Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark star in this early Monroe star vehicle. This is one film you'd never see being made today, due to the new child-care sensibilities. Jim Backus and Lorene Tuttle leave their child with a complete stranger while they go out for an evening. The stranger is Monroe, complete with wrist scars, who is the niece of the elevator man in the hotel where the couple is staying. Mid-evening, she picks up with Widmark, who is more upset about his lounge singer girlfriend (Anne Bancroft) breaking up with him than he thought he would be - he and Monroe flirt from their respective rooms. Widmark goes to the room, expecting a night of fun. Instead he and the hapless child get a night of terror, with Monroe believing Widmark is her dead pilot boyfriend and nearly killing not only the little girl but her uncle as well. Turns out, Marilyn's been institutionalized and her uncle (Elisha Cooke, Jr.) thought she was "nearly well." (IMDB blanche-2)
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| Anne Bancroft - Willis Bouchey |
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| Elisha Cook Jr. - Marilyn Monroe |
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| Jim Backus - Donna Corcorane |
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| Jim Backus - Lurene Tuttle |
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| Richard Widmark |
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| Grace Hayle (Center) |
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| Gloria Blondell |
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| Jeanne Cagney (Center) |
