Don't Bother To Knock

Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

Runtime: 76 minutes

Directed by: Roy Ward Baker

Starring: Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Elisha Cook, Jr.

From: 20th Century Fox

Here's a movie I did not even hear about until recently, when I stumbled upon it on Netflix Instant. Of course it's leaving Instant in a few days so I watched it late Saturday night. It's an enjoyable film noir, as I explain below: 

It's been way too long since I've seen any film noir, and as this movie will expire from Netflix Instant at the end of the month, this was the perfect time for me to finally get on that wagon. I know that in the future I'll start watching the genre more often than I have been in the past half year.

The movie is set in a fancy New York City hotel in the span of about a few hours. Richard Widmark is a pilot who is hooked up with Anne Bancroft (making her film debut) but he played the type of character you'd expect Richard Widmark to play, meaning “gruff” and “arrogant”, so she wants to end things. He does not take it well. Meanwhile, Marilyn Monroe (her first starring role) is babysitting a young girl-thankfully that character and the actress are both fine-and he wishes for rebound sex with her, to paraphrase using modern vernacular. Most of us who are fans of the ladies would like to do the same thing, but she's not who she first appears to be...

It's not the most hard-boiled of noirs nor is it the darkest or the nastiest or possessing of the toughest dialogue-although there are some good lines. Rather, it's “just” a solid and entertaining noir which never wears out its welcome at only 76 minutes and the cast as a whole is fine (others include Elisha Cook, Jr. and Jim Backus), with the best performances I've ever seen from Marilyn. The film is pretty creepy and unsettling overall, with some unforgettable moments. Sure, there are some stereotypical characters but that didn't bother me too much and as it's all set at night and part of the film is in a bar where jazzy vocal songs are sung, so even though you don't ever see a gun, this definitely is a worthy entry in the genre that I wish would stay on Netflix longer so people would have more of a chance to see it.