Product Description

Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft. A mentally imbalanced woman who works as a hotel babysitter threatens to kill herself along with a child in her care. 1952/b&w/76 min/NR/fullscreen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58897 in DVD
• Brand: MONROE,MARILYN
• Released on: 2002-05-14
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 76 minutes

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

From the Back Cover
A beautiful babysitter (Marilyn Monroe) begins an affair with one of the guests (Richard Widmark) in the hotel where she is a live-in babysitter. But when the child she cares for interrupts their lovemaking, Monroe becomes a dangerous madwoman. Also starring Anne Bancroft, the chilling, provocative Don't Bother to Knock brilliantly showcases Monroe in a rare portrayal of a truly dark character.