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Don't Bother to Knock

1952

Roy Ward Baker

Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran ...

6.5

1,108

Drama. Film noir. Mystery

	Media	Author	Review
		Variety Staff Variety	"Marilyn Monroe, co-starred with Richard Widmark, gives an excellent account of herself in a strictly dramatic role which commands certain attention, but the story of a psycho baby-sitter lacks interest."
		Entertainment Weekly	"'Don't Bother to Knock' was the first film to truly grant her a juicy dramatic leading role, one that allowed Monroe to tap into her own childhood traumas and abuse."
		TV Guide	"[It] is directed with a quick pace by Baker, the Taradash script is as tight as a sardine can, and all the principals do well with their roles, especially lovely Marilyn Monroe."
		Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"Marilyn Monroe as a psychotic babysitter. She wasn't yet a box-office star, but her unformed--almost blobby--quality is very creepy, and she dominated this melodrama. In other respects, it's standard"
		Michael Wilmington Chicago Tribune	"Playing a deranged, possibly homicidal babysitter going bonkers in a hotel, Monroe steals the show in this efficient, vaguely creepy little thriller"
		Variety Staff Variety	"Marilyn Monroe, co-starred with Richard Widmark, gives an excellent account of herself in a strictly dramatic role which commands certain attention, but the story of a psycho baby-sitter lacks interest."
		Time Out	"The plot is so simple that psychological interest is needed to sustain it, and this would require stronger performances than those Widmark and Monroe give."
		Vanity Fair	"The film offered [Monroe] the chance to deliciously unravel as a mentally disturbed babysitter, and she also gained real-world survival skills that she’d put to use nearly a decade later."

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