Don't Bother to Knock
starring: Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jeanne Cagney
directed by: Roy Ward Baker
directed by: Roy Ward Baker
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Product Description:
Marilyn monroe plays her first major performance as a beautiful but psychotic babysitter.Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 04/20/2004Starring: Marilyn Monroe Anne BancroftRun time: 76 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com essential video:
Marilyn Monroe's first bona fide starring role came in the taut, stripped-down film noir Don't Bother to Knock. She plays a recently institutionalized, none-too-stable babysitter, awkwardly tending a little girl in a Manhattan hotel. Richard Widmark, jilted by the songbird (Anne Bancroft) in the hotel lounge ("The female race is always cheesing up my life," he pouts), puts the make on the lonely blonde in room 809, to his regret. The picture benefits by not being a "Marilyn" movie, but just a good little thriller with, as it happens, a terrific performance by the future superstar. Monroe's childlike distraction eerily suits her rattled character, a misfit who can't distinguish her tragic past from the confusing present. Kudos to Daniel Taradash (From Here to Eternity), whose script contains a collection of tart slang that neatly captures the noir feel--all without leaving the boundaries of the hotel. --Robert Horton
Marilyn monroe plays her first major performance as a beautiful but psychotic babysitter.Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 04/20/2004Starring: Marilyn Monroe Anne BancroftRun time: 76 minutesRating: Nr
Amazon.com essential video:
Marilyn Monroe's first bona fide starring role came in the taut, stripped-down film noir Don't Bother to Knock. She plays a recently institutionalized, none-too-stable babysitter, awkwardly tending a little girl in a Manhattan hotel. Richard Widmark, jilted by the songbird (Anne Bancroft) in the hotel lounge ("The female race is always cheesing up my life," he pouts), puts the make on the lonely blonde in room 809, to his regret. The picture benefits by not being a "Marilyn" movie, but just a good little thriller with, as it happens, a terrific performance by the future superstar. Monroe's childlike distraction eerily suits her rattled character, a misfit who can't distinguish her tragic past from the confusing present. Kudos to Daniel Taradash (From Here to Eternity), whose script contains a collection of tart slang that neatly captures the noir feel--all without leaving the boundaries of the hotel. --Robert Horton
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Soundtrack of this heard of Niagara DVD preview extras amazing!!!!
When you watch the preview of Don't Bother To Knock on the Niagara DVD, you hear the most amazing Bernstein-like score in the background, first cut off quickly to go to the audio of a scene, but then extended the second time you hear it, and then finally at the end of the preview, this sensational music goes full blast.Just marvelous full bore Leonard Bernstein- ELmer Bernstein style material...the stuff a soundtrack nut hears and just goes nuts...as I have just done. Ordering the film right now, ... Read More
Rating: - This shows Marilyn's true mettle!
I never was a big watcher of the Marilyn Monroe films. It is sad that all she seems to be noted for are the comedy roles she did. This film is a dark classic...Chilled me to the bloody bone! I agree that this film is ahead of it's time, and if Marilyn had stuck with these types of roles, she wouldn't have ended up typecast. Had she lived past the age of 36, she would have given much more, I'm sure. This film was deep, dark and intriguing and even those who aren't into Marilyn should give this film a ... Read More
Rating: - monroe at her best
wow catch her acting!! with anne bancroft and great richard widmark....all 3 actors are gone now..as is the elevator operator cousin to monroe's character...eddie jr...cant remember his whole name..wow did he steal this movie..classic black and white and so well edited and filmed....yummy...is show monroe was very aware of her dark side from her childhood and mean mom who was in crazy bin, and monroe gives so much of her true feelings in this film!!check it out
Rating: 
- knock !
only about an hour long but a great vehicle for marilyn monroe as the crazed/delusional baby sitter.
Check it out.
Rating: - I had no idea Marilyn Monroe could act
If I were to classify Don't Bother to Knock, I would put it into the rarely used category of meta-noir. All of the elements of noir are in full force here: an urban landscape, an inquisitive male lead stuck between two women, a suspenseful plot, but then the noir aspects break down. (I will be intentionally vague in the next few sentences so as not to give the plot away.) The script offers what seems like a femme fatale role, a staple of all noir, but the script blunts and softens her, and the audience ... Read More
- Soundtrack of this heard of Niagara DVD preview extras amazing!!!!When you watch the preview of Don't Bother To Knock on the Niagara DVD, you hear the most amazing Bernstein-like score in the background, first cut off quickly to go to the audio of a scene, but then extended the second time you hear it, and then finally at the end of the preview, this sensational music goes full blast.Just marvelous full bore Leonard Bernstein- ELmer Bernstein style material...the stuff a soundtrack nut hears and just goes nuts...as I have just done. Ordering the film right now, ... Read More
- This shows Marilyn's true mettle!I never was a big watcher of the Marilyn Monroe films. It is sad that all she seems to be noted for are the comedy roles she did. This film is a dark classic...Chilled me to the bloody bone! I agree that this film is ahead of it's time, and if Marilyn had stuck with these types of roles, she wouldn't have ended up typecast. Had she lived past the age of 36, she would have given much more, I'm sure. This film was deep, dark and intriguing and even those who aren't into Marilyn should give this film a ... Read More
- monroe at her bestwow catch her acting!! with anne bancroft and great richard widmark....all 3 actors are gone now..as is the elevator operator cousin to monroe's character...eddie jr...cant remember his whole name..wow did he steal this movie..classic black and white and so well edited and filmed....yummy...is show monroe was very aware of her dark side from her childhood and mean mom who was in crazy bin, and monroe gives so much of her true feelings in this film!!check it out
- knock !only about an hour long but a great vehicle for marilyn monroe as the crazed/delusional baby sitter.
Check it out.
- I had no idea Marilyn Monroe could actIf I were to classify Don't Bother to Knock, I would put it into the rarely used category of meta-noir. All of the elements of noir are in full force here: an urban landscape, an inquisitive male lead stuck between two women, a suspenseful plot, but then the noir aspects break down. (I will be intentionally vague in the next few sentences so as not to give the plot away.) The script offers what seems like a femme fatale role, a staple of all noir, but the script blunts and softens her, and the audience ... Read More
