Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Roy Ward Baker

Writers:

Daniel Taradash (screenplay)
Charlotte Armstrong (novel)

Release Date:

August 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

SHE'S DYNAMITE! It Opens the Door on the Screen's Most Exciting New Personality---MARILYN MONROE

Plot:

An airline pilot, dumped by his girlfriend, pursues a baby-sitter in his hotel...and gradually realizes she's dangerous.

Plot Keywords:

Hotel | Pilot | Singer | Girl | Elevator Operator

Cast

Richard Widmark	...	Jed Towers
Marilyn Monroe	...	Nell Forbes
Anne Bancroft	...	Lyn Lesley
Donna Corcoran	...	Bunny Jones
Jeanne Cagney	...	Rochelle
Lurene Tuttle	...	Ruth Jones
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Eddie Forbes
Jim Backus	...	Peter Jones
Verna Felton	...	Mrs. Ballew
Willis Bouchey	...	Joe the Bartender (as Willis B. Bouchey)
Don Beddoe	...	Mr. Ballew
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Emmett Vogan	...	Toastmaster (unconfirmed)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #15705) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This was Anne Bancroft's first film. It was also Marilyn Monroe's 18th film and an attempt to prove to critics that she could act.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lyn and Jed get photographed in the bar by the camera lady, she snaps only one picture of them. When she brings the novelty items to their booth minutes later, each item (handkerchief, matchbook, ashtray, and postcard) shows a slightly different pose.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mrs. Emma Ballew: After all, we guests who live here from year to year, we deserve a little consideration, too.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Biography: Marilyn Monroe: The Mortal Goddess" (1996)

Soundtrack:

CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO

The Babysitter and the Flyer

This is an odd film, if only for its credits. It was written by Daniel Taradash, a first-rate screenwriter who the next year would write the screenplay for From Here To Eternity. The director, Englishman Roy Ward Baker, had a varied and eclectic career, mostly in his native country, where he directed, among other films, A Night To Remember and Quatermass and the Pit. Screen sexpot Marilyn Monroe plays a psychotic babysitter who encounters a tough-minded and cynical airline pilot and causes him to change his outlook. Miss Monroe was not known for doing drama, which she plays here, in black and white no less, and is excellent. But that this was one of her first starring roles she seems a peculiar choice to play the troubled young woman. Richard Widmark, often a bad guy, is here only partly bad, and is proficient but rather dull and, for him, colorless. Dramatic actress Anne Bancroft plays a singer, and Widmark's girl, a role one might have expected Marilyn to play. And so it goes.

The movie is compelling, if never really entertaining, and seems at times as confused as Monroe's babysitter as to what sort of film it wants to be. It is a bit of a psychological drama, a bit of a thriller. filmed like a noir, studio-bound, which makes it also unrealistic, it is in many respects a mess, but a watchable one. The central set of the hotel in which nearly all the action takes place, is impressive, as are the various characters who either live, visit or work there, who at times seem like inhabitants of an enormous cave or reef, and as such denizens of the place rather than employees or guests. There is a nice sense of how dull night life can be in the heart of a supposedly exciting city (New York). There are no especially good or bad people in the film; just those who understand Monroe's plight, and empathize with her, and those that don't. Young Marilyn more than rises to the dramatic occasion, however, and gives a fine performance, far more worthy than the script, and more animated than her co-stars, and in the end steals the film and our hearts.