Don’t Bother to Knock

Directed by Roy Ward Baker, Don’t Bother to Knock follows Richard Widmark’s Jed Towers as he breaks off a relationship with girlfriend Lyn Lesley (Anne Bancroft) and begins flirting with a young babysitter (Marilyn Monroe’s Nell Forbes) – with complications ensuing after it becomes increasingly clear that Nell has some serious psychological problems. It’s an agreeably salacious premise that is, for the most part, employed to entertaining and even engrossing effect by Baker, as the filmmaker, armed with Daniel Taradash’s screenplay, delivers an admittedly deliberate endeavor that grows more and more compelling as it unfolds – with the slow-moving bent of the picture’s opening stretch allayed by the stirring performances and underlying mystery (ie it’s impossible to guess where it’s all going, or how to two seemingly disparate storylines are going to converge). There’s little doubt, then, that Don’t Bother to Knock‘s shift from watchable to captivating is triggered by an increased emphasis on thriller-like elements, as the movie eventually transforms into what feels like a prototype for the “blank from hell” genre of the 1990s – which, when coupled with a satisfying finale, confirms the film’s place as a better-than-expected B picture.

*** out of ****