Don't Bother to Knock

“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.