Marilyn Monroe gets to prove that she can be more than a sexy blonde bimbo in this 1952 thriller. For the first time in her career Monroe demonstrates her serious side, giving a solid account of herself in an intriguing role as a very psychologically messed-up woman. Alas, Don't Bother To Knock fails to catch the eye as the intended riveting psychological thriller, for it is paced too leisurely and lacks the authentic tension needed to make it a genuinely exciting film. Having said that, it is still worth catching especially if you are a Monroe fan and wish to see her in one of her more uncharacteristic roles.
Hotel elevator attendant Eddie (Elisha Cook Jr) overhears a couple asking around for a babysitter for their young daughter. The couple, Ruth and Peter Jones (Lurene Tuttle and Jim Backus), live on the eighth floor of the hotel and are in need of a babysitter so that they can attend a journalism awards ceremony in the hotel's ground floor ballroom without worrying about the welfare of their daughter Bunny (Donna Corcoran). Eddie decides that the job is perfect for his niece Nell (Marilyn Monroe), a beautiful young woman who has been living with him since her release from a mental institution. Seems young Nell went a little nuts after her boyfriend was killed in a plane crash during WWII, but the doctors and Eddie are satisfied that her mental stability is now on the mend. Meanwhile, moody airline pilot Jed Towers (Richard Widmark) is also staying in the hotel having been dumped by his girlfriend Lyn (Anne Bancroft). Lyn is a singer who performs every night in the hotel. When Lyn declares that she is absolutely and definitely ending her relationship with Jed, he storms up to his room but soon catches sight of the attractive Nell, whom he decides to pursue in order to ease his frustration after breaking up with Lyn. Gradually, Jed notices that Nell is still psychologically damaged. In fact, she even mistakes him as her dead lover and refuses to let him leave her room. Eventually Jed manages to make his getaway, but later realises that young Bunny may be in terrible danger at the hands of her deranged babysitter
Don't Bother To Knock is based on a forgotten novel by Charlotte Armstrong. Daniel Taradash's adaptation of the source novel is not very impressive. Scenes drag on pointlessly and the character motivations are often somewhat unconvincing. Monroe is surprisingly effective as the unbalanced Nell, but Widmark seems less enthused about his rather two-dimensional role. Bancroft plays it nicely in her debut performance as Widmark's ex-flame, but Donna Corcoran isn't given enough to do as the child victim whose safety is at stake. The film is tepidly directed by Roy Ward Baker (later a key director of several Hammer horror films), who struggles to generate much interest from the talky, static material. A few memorable scenes emerge, including a moment where Monroe contemplates shoving the kid out of the eighth storey window and a decent scene in which Monroe savagely assaults her uncle with a sweeping brush, but the high points are separated by a good deal of tedium. On the whole, Don't Bother To Knock is an unremarkable thriller. As noted earlier, it is perhaps worth catching if you're interested in Monroe's career or the '50s-style noir thriller, but it is not a film that you should immediately cancel all your social arrangements in order to make time for.
Hotel elevator attendant Eddie (Elisha Cook Jr) overhears a couple asking around for a babysitter for their young daughter. The couple, Ruth and Peter Jones (Lurene Tuttle and Jim Backus), live on the eighth floor of the hotel and are in need of a babysitter so that they can attend a journalism awards ceremony in the hotel's ground floor ballroom without worrying about the welfare of their daughter Bunny (Donna Corcoran). Eddie decides that the job is perfect for his niece Nell (Marilyn Monroe), a beautiful young woman who has been living with him since her release from a mental institution. Seems young Nell went a little nuts after her boyfriend was killed in a plane crash during WWII, but the doctors and Eddie are satisfied that her mental stability is now on the mend. Meanwhile, moody airline pilot Jed Towers (Richard Widmark) is also staying in the hotel having been dumped by his girlfriend Lyn (Anne Bancroft). Lyn is a singer who performs every night in the hotel. When Lyn declares that she is absolutely and definitely ending her relationship with Jed, he storms up to his room but soon catches sight of the attractive Nell, whom he decides to pursue in order to ease his frustration after breaking up with Lyn. Gradually, Jed notices that Nell is still psychologically damaged. In fact, she even mistakes him as her dead lover and refuses to let him leave her room. Eventually Jed manages to make his getaway, but later realises that young Bunny may be in terrible danger at the hands of her deranged babysitter
Don't Bother To Knock is based on a forgotten novel by Charlotte Armstrong. Daniel Taradash's adaptation of the source novel is not very impressive. Scenes drag on pointlessly and the character motivations are often somewhat unconvincing. Monroe is surprisingly effective as the unbalanced Nell, but Widmark seems less enthused about his rather two-dimensional role. Bancroft plays it nicely in her debut performance as Widmark's ex-flame, but Donna Corcoran isn't given enough to do as the child victim whose safety is at stake. The film is tepidly directed by Roy Ward Baker (later a key director of several Hammer horror films), who struggles to generate much interest from the talky, static material. A few memorable scenes emerge, including a moment where Monroe contemplates shoving the kid out of the eighth storey window and a decent scene in which Monroe savagely assaults her uncle with a sweeping brush, but the high points are separated by a good deal of tedium. On the whole, Don't Bother To Knock is an unremarkable thriller. As noted earlier, it is perhaps worth catching if you're interested in Monroe's career or the '50s-style noir thriller, but it is not a film that you should immediately cancel all your social arrangements in order to make time for.