Don't Bother to Knock

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn Monroe is the perfect babysitter, but she's crazy!
Review: .
This is Marilyn Monroe's first dramatic starring role in a motion picture.

The dramatic aspect of this film might seem a bit deep for the young actress at this stage of her career, but by film's end, it is apparent that Monroe can act the part.

Certain scenes in this film are indeed impressive, especially when one considers Marilyn's mostly small film roles up to this point in her career. The fact that Fox studios gave Monroe the part proves that they believed this girl had talent.

I think this film is a great example of young Marilyn's acting abilities. I think anyone would be impressed with her performance in this film.

MMmmmmmarvelous Marilyn!

Rating:
Summary: Knock Knock...Who's There??? Psycho Marilyn!!!
Review: A taut suspenseful little thriller that has no doubt been an inspiration to the countless "psycho baby-sitter" films, "Don't Bother to Knock" features Marilyn Monroe in a truly terrific performance, playing a truly sad and disturbed character in a truly rare film role. The film benefits from its claustrophobic setting and manages to stay engrossing from start to finish.

Monroe plays Nell, an unstable woman whose uncle, an elevator operator at a posh hotel, manages to get her a one night baby-sitting job, taking care of an eight year old girl. It is evident from the start that Nell is not "all there," but slowly, we get to see just how "not there" she really is, and why. Nell WILL NOT let anything stand in the way of her love for a pilot, played by Richard Widmark, no matter what it takes and who she kills.

Deliberately paced, but fascinating and terrifying, "Don't Bother to Knock" seems way ahead of its time and brilliantly explores the mind of a true psychotic. This is a wonderful character study in one of the few films Monroe didn't play some dumb blonde trying to marry some attractive millionaire. She fully displays her acting potential and manages to be creepy, sexy,and evil, yet makes you feel for her and long for everything to work out.

This is the film for the true Marilyn fan.

Rating:
Summary: It's the type of movie Marilyn really wanted to do
Review: A very young Marilyn acts as a psychotic baby-sitter. This is not a comedy in which she plays her typical dumb-blonde role later in her career. This slow-moving drama is a favorite among serious Marilyn fans because she rarely played dramatic roles (The Misfits is the only other 'serious' film I can think of offhand). To see this film is to see another side of Marilyn. Her acting is natural and flows well, maybe because she already had such a tragic life, even at this point. Again serious fans will love this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn's first big part
Review: A young woman recently released from a mental institution (Marilyn Monroe) slips back into madness in the New York hotel where her uncle (Elisha Cook, Jr.) has found a babysitting job for her. This is an interesting little thriller, but not memorable enough to have survived the test of time had it not featured Monroe's first starring role. Although she is quite good, her part is underdeveloped. We really learn nothing about how she came to be as she is, and her illness is the stereotypical pathology of slipping into the past and pining for a lost love. A few scenes in which a child is endangered provoke some real suspense, and I can't help but wonder how it played for 50s audiences. Good viewing, but it fails to transcend its B-movie status.

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn's first and most dramatic starring role
Review: Anyone who says Marilyn Monroe was not a talented dramatic actress has never seen Don't Bother to Knock, a darkly unique entry among Marilyn's filmography. This film marks Marilyn's first dramatic starring role, and it is Marilyn as you would never see her again. She plays Nell, a deeply troubled young lady whose shyness and aloofness at first prove to be only the tip of the iceberg in relation to her problems. She has recently moved to New York to start her life over again, and her helpful uncle, an elevator operator in a grand hotel, has arranged for her to baby-sit a wealthy couple's little girl for the night. This, as soon becomes apparent, was not a good idea. Her behavior becomes stranger and stranger as the night progresses, exacerbated by the attentions of a young man (Richard Widmark) who comes calling on the rebound after seeing her from the room across the way. His girl has just broken things off with him downstairs, but the simple diversion he seeks in the form of some drinks and kicks with a beautiful stranger becomes something else entirely. As the roots and degree of Nell's problems are slowly revealed, the film takes on a very dark tone charged with suspense.

Marilyn delivers a truly incredible performance in this early performance from 1952. Her aura of innocence and vulnerability plays perfectly in her role as Nell, and the range of emotions she conveys as the film progresses is amazingly convincing, making her character one who must be feared as much as sympathized with. I can't find a single weak spot in her performance, and I imagine the melancholy side of her true nature, the Norma Jean in her, served as a source of inspiration and strength for her in this demanding role.

This movie is quite overlooked today, with most people associating Niagara or even Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn's first starring role, but those who see this movie will most likely never be able to forget it. Sadly, some of the plot summaries I have read elsewhere (including the back covers of the Marilyn Monroe Collection videos) over dramatize things, saying Nell and Jed (Widmark) end up in bed together at one point or labeling Nell as a murderess. Such sensational claims are not true, and there is nothing remotely sexy about this movie. It is a serious and powerful dramatization of a deeply troubled young lady fighting some very real personal demons in a place and time she is quite ill suited for. Marilyn's performance won critical praise and helped make 1952 the year that launched her into superstardom.

Rating:
Summary: Marilyn's first and most dramatic starring role
Review: Anyone who says Marilyn Monroe was not a talented dramatic actress has never seen Don't Bother to Knock, a darkly unique entry among Marilyn's filmography. This film marks Marilyn's first dramatic starring role, and it is Marilyn as you would never see her again. She plays Nell, a deeply troubled young lady whose shyness and aloofness at first prove to be only the tip of the iceberg in relation to her problems. She has recently moved to New York to start her life over again, and her helpful uncle, an elevator operator in a grand hotel, has arranged for her to baby-sit a wealthy couple's little girl for the night. This, as soon becomes apparent, was not a good idea. Her behavior becomes stranger and stranger as the night progresses, exacerbated by the attentions of a young man (Richard Widmark) who comes calling on the rebound after seeing her from the room across the way. His girl has just broken things off with him downstairs, but the simple diversion he seeks in the form of some drinks and kicks with a beautiful stranger becomes something else entirely. As the roots and degree of Nell's problems are slowly revealed, the film takes on a very dark tone charged with suspense.

Marilyn delivers a truly incredible performance in this early performance from 1952. Her aura of innocence and vulnerability plays perfectly in her role as Nell, and the range of emotions she conveys as the film progresses is amazingly convincing, making her character one who must be feared as much as sympathized with. I can't find a single weak spot in her performance, and I imagine the melancholy side of her true nature, the Norma Jean in her, served as a source of inspiration and strength for her in this demanding role.

This movie is quite overlooked today, with most people associating Niagara or even Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with Marilyn's first starring role, but those who see this movie will most likely never be able to forget it. Sadly, some of the plot summaries I have read elsewhere (including the back covers of the Marilyn Monroe Collection videos) over dramatize things, saying Nell and Jed (Widmark) end up in bed together at one point or labeling Nell as a murderess. Such sensational claims are not true, and there is nothing remotely sexy about this movie. It is a serious and powerful dramatization of a deeply troubled young lady fighting some very real personal demons in a place and time she is quite ill suited for. Marilyn's performance won critical praise and helped make 1952 the year that launched her into superstardom.

Rating:
Summary: marilyn as you have never seen her...
Review: As an avid MM fan, I remember reading that Marilyn didn't require any retakes when filming Don't Bother To Knock. She is simply amazing in this film as the disturbed young woman who just wants love and doesn't want anything to get in her way.. even an 8 year old girl. Not the best of her films, but worth a look as she is performs so greatly and without any error with her lines.

Rating:
Summary: "...tight, and well-paced."
Review: Criticized for "hamming it up" upon initial release, Marylin Monroe nevertheless turns in one of her best early performances as a psychotic baby-sitter. While certainly hackneyed, everything works, thanks to some very good perfromances and Roy Ward Baker's direction. And while not building the tension the film would need to be a classic, Baker essentially keeps everything tight, and well-paced.

Rating:
Summary: Who Says Marilyn Can't Act?
Review: Don't Bother To Knock is a dark psycho-drama that serves as a vehicle for Marilyn Monroe's mesmerizing performance. As Nell, a mentally unstable woman whose lover was killed in WWII, Monroe delivers a creepy performance. Hired for the night to babysit a little girl (Donna Corcoran) Nell drifts in and out of reality. Director Roy Baker draws out desperate emotionalism from Monroe, who is eerily convincing with her lines, and facial expressions. Richard Widmark plays Jed, a cold hearted pilot who cannot understand why his lounge singer girlfriend ( Anne Bancroft) has jilted him. Elisha Cook Jr. once again delivers a fine supporting role as the hotel elevator operator caught up in his nieces's (Nell's) strange behavior. The film is almost entirely shot within the confines of a hotel room and Baker's camera work and tight cutting adds to the suspense. Don't Bother To Knock definitely opened the door to Monroe's career.

Rating:
Summary: Norma Jean fans, read BLONDE
Review: I don't often see books recommended as a companion to a movie, but in this case, I strongly believe Blonde, by Joyce Carol Oates, is essential to understanding Norma Jean Baker's transformation to "Marilyn Monroe." Sure, it is a semi-fictional rendering of Baker/Monroe, but it is as spine-tingling a portrait of a cultural icon as one will ever read. (Like the scene in producer Z's office which leads directly to her landing her first major film, "The Asphalt Jungle." I hope that what happened to her is NOT true.) And Oates' analysis of Monroe's acting is dead on. Wish she would do commentary on DVD! (Don Delillo's novel Libra captures Lee Harvey Oswald in a similar vein.)