No Questions Asked

""Give her the works til she tells where the jewels are hidden.""

1951 1h 20m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 17

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

With the help of some seedy gangsters, young attorney Steve Keiver makes some quick cash by bending the law, and in the process, he impresses the mobsters so much that they invite him to work for them on a regular basis. But when Police Inspector Matt Duggan realizes that Steve is working as a middleman for the mob, the young lawyer finds himself in a life-threatening situation. In order to clear his name, he must betray the deadly crooks he's been working for.

“"Give her the works til she tells where the jewels are hidden."”

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Cast

Barry Sullivan
Steve Keiver
Arlene Dahl
Ellen Sayburn Jessman
George Murphy
Police Insp. Matt Duggan
Jean Hagen
Joan Brenson
Richard Anderson
Detective Walter O'Bannion
Moroni Olsen
Henry Manston
Danny Dayton
Harry Dycker (as Dan Dayton)
Dick Simmons
Gordon N. Jessman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Harold F. Kress
Writers: Berne Giler, Sidney Sheldon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

80 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

75 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Harold F. Kress, shot by Harold Lipstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Leith Stevens. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joseph Dervin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Barry Sullivan and Arlene Dahl and George Murphy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: ""Give her the works til she tells where the jewels are hidden."".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0043861 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Harold F. Kress directs. Harold Lipstein behind the camera. Leith Stevens scores. Joseph Dervin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

180 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
275 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Harold F. Kress, shot by Harold Lipstein. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Leith Stevens. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Joseph Dervin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Barry Sullivan and Arlene Dahl and George Murphy carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: ""Give her the works til she tells where the jewels are hidden."".
8IMDB entry: tt0043861 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Only 17 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harold Lipstein
Original score: Leith Stevens
Editing: Joseph Dervin
Costume design: Helen Rose
Runtime: 80 min · 1h 20m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: No Questions Asked (1951)

Also by

Harold F. Kress

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-02-02
★ 7/10
Legal fencing! No Questions Asked is directed by Harold F. Kress and written by Sidney Sheldon and Berne Giler. It stars Barry Sullivan, Arlene Dahl, Jean Hagen, George Murphy, Richard Anderson and Moroni Olsen. Music is by Leith Stevens and cinematography by Harold Lipstein. Sullivan plays Steve Keiver, an insurance lawyer unhappy with his rate of company advancement. He hits on the idea of being a middleman in deals to recover stolen property from the Mob, thus earning a nice pay off for himself whilst the insurance company are saved money by not having to pay out. But sure enough his actions attract police attention and before he knows it he is up to his neck in double-crosses, frames and dames! Tone is set from the off as our protagonist is on the run from the police, it's a dimly lighted moist street and he begins his narration. From there we get the film flashback of how he has come to be a wanted man. We are in noirville so obviously we have a bona fide femme fatale (Dahl smouldering) who is greedy, immoral, manipulative and thinks nothing of crushing Keiver's dreams. If he's to go to his doom then she really will not give it a second thought - and yet he loves her and would have married her in a heartbeat. He's a classic noir dope, he just can't see the bad in the woman he so covets, which is all the more annoying since the lovely firm secretary Joan Brenson (Hagen excellent) covets him and he can't see the wood for the trees where the two ladies are concerned. We have a bunch of run of the mill villains, with one who has a kink involving how long he can hold his breath under water for, though we do get a robbery scene that comes to reveal some devilish cheek soon afterwards. The cops you kind of get miffed about since the whole scam that Keiver has set up is implausibly allowed to flourish. Yet when things go bad for Keiver later in the play, we enter a dark world, where even if the finale isn't pure film noir, we get some moody turns of events that softens any feelings of there being a damp squib at film's end. 7/10

Production companies