Knock, Knock…
Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), dir. Roy Ward Baker, w/ Marilyn Monroe (Nell Forbes), Richard Widmark (Jed Towers), Anne Bancroft (Lyn Lesley), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Eddie Forbes)
A rather uneven film overall. Marilyn Monroe plays a woman with a history of mental illness who is now working (or starting to work) as a hotel babysitter — apparently in the 1950s there were no background checks at all. She catches the eye of pilot, Jed Towers (Widmark), a pilot who has just been dumped by his girl, the lounge singer played by Anne Bancroft. As things start to go wrong in her babysitting assignment (she is attracted to pretty things such as the couple whose kid she’s watching have), she begins to break down. Dumb luck and some attention on the part of the pilot save the day by the end, and even save Nell from committing suicide. It is nice to see Monroe acting, rather than just being used as eye candy. I know, in those eye candy films she was acting too, and had a nice comedic flair, but this was before she became typecast in such roles. It was also at the beginning of her career as a star — this was the 2nd film where her name was before the title. Widmark plays a less creepy version of the guy he always plays. It is interesting to see Anne Bancroft in her first role. But the premise of the film depends too much on chance, and the sudden shift of Widmark’s character from unfeeling cad (that’s the reason for Bancroft dumping him) to a guy who feels sorry for crazy Marilyn (and then gets Bancroft back) — I just don’t buy it.
