By Ray Walton

Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) ⭐️⭐️⭐.5

After being dumped by his girlfriend, an airline pilot pursues a babysitter in his hotel and gradually realizes that she is dangerous.

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran

Watch on: Prime Video and Apple TV

Before Marilyn was Marilyn, she took on one of her most complex early roles in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), a tense psychological drama that quietly broke the mold of its era. Released during a time when Hollywood often favored clear-cut heroes and villains, this film dared to blur the lines, offering an unflinching look at mental illness, loneliness, and emotional detachment.

This is not the type of movie you would expect from 1952. While it could have been executed a bit better, there’s surprisingly a lot of substance to it. This is also proof that Marilyn Monroe was more than just a blonde bombshell. Nell is a complicated mix of dangerous and sympathetic. You fear what she might do to people, but you can’t help but feel sorry for her. In all honesty, I watched this for Richard Widmark more than Marilyn Monroe, but both did work very well off of each other. Widmark’s Jed is forced to grow as a character during the movie’s brief runtime. The story of a man being forced to realize he needs to have more empathy towards people is also something you don’t see in a movie from the 50s very often. While later films have definitely handled the subject matter of this type of film better, it is very impressive to see something of its type. They had to start somewhere. It’s a solid little indie picture before Marilyn really became Marilyn.

Ray Walton

Neurodivergent movie lover. Here to share reviews for horror and non horror movies that fall into the “Dark Cinema” category.