Don't Bother to Knock
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Movie Reviews of Don't Bother to Knock
Movie Review: Monroe's Best
Summary: 5 Stars
They say that Monroe, early on in her career, had to struggle hard with being accepted as a serious actress instead of just the dumb blonde with a knock out rack. But the producers in Hollywood never gave her a real chance to be a success doing serious roles and only until Mistfits, some nine years after this movie, did she once again get to illustrate the depth of her acting abilities.
In this movie, she is doing one of her finest acting at an already very early stage of her career - before her commercially successful and better known pictures such as How to Marry A Millionaire, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Seven Year Itch and of course Some Like it Hot catapulted her into stardom and then legend.
One can only imagine what she could have turned into acting-wise had she been allowed to continue on that route and fully develop and expand her abilities as an actress. Unfortunately, Hollywood was merciless in that regard and Marilyn's success dependent very strongly on the success she could bring at the box office. Marilyn, therefore, realized early on that she had to be able to sell and that people, as well as the studios themselves preferred her as the voluptuous blonde ditsy kitten than as the serious dramatic actress she could be; they had Liz Taylor, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepurn for that.
This movie is from the small window in Monroe's career where she was still undamaged by Hollywood's demands on her, ultimately becoming a caricature of herself, and instead allowed to take on the role of a person with more psychological depth than any of the characters she would ever play later on in her career (except for Misfits). Richard Widwmark and Anne Bancroft do a great job as well, but they are easily overshadowed by Monroe's breathtaking radiance and screen presence.
As I said, I am still surprised that after this role she was still not taken seriously as an actor and was in fact often mocked by such serious and talented actors as Bette Davis. Maybe her beauty and extraordinary femininity were overwhelming for everyone around her, including her female counterparts, evoking jealousy and just too powerful to ignore and she could not have ever been anything else in Hollywood but what she was exhuming outwardly.
The title of this movie is horribly misleading and cheap, by the way. It makes it sound like a silly rom-com even though it really borders at being a film noir.
Movie Review: Marilyn at her rare best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is perhaps Marilyn's best on screen performance (it also happens to be my personal favorite). Staring as Nell Forbes, a lovesick, and slightly unstable young woman who lands a babysitting job at a live in hotel, this is her first staring vehicle. Richard Widmark also stars as the object of her imagination, who's been recently dumped by his girlfriend Lyn Leslie (a lounge singer played by an incredibly young looking Anne Bancroft). Things began to get interesting as the rejected Widmark happens to notice Marilyn dancing in the hotel room across the way, directly in front of his. After a brief phone flirtation, the two decide to meet. Initially keeping the fact that she was there babysitting to herself she begins making headway, but when her advances are inconveniently interrupted by the girl she's babysitting, she begins to think the whole world has it there mind to keep them apart. She begins to believe that Widmark's character is the man she lost in 1946 over the pacific (he also happened to be a pilot, which he mentioned to her). Seeming to be to be shaken by all of Marilyn's variations, he realizes he still has feelings for his girlfriend, and it becomes a race to catch her before she is relieved at ten o'clock by another performer. Marilyn however had other ideas, and begins doing everything she can to keep him with her. She grows increasingly frustrated when she is constantly interrupted by the young girl, and her cousin Eddie (Elisha Cook Jr....is it me or does he look like a shorter, stockier version of George W. Bush) Ultimately she loses control of herself, completely breaking with reality. Many people believe that Marilyn used her past experiences to draw on, when bringing this character to the screen. Usually playing bubbly blondes in much lighter pictures, this is a rare look at the other more visceral and emotional side of Marilyn. When watching this film you'll realize that Marilyn was much more dynamic than most people realized then, or even now.
Movie Review: Knock Knock...Who's There??? Psycho Marilyn!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: Soundtrack of this heard of Niagara DVD preview extras amazing!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
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, but have the sneaking suspicion that what I heard is only on the preview....lets hope for the best. Worth it.Movie Review: Anne Bancroft: America's Most Versatile Actress
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie is great. The acting is great. The singing is great. The noted great Hollywood actresses of our time do not come close to Anne Bancroft. This was her first movie, and her songs knock me out! She excelled in comedy, drama-- you name it. Even the biographies overlook some of her fantastic roles. She was fantastically funny in her TV skits. She pops up in cameo appearances and I fall in love with her over and over again. I have never seen her in medicority-- she was one outstanding talent.-- Sam Yulish, author of Where Have All the Hippies Gone.