Marilyn Monroe: Don't Bother to Knock 
A year before Marilyn Monroe’s elevation to superstardom was sealed with the release of Niagara, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire, this claustrophobic, psychological noir was Monroe’s 13th credited film but her first headline role.
Rebounding from a breakup with his girlfriend (Anne Bancroft), an airline pilot (Richard Widmark) is willingly seduced by a live-in babysitter (Monroe) at his hotel, soon to discover she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
Underappreciated on release, Monroe’s performance as a disturbed babysitter exhibits an anxiety and emotional fragility that defines the darker side of her own meteoric rise. Now considered a key role, it suggests what she may have gone on to achieve had her life not been tragically cut short a decade later.
Screening as part of Marilyn Monroe 100 at QFT, a season celebrating 100 years of a screen icon.
