you went to a top law school. Then you went to work for an insurance company. No, but it wasn't any of those things. I think it really started when I received the telegram that Ellen was coming home. Really started that morning at the airport.
[flashback to airport scene]

Connections
Featured in Noir Alley: No Questions Asked (2018)

Soundtracks
I've Got You Under My Skin
(uncredited)
Written by Cole Porter
Sung along with jukebox by Jean Hagen and heard in score

User reviews32

Review

Featured review

8/10

pretty good noir from the early fifties

Arlene Dahl is "Ellen" in this flick from the 1950s. The opening scene is our narrator running from the police, but within 10 seconds we flash back to what brought us to that point. In the flashback, she is met at the airport by a lawyer-friend "Steve" (Barry Sullivan). Steve is also on a first name basis with Harry, the taxi driver. Harry takes him around to visit all the thugs in town so he can be the go-between in a shady transaction. All of a sudden, his girl is gone, and Steve is in business getting more and more stolen goods back for clients....for a price. The police are watching him, and he'd better watch his step....Jean Hagen is "Joan", Steve's new girl. ( Hagen had been in Singing in the Rain, and Dead Ringer with Bette Davis.) No real big names in this one, but it's a pretty good story. Directed by Harold Kress, who had won two Oscars for EDITING How the West was Won and Towering Inferno. He was nominated for editing SIX times, and won two of those times. Oddly, this was one of the five films KRESS ever directed. Pretty good movie - i'm surprised that this one isn't on more often, but I guess it's because they used lesser known actors of the time.