kapelusznik18 ***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!

robert-temple-1 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.

Martin Teller 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.

dhogan-2 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!