No questions asked

On a dark rainy night on New York Street, Steve Kiver ( Barry Sullivan ) hides from the police chasing him, recalling the circumstances that led to this situation:

At one time, after graduating from one of the best law schools, Steve joined the insurance company as a lawyer, where, thanks to his conscientiousness, he was in good standing with his superiors. Once, together with his friend, a taxi driver named Harry Dicker ( Danny Dayton ), Steve arrived at the airport to meet his beloved, beautiful Ellen ( Arlene Dahl ), who arrived after a 3-week stay at the Sun Valley ski resort. On the way home, Steve tries to make Ellen an offer, but she evades the conversation, saying that she expects from the marriage primarily financial security and well-being, which Steve is now unable to give her. At work, Steve turns to his boss, Henry Manston ( Moroni Olsen ), asking for an increase in salary, but Manston says that he appreciates his work and promises career growth, but at the moment he does not have the opportunity to raise his salary. However, Manston instructs Steve to work on a case in which he can earn extra money. Recently, furs worth 40 thousand dollars were stolen in a fur company, which were insured at their company. To avoid insurance payments , Manston offers Steve to find thieves and offer them to return the furs for 10 thousand in cash.

Steve, along with Harry, goes around the points where gangsters who are engaged in such thefts are based. In the first place, where Steve is applying for a ransom of furs, he is apparently mistaken for a police agent, after which he is beaten and thrown into the street. However, the stubborn Harry goes to the next institution, the Cirocco night bar, where in the dance hall through a girl named Natalie ( Marie Blanchard ) makes an appointment with gangster Marty Colbert ( Moritz Hugo ). Rising into his office, Steve sets out his proposal. Marty replies that he is not interested in this, and he just wanted to look at such an impudent person as Steve, after which he instructs his people to throw him outside. Nevertheless, at night in Steve’s apartment, a bell rings, inviting him to the office of Marty, who makes a deal on Steve’s terms. After receiving the furs, Manston appreciates Steve's work, giving him a bonus of $ 2,500, but warns him of caution in this matter. Steve buys a wedding ring and arrives at Ellen’s home, where he finds out from the landlady that his lover went to Europe with her husband, whom she met in Sun Valley. Steve comes to the Cirocco restaurant to get drunk. Marty invites him to his office, where he says that it was a verification transaction that went well, after which he offers to work on a well-established scheme on an ongoing basis, while, according to him, Steve’s activities will remain within the law. Soon, newspapers reported a series of thefts of jewelry and furs, which after some time returned to the owners. In all these matters, Steve works, who quit the insurance company and opened his own business. For fees, he bought a chic penthouse and got a servant. However, the activities of Steve attracted the attention of the police. During another case of theft of paintings from a gallery picture, Police Inspector Duggan ( George Murphy ) instructs Detective O'Bannon ( Richard Anderson ) to track Steve to establish his contacts with the underworld. However, despite the control from the police, Steve manages to crank up this deal, returning paintings worth 250 thousand dollars for 60 thousand dollars. The excessive activity of Steve begins to bother Manston, and Duggan calls Steve, demanding to give out the names of the robbers. However, he replies that he does not know who commits the crimes, since he does not ask people unnecessary questions. Duggan accuses Steve of the fact that after he began to act as an intermediary in the return of stolen goods, the number of robberies of expensive things increased. Meanwhile, newspapers report that Steve returned the paintings to the gallery. Secretary of insurance company Joan Branson ( Gene Hagen ), who has long been in love with Steve, fears that his connections with the criminal world will not be brought to good. Steve begins dating Joan, but still has a photograph of Ellen on a table in his apartment.

One evening, Steve, along with Joan, comes to the Broadway premiere , where during an intermission in the ladies' toilet room, she sees Ellen. At this moment, two women with weapons in their hands enter the room, where at that moment there are about 25 people. Threatening with weapons, they take away money and valuables from all women, after which, after locking the women in one of the rooms, they calmly go out of the theater, get into the car waiting for them and hide. Soon, police led by Daggan and O'Bannion arrive at the scene of the crime. During the survey, all victims describe the raiders as two attractive women. Joan, who tried to resist the raiders, wakes up after a blow to the head, Steve takes care of her, noticing Ellen among the victims. At the request of Steve, Detective O'Bannion finds out for him the address of the hotel where Ellen stayed with her husband. Meanwhile, in the car, raiders take off their wigs, and it turns out that these are men - Floyd ( William Reynolds ) and Roger ( William Phipps ) - who work for a gangster named Franco ( Howard Petrie ). The police sets the number of the car on which the hijackers hid, checks fingerprints in the theater, draws up verbal portraits and identifies criminals similar in description to robbers, but this does not produce any results. Duggan suspects that they will soon come out with jewels to Steve, and instructs O'Bannion to follow him tirelessly. Meanwhile, Roger and Floyd are arriving at the Chandler Hotel, who are eager to get their share, but Franco pays them only partially, promising to give the rest when the jewelry is sold.

The next day, Steve comes to Ellen's hotel, forcing her alone. He kisses her, and then reprimands her for not telling him about her marriage and leaving for Europe without even saying goodbye. Ellen replies that her marriage was a mistake, and she would like to return to Steve again. After kissing Ellen goodbye, Steve heads to a cafe to meet Joan, who realizes that he still loves Ellen and leaves. When Steve leaves the cafe, O'Bannion watches him and waits for Manston, whom Steve invites to sit in the car to talk to Harry. Manston reports that the total insurance amount stolen at the theater was $ 860 thousand, and he has already negotiated with all insurers who are willing to pay 200 thousand for them and Steve's fee of $ 50 thousand. However, given the complexity of the work, Steve insists on an amount of 250 thousand for jewelry and 100 thousand for himself, which Manston is forced to agree to. Steve begins the search for robbers, going first to the racetrack . There, the gangsters' confidant reports that they do not want to deal with Steve, since recently everyone with whom Steve comes in contact is immediately arrested. Steve arrives at the boxing arena, where he meets with Natalie, who reports that Marty will not meet with him. Immediately after their conversation, Natalie is also detained. Steve still comes to the office to Marty, who refuses to deal with him. Meanwhile, Floyd, who is eager to get the money as soon as possible, gets into Harry's car and, threatening him, demands to tell Steve that the deal is due to take place tonight. Harry arrives at the cafe where he landed Steve, but he sees only Drunk Joan there, whom she reports about the urgent meeting. They drive together to Steve’s apartment, where Joan meets Ellen. Harry tells Steve the place and time of the meeting with the robbers, emphasizing that he should be alone. On the street, Harry makes a small accident, distracting the attention of the police, which gives Steve the opportunity to evade surveillance.

Steve arrives at the ballet school at the indicated address, intuitively guessing that the thieves could be thin, slender ballet dancers who dressed in women's dresses. In the office of the school principal, Steve receives Franco, who introduces him to Roger and Floyd. They agree that Steve will receive the jewelry tonight, and he will give the money the next morning. Coming out of Franco, Steve secretly calls Duggan, informing him that the jewelry will be delivered to his apartment at 11 o’clock in the evening, and asks to send O'Bannion. At the appointed time, the messenger brings a sealed box, but he can not describe the one who instructed him to deliver the package. After the messenger leaves, when O'Bannion and Steve open the box and see the jewelry, the lights suddenly go out and someone opens fire from the balcony, killing the detective. Then he hits Steve on the head, depriving him of consciousness, picks up the box and disappears through the balcony. Recovering, Steve hears a knock on the door of O'Bannion's colleagues, and, realizing that he was framed, picks up the pistol thrown on the floor and runs away through the balcony. Duggan puts Steve on the wanted list as a murder suspect. Going around the courtyards, the police cordon, Steve gets to Franco's office in the hotel, suspecting him of a double game, but he is sincerely surprised by what happened. He assumes that the theft was committed either by Harry, or someone from the police, or someone from the thieves, since no one else knew about the place and time of the transaction. Franco claims that now Steve has become an obstacle for him, and instructs his people to withdraw Steve at gunpoint. However, in the lobby, Steve manages to break away from his convoy for a second and mingle in the crowd of delegates at the congress in the hotel. Once out of the hotel, Steve comes to Harry, who pounces on charges of theft of jewelry, but then calms down and realizes that Harry is on his side. With Harry's help, Steve recalls that Joan and Ellen also heard about the meeting. To check them, Steve calls both women, making an appointment an hour later at a place that is clearly visible from Harry's window. When, after fifteen minutes, the police arrive at the scene and conduct searches, Steve realizes that one of the women turned him in. Finally, when Joan appears an hour later, he realizes that Ellen reported to the police. He goes downstairs, asks Joan for forgiveness and promises to return to her when he finishes the matter.

Meanwhile, in her hotel room, Ellen and her husband Gordon Jessman ( Dick Simmons ) urgently packs their things, intending to escape. At this moment, armed Floyd and Roger appear in their apartment, looking for Steve. Going into the next room, Ellen and Gordon discuss a plan for further action. It turns out that the plan to steal the jewelry came from Ellen, and implemented it by shooting O'Bannion, Gordon. Ellen decides to sell Franco's jewelry, after which they all go together to the gangster's office. Steve by this time manages to get to the hotel, and then continues to spy on the office of Franco. At the negotiations in the office, Franco Ellen states that she hid the jewelry in a safe place and is ready to discuss the conditions under which she will return it to him. However, the gangster claims that she did not contact with that and he will not pay. Moreover, she herself will beg him to tell him the place where the jewels are hidden. Franco instructs his people to take Ellen and Gordon to a neighboring room and knock them out with torture. Steve calls Duggan on the phone, saying that he knows the names of the killers, and urgently needs to send his people. However, Floyd notices Steve in the lobby, interrupts his conversation and, threatening with a weapon, leads him away. Based on the available disparate facts, Duggan manages to quickly figure out that the call came from a hotel owned by Franco. Meanwhile, the bandits beat the Jessmans, after which Ellen was killed, and Gordon was taken to a closed courtyard, where Steve was soon brought to. Steve tells Franco that it was Gordon who killed a policeman and stole jewelry. Gangster instructs his people to go with Gordon for jewelry, and Steve to shoot. At the last moment, Steve manages to twist and hide from the trunks with Franco's body, after which they both fall into the pool. A fight begins between them underwater, and Franco, the trained diver, prevails and drowns Steve. However, when Franco emerges to the surface, Duggan is already waiting for him with his people, who have already detained the rest of the gang members. Doctors immediately begin to save Steve, and eventually pump him out. Joan arrived with the police, who, with Daggan’s permission, goes to the hospital with ambulance along with Steve.

The film was written by Sidney Sheldon , known at that time as a screenwriter in the comedy genre. Since 1970, Sheldon has made a stellar career in the literary field, writing such detective bestsellers as The Flip Side of Midnight (1973), Stranger in the Mirror (1976), Blood Ties (1977), Anger Fury ( 1980) and “ If Tomorrow Comes ” (1985) ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

Harold F. Kress was known as a successful film editor, he was awarded an Oscar nomination for editing films such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), and Fawn (1946), and “ The Adventure of Poseidon” (1972), and also received this award for the films “ How the West was Conquered ” and “ Hell in Heaven ” (1974) ^[4] . This film was one of three that Kress directed as a director. After 1951 and until 1978, he worked exclusively as an editor ^[5] .

By the time this film was made, Barry Sullivan was known as an experienced lead actor in noir films such as Suspense (1946), Gangster (1947), Framed (1947), Tension (1949), Unknown man "(1951) and" Reason for alarm "(1951) ^[6]

In 1950, the famous film critic Lowell Parsons wrote that “in Hollywood there are not many girls more beautiful than Arlene Dahl , whose white-pink complexion and red hair always evoke the admiring gaze of the opposite sex” ^[3] . As movie historian Richard Harland Smith notes, “although Dahl carried a sensation of fiery unpredictability, at the beginning of her film career she was driven into the rut of the roles of good girls” ^[3] . A short job at Warner Bros brought her "the chic but passive role of the bride Denis Morgan " in the movie " My Wild Irish Rose " (1947). Switching to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , Dahl began to receive works of a wider range, "although her beauty brought her to the role of the" other woman "in many love movie triangles." According to Smith, “Dahl interspersed such silly insignificant works (among them, two main female roles in films with red partner Red Skelton ) with tougher and more severe films, such as the thriller Crime Scene (1949) with Van Johnson and the French chronicle Revolution “ The Reign of Terror ” (1949) ” ^[3] . For the first time, Dal got the opportunity to play a bad girl in the melodrama “ Leaky Street ” (1951), where she was a wealth hunter in San Francisco at the end of the 19th century, but her “ascent to a full-fledged fatal woman came with the film“ Without Extra Questions “(1951) , who reunited with Barry Sullivan, a partner in Leaky Street ^[3] . As Smith further writes, “Dal’s career has risen to the heights that its beauty foreshadowed.” She continued to appear in films for a decade, playing with Alan Ladd in Desert Legion (1953), with her second husband Fernando Lamas in the costume drama Sangari (1953), with Rock Hudson in the Bengal Brigade (1954) and with John Payne in “ The Scarlet Tint ” (1956), but “not one of these roles was worthy of her level” ^[3] . After the film “ Journey to the Center of the Earth ” (1959) with James Mason, she actually moved away from the acting profession, although she continued to work actively in other areas. She led a news column in the Chicago Tribune , became an expert on health and beauty, sometimes playing small roles in films such as the French Roads of Kathmandu (1969) and Night of the Warrior (1991), where her son Lorenzo Lamas played ^{[3 ]} .

Overall rating of the film

After the release of the film, the New York Times reviewer noted that because of the many criminal films recently released by Hollywood, "the question arises whether this time the studio has opened up something new in portraying the quirks of the underworld." According to the reviewer, “there are several interesting points in this film,” but overall, “this rather intense gangster performance” says nothing new, “everything that happens on the screen is familiar” ^[7] .

According to contemporary film expert Hal Erickson, “this film is one of the tougher and less superficial films that MGM produced during the reign of Dora Shari ” ^[2] . Dennis Schwartz praised “the production quality of this film noir about insurance fraud”, further writing that it is “ a category B film with a normal and predictable story, and with a game below average.” However, if you do not delve into these issues, then "he will bring moderate pleasure." In general, the film still does not reach the level of moral issues related to the fact that “Sullivan and his taxi driver do business with criminals, thinking that they are not doing anything wrong,” while “Sullivan’s retaliation is presented too easily and completely not convincingly ” ^[1] .

Craig Butler called the film “a graceful small noir thriller of category B, which, despite its shortcomings, captivates the viewer” ^[8] , and Smith - “a revelatory film noir” about the insurance business, where “policyholders got involved in working with the criminal world to avoid paying significant insurance bills ” ^[3] . Spencer Selby also draws attention to this picture in which “for the sake of appeasing a greedy woman, a lawyer becomes an intermediary between high-ranking criminals and insurance companies wishing to buy stolen goods” ^[9] .

Evaluation of the work of the director and creative team

According to Butler, “ Sidney Sheldon ’s script has a shocking beginning, turning into a flashback that captures the viewer for a long time before getting a little lost in the middle of the picture, and then re-enter into a rut for a good, strong climax.” According to the critic, "the criminal business in history is shown quite well, as well as the situation with fraud." All that the picture really lacks is one “large, truly memorable scene, instead of several memorable scenes that are a little short of that”. Butler notes the good work of director Kress , who manages to "increase the tension inherent in the script," which to a large extent "contributes to the atmospheric camera work of Harold Lipstein " ^[8] .

Actor rating

According to the New York Times reviewer, “ Sullivan gives the role of a money-hungry lawyer a strong, but uninspired reading. Gene Hagen is very attractive and credible in the role of a girl who ultimately finds love, while Arlene Dahl is simply attractive in the role of an insidious seducer, about whom he suffers, until she sees the truth. In general, acting is pretty standard ” ^[7] .

Butler believes that “Sullivan is pretty good in the title role, and Arlene Dahl looks amazing, but Gene Hagen gives out a really outstanding game, which puts all that much she has in the supporting role and takes her picture to her beautiful performance " ^[8] .

• Spencer Selby. Dark City: The Film Noir . - Jeffeson, NC: McFarland & Co Inc, 1997. - ISBN 978-0-7864-0478-0 ref = Selby.
• Michael F. Keaney. Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940–1959 . - Jefferson, North Carolina, and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2003. - ISBN 978-0-7864-1547-2 .

• No questions asked on the IMDb website  
• No questions asked on the AllMovie website  
• No questions asked at the American Film Institute website
• No questions asked at Turner Classic Movies