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Editorial Review:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
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
Rating: - A one trick pony in room 809?
Before there was Swimfan (2002, which is only being listed because it fits the genre, not because it is great), The Crush (1993), Fatal Attraction (1987) or even Play Misty for Me (1971), there was "Don't Bother to Knock" (1952). The conduit between all of the former movies is one key element; the antagonist is a woman suffering from borderline personality disorder/BPD. In simple terms, women who are a bit cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs and there is no milk in sight.
This movie is somewhat of a departure ... Read More
Rating: - First-Class Fifties Film
Filled with familiar Hollywood character actors of the Fifties, this is a low-keyed thriller with a bit of an edge. A good film to watch on Saturday evening.
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