Without Warning!

Last updated
Without Warning!
Without Warning.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Arnold Laven
Screenplay byWilliam Raynor
Story byWilliam Raynor
Produced by Arthur Gardner
Jules V. Levy
Starring Adam Williams
Meg Randall
Ed Binns
Narrated by Gene Wood
Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc
Edited byArthur H. Nadel
Music by Herschel Burke Gilbert
Production
company
Allart Productions
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • May 8, 1952 (1952-05-08)(United States)
Running time
77 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budgetless than $100,000 [1]

Without Warning! is a 1952 American film noir crime film directed by Arnold Laven and starring Adam Williams, Meg Randall, and Ed Binns. The film is shot in a semidocumentary-style with police procedural voice-over narration in parts. Without Warning! was released commercially for the first time on DVD in 2005. Previously, the film was considered lost and unavailable for viewings.

Contents

Plot

A quiet gardener living in Los Angeles, California picks up blond women and is murdering them with garden shears. The police attempt to track him down but the man continues to kill. The killer lives in a shack on a hill overlooking Los Angeles (Chavez Ravine).

Cast

Production

It was the first team from Laven, Gardner and Levy who met in the army. Sol Lesser liked the film and picked it up for distribution. [1]

Release

Home media

Without Warning! was released for the first time on DVD by MPI Home Video on August 30, 2005. [4]

Reception

TV Guide rated the film two out of five stars, calling it "A capable first feature by the production team, with talented unknowns as actors". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Janssen</span> American actor (1931–1980)

David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive (1963–1967). Janssen also had the title roles in three other series: Richard Diamond, Private Detective; O'Hara, U.S. Treasury; and Harry O.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Peck</span> American actor (1916–2003)

Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

<i>The Rifleman</i> American Western television program

The Rifleman is an American Western television series starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain and Johnny Crawford as his son Mark McCain. It was set in the 1880s in the fictional town of North Fork, New Mexico Territory. The show was filmed in black and white, in half-hour episodes. The Rifleman aired on ABC from September 30, 1958, to April 8, 1963, as a production of Four Star Television. It was one of the first primetime series on US television to show a single parent raising a child.

<i>Sam Whiskey</i> 1969 film

Sam Whiskey is a 1969 American Western comedy film directed in DeLuxe Color by Arnold Laven and starring Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, Clint Walker and Ossie Davis. "Way ahead of its time," said Reynolds of the film. "I was playing light comedy and nobody cared."

<i>Blood Thirst</i> 1971 film by Newt Arnold

Blood Thirst is a 1971 American black-and-white horror film produced and directed by Newt Arnold, and starring Robert Winston, Katherine Henryk and Yvonne Nielson. Shot on location in the Philippines in 1965, the film tells the story of an American detective investigating a series of murders linked to a Manila nightclub. The killings are carried out by a monster so that a beautiful blonde woman, who is actually hundreds of years old, can use the victim's blood to stay forever young.

<i>The Monster That Challenged the World</i> 1957 film by Arnold Laven

The Monster That Challenged the World is a 1957 black-and-white science-fiction monster film from Gramercy Pictures, produced by Arthur Gardner, Jules V. Levy, and Arnold Laven, and starring Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton. The film was distributed by United Artists as the top half of a double feature with The Vampire. The film concerns an army of giant molluscs that emerge from California's Salton Sea.

<i>Earth vs. the Spider</i> (2001 film) 2001 television film by Scott Ziehl

Earth vs. the Spider is a 2001 science fiction horror television film directed by Scott Ziehl. It is the first of a series of films made for Cinemax paying tribute to the films of American International Pictures. The films in this tribute series reused the titles of old American International Pictures films, in this case the 1958 Bert I. Gordon film Earth vs. the Spider, but are not remakes of the earlier films. The film centers on a shy, obsessive comic book fan who gets injected with an experimental serum derived from spiders, which gives him minor superpowers. More horrific changes occur, slowly transforming him into a grotesque human spider hybrid. A detective begins to investigate when bodies start to pile up covered in cobwebs. The film was nominated for the Saturn Award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnold Laven</span> American film director

Arnold Laven was an American film and television director and producer. He was one of the founders and principals of the American film and television production company Levy-Gardner-Laven. Laven was a producer of, among other things, the western television series The Rifleman and The Big Valley. He also directed motion pictures, including Without Warning!, The Rack, The Monster That Challenged the World, Geronimo, Rough Night in Jericho, and Sam Whiskey. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven directed dozens of episodes of television series, including episodes of Mannix, The A-Team, Hill Street Blues, The Six Million Dollar Man, Fantasy Island, The Rockford Files and CHiPs.

Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions was an American film production company based in Beverly Hills, California. The principals, Jules V. Levy, Arthur Gardner, and Arnold Laven, met while serving in the Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit during World War II. While serving, they decided to form their own production company after the war ended. The three men formed Levy-Gardner-Laven in 1951.

<i>The Detectives</i> (1959 TV series) 1959 American TV series or program

The Detectives is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season. The series, starring motion picture star Robert Taylor, was produced by Four Star Television in association with Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions.

<i>The Glory Guys</i> 1965 film by Arnold Laven

The Glory Guys is a 1965 American Western Panavision film directed by Arnold Laven and written by Sam Peckinpah based on the 1956 novel The Dice of God by Hoffman Birney. Produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, the film stars Tom Tryon, Harve Presnell, Senta Berger, James Caan and Michael Anderson Jr.

Jules Victor Levy was an American television and film producer. Levy's television series include The Rifleman, The Detectives, and The Big Valley.

<i>The Peterville Diamond</i> 1943 British film

The Peterville Diamond is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Anne Crawford, Donald Stewart and Renée Houston. It is also known by the alternative title Jewel Robbery. - from the 1931 play of the same title; previously filmed in Hollywood in 1932.

<i>Geronimo</i> (1962 film) 1962 film by Arnold Laven

Geronimo is a 1962 American Western film made by Levy-Gardner-Laven and released by United Artists, starring Chuck Connors in the title role. The film was directed by Arnold Laven from a screenplay by Pat Fielder, filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico.

<i>Vice Squad</i> (1953 film) 1953 film by Arnold Laven

Vice Squad is a 1953 American film noir crime film directed by Arnold Laven and starring Edward G. Robinson and Paulette Goddard. The film is also known as The Girl in Room 17.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harlan Warde</span> American actor (1917–1980)

Harlan Warde was a character actor active in television and movies.

<i>Rough Shoot</i> 1953 film by Robert Parrish

Rough Shoot, released in the USA as Shoot First, is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and written by Eric Ambler, based on the 1951 novel by Geoffrey Household. The film stars Joel McCrea, in his only postwar non-Western role, with Evelyn Keyes as the leading lady, and featuring Herbert Lom, Marius Goring and Roland Culver. The scenario is set in Cold War England when tensions ran high regarding spying.

<i>Pyro... The Thing Without a Face</i> 1964 film by Julio Coll

Pyro... The Thing Without a Face is a 1964 American horror film directed Julio Coll.

<i>Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls</i> 1973 American film

Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls is a 1973 American horror film directed by Eddie Saeta and starring John Considine, Barry Coe, Cheryl Miller, Stewart Moss, Leon Askin, and Jo Morrow. The film was released by Cinerama Releasing Corporation in October 1973.

References

  1. 1 2 Looking at Hollywood: Story of Boer Trek Will Be Filmed in Africa Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 6 May 1952: b4.
  2. 1 2 Without Warning! (DVD). Levy-Gardner-Levan Productions, Inc.: Dark Sky Films. 2005.
  3. "TCM: Without Warning!". TCM.com. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  4. "Without Warning (1952) - Arnold Laven". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  5. "Without Warning - Movie Reviews and Movie Ratings". TV Guide.com. TV Guide Staff. Retrieved 12 August 2019.