20th Century Fox
Not part of a collection.
Don't Bother to Knock
… a wicked sensation as the lonely girl in room 809!
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
- Original title
- Don't Bother to Knock
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Mar 6, 2026 · via TMDB
“Lyn” (Anne Bancroft) is an hotel crooner who is in love with, but recently dumped, airline pilot “Jed” (Richard Widmark) who has consequently repaired to his hotel room with a bottle whilst she (well, Eve Marley actually) serenades him via the PA system. Meantime, across the courtyard a couple are attending a swanky dinner and so have employed “Nell” (Marilyn Monroe) as their baby-sitter. It’s fairly safe to say that she is completely disinterested in her charge, and so after a cursory story puts the girl to bed and starts to explore their suite. Donning an expensive robe and some jewellery, she is spotted through the window by the lovelorn “Jed” who calls up her room. She initially shuns his advances, but then a series of events occur that encourage her to invite him round. “Nell” is fairly selective and creative about the information she imparts to her new friend, but when the girl wakes up and then her uncle “Eddie” (Elisha Cook Jr) who drives the elevators arrives in the room, “Jed” begins to wonder what he has let himself in for. What is clear to us watching is that “Nell” is quite a disturbed girl who is obviously suffering or recovering from a trauma. As her boss’s (Lorene Tuttle) arrival compounds the agony for her, it is only then that we learn a little about not just her but of the true nature of the relationship between “Jed” and “Lyn”. It might be because this is in monochrome but this is maybe the most intense effort I’ve ever seen from Monroe. Her character is clearly walking on some kind of psychological tight-rope and she delivers that with a convincing degree of unnerving authenticity as this delicately paced drama advances. Widmark also delivers in a more considered fashion that we often see from him, and with writing that does what it needs to but that also leaves us free to watch events unfold, I found this to be quite a potent short feature.
Cat Ellington
Feb 25, 2017 · via TMDB
Nell Forbes was by far the darkest and most volatile character Marilyn Monroe had ever portrayed in her entire career. Written by Daniel Taradash and directed by Roy Ward Baker, Don't Bother To Knock - a chilling and uncommonly masterful film noir thriller - gives its viewers an up-close glimpse into the crevices of a deeply disturbed human soul. Need a babysitter ... anyone? Yet another five star oeuvre, Don't Bother To Knock is an effort of prodigious degree in classic cinema.
talisencrw
Sep 22, 2016 · via TMDB
Just a couple of years back, I picked up this mammoth 17-film DVD collection of Marilyn Monroe's films for a really good price, only to find that the ridiculous way the discs were placed in the digipack basically ruined them, and after watching the movies the best that I could, I reluctantly had to part with it, hoping the set would soon be released at a decent price on the more resilient blu (as you can tell, I'm old-school and low-fi, but I'm hoping to quickly remedy this problem!). As you can tell by any of my prior reviews of Richard Widmark's films, I'm a huge fan of his, and he's easily one of my favourite and most entertaining and watchable actors of the period. As well, Roy Ward Baker is one of the most underrated directors of the period--his entry in The Criterion Collection, 'A Night to Remember', is easily the best telling of the 'Titanic' tragedy. Thus simply on the basis of those three alone, I heartily recommend the film to any adventurous cinephiles of this era.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
YouTube TV
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Richard Widmark
Jed Towers
Marilyn Monroe
Nell Forbes
Anne Bancroft
Lyn Lesley
Donna Corcoran
Bunny Jones
Jeanne Cagney
Rochelle
Lurene Tuttle
Ruth Jones
Elisha Cook Jr.
Eddie Forbes
Jim Backus
Peter Jones
Verna Felton
Mrs. Ballew
Willis Bouchey
Joe the Bartender
Don Beddoe
Mr. Ballew
Harry Bartell
Bellboy (uncredited)
Gloria Blondell
Janie - Cafe Photographer (uncredited)
Dick Cogan
Bell Captain (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
Woman at Awards Dinner (uncredited)
Robert Foulk
Doorman (uncredited)
Grace Hayle
Mrs. McMurdock (uncredited)
David McMahon
Uniformed Cop at End (uncredited)
Eda Reiss Merin
Maid (uncredited)
Harold Miller
Banquet Guest (uncredited)
Vic Perrin
Elevator Operator (uncredited)
Michael Ross
Pat - Hotel Detective (uncredited)
Olan Soule
Bespectacled Desk Clerk (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan
Toastmaster (uncredited)
Carl M. Leviness
—
Monty O'Grady
—
Lucien Ballard
Director of Photography
Travilla
Costume Design
Roy Ward Baker
Director
Jerry Goldsmith
Music Consultant
Earle Hagen
Orchestrator
Daniel Taradash
Screenplay
Milgram and the Fastwalkers
Pavlínka
The Tower of Lies
Examinación cruzada
Smrť šitá na mieru
Watchmen of Dawn
Gönül Meyhanesi
The Handmaiden
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Behind the Headlines
A Christmas Carol
Sense and Sensibility
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society
Killers of the Flower Moon
Gone Baby Gone
An American Crime
Deadly Shots on Broadway
Blood and Black Lace
American Satan
Don Giovanni
Felon
Sweet Rain: Accuracy of Death
Romance Doll
The Winter War
Poslední ples na rožnovské plovárně
Hicran Gecesi
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Making Love
The Count of Monte-Cristo
Madea's Class Reunion - The Play
Crossfire
Goodbye, Gyulsary!
Radioactive
Sex and the City
My Name Is Stelios
Soledad's Shawl
Losing Isaiah
Dear Zoe
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A
The Sum of All Fears
Cassandra's Dream
Mr. Kaplan
Hammett
Oliver Twist
The Laughing Policeman
I Saw What You Did
The Accused
6,000 Enemies
Lady in White
The Life Before Her Eyes
Be Sure to Behave
The Crooked Web
Best Seller
Age of Consent
Crime Without Passion
Pulp
Nightmare at Shadow Woods
Heart of Darkness
Read It and Weep
Final Analysis
The Lost Samaritan
Deadly Eyes
Eugenie de Sade
Picture Claire
Hollywood Boulevard
The Rhythm Section
El lugar donde estuvo el paraíso
The Story of O
Blanca Madison
Shenmue: The Movie
Jindabyne
Sugar Cookies
Maestro
Bobby Jasoos
Speed Kills
Tell Me No Secrets
Resurrection
The Walker
Don't Look Back
Killer
The Passion of Ayn Rand
Blue Rodeo
Dawn Patrol
Pyro... The Thing Without a Face
The Hand of Now
Moon of the Wolf
The Concorde... Airport '79
Avatharam
Her Private Affair
Tiny Little Lies
Heartless
Dard Divorce
International Prostitution : Brigade criminelle
For Love Or Murder
Sathura Adi 3500
Život a dílo skladatele Foltýna
Girivalam
The Girls I’ve Been
Maigret at Bay
Paradise: Disturbed
Witness for the Prosecution
Strangers on a Train
Richard Jewell
Remember
Bridge of Spies
The Rainmaker
Insomnia
Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors
Evil Under the Sun
Harper
Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place to Die
The Pelican Brief
Death on the Nile
TalhotBlond
Mr. K
Agatha and the Midnight Murders
Woman of Straw
Black Widow
Islands
Appointment with Death
Murder at the Embassy
The High and the Mighty
The Eternal Daughter
Wedding Planner Mystery
Closed Circuit
Murder in Three Acts
On a Wing and a Prayer
Winged Creatures
The Quiller Memorandum
The Million Dollar Hotel
The Critic
The Two Faces of January
Jul 18, 1952
