Nell Forbes (Marilyn Monroe) is a young woman looking for any way to make a few dollars. Her uncle (Elisha Cook Jr.) manages to get her a temporary job, as a babysitter to a wealthy tourist couple currently staying at the hotel in which he works as an elevator operator. The mild-mannered Nell seems like the perfect person to take care of the charming Bunny (Donna Corcoran), a young girl who doesn’t demand much, but is still in need of a firm authority figure to keep her from getting too out of control, which is something that Nell feels ill-equipped to do, but still manages to do relatively well. Meanwhile, Jed Towers (Richard Widmark), a pilot on momentary leave, is downstairs, visiting Lyn Lesley (Anne Bancroft), his ex-girlfriend, who he is trying to win back, but to very little avail, as she makes it clear that she has no interest in rekindling a relationship that put her in a very sinister place, as a result of Jed’s duplicity and mysterious nature. The two stories eventually overlap when Nell and Jed come into contact with one another, and they find themselves immediately captivated by the other, feeling a sensation very close to that of falling madly in love. However, they’re both strangers, which they use to their advantage, constructing backstories of themselves that position them as very different people than they actually are. This harmless game of false identity becomes a problem when their activities take a dark turn, and they start to act erratically out of the reaction of self-defence, as the alternative is to surrender to the truth, which is even more terrifying to these people than the consequences for their twisted actions.

Don’t Bother to Knock occupies an unconventional place in the culture – on the surface, it is a relatively straightforward film noir, a conventional entry into a genre that was at its peak during this time. However, the more we look into it, the clearer it becomes that Roy Ward Baker made something quite disturbing, a film that appears to be an elegant and well-constructed drama on the surface, but eventually descends into a work of absolute terror, a twisted and perverted psychological thriller that is intent on deconstructing the genre in a way that seems genuine, without becoming too focused on rebellion, rather functioning as a very strange but compelling glimpse into a more sinister side of society. Baker, and screenwriter Daniel Taradash (adapting the novel Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong), were focused on looking at the darker side of humanity, and filtering it through the lens of a typical crime thriller – and for the most part, Don’t Bother to Knock relies on many of the same tropes and tricks that can be found in most film noirs, but methodically works around them when they are no longer useful, creating an oddly refreshing thriller with a lot more intelligence than many would give it credit for having, especially in how it handles some themes that were not entirely unseen in cinema at the time, but still rather revolutionary for a film that was released seventy years ago, making this an incredibly resonant, and perhaps entirely disconcerting, psychological drama with major hints of unhinged terror lurking behind every corner.

According to sources, the process behind Marilyn Monroe being cast in Don’t Bother to Knock came from a mutual decision between Monroe (and her representatives) and the studio to cast the actress in something more serious – previously she had been known more for her work in cheap comedies or in supporting roles in a number of pulpy, male-led film noirs, which may have showcased her undeniable beauty and ability to play a decent object of desire, but didn’t do much to showcase her serious acting talents, which she was constantly trying to portray. There are many lessons to be learned from Monroe’s short but iconic career, not least her perpetual attempts at becoming a dramatic actress, efforts which were constantly quashed by an industry more focused on exploiting her beauty. Don’t Bother to Knock is an oddly progressive film in this regard, because while it may lack nuance, the role actually requires Monroe to do much more than just play the gorgeous blonde at the centre of a male-led story. It helps that this film was based on a novel by a female writer (which naturally lent the main character a degree of authenticity in how she acts), and aids Monroe in guiding her performance, which may not be anything necessarily complex by contemporary standards, but at least warrants some degree of praise, since it was a departure from her archetypal roles, a few years before she reached the peak of her fame overall. Monroe doesn’t receive much praise as an actress (with most of the discourse surrounding her positioning her as an iconic figure of the Golden Age of Hollywood, not much more than another entry into the steadily-growing gallery of icons that continue to be flaunted), but this film certainly sees her developing some of her dramatic skills and turning in a very captivating performance.

We don’t see many film noirs with a feminine touch, especially not for this particular era. As mentioned above, Don’t Bother to Knock was based on a book by a female novelist, and as a result created an inherently feminine viewpoint. The women reign supreme in this film – not only is Monroe the central character, and the one we are most invested in (something of a coup, considering they were pushing for Widmark to be the central character), but the secondary roles are so much more complex – the conflicted lounge singer, played to perfection by a very young Anne Bancroft, or the bevvy of other women woven into the narrative, give Don’t Bother to Knock a very distinctly feminine edge. This comes into contact with the film noir tropes, which only makes this film even more compelling, since Baker is drawing from both thematic strands, and weaving them together in a way that feels brisk and earnest, rather than overwrought or built on the same cliched set of ideas that governed the genre, and ultimately led to its initial downfall when it became too repetitive, and audiences grew weary of the same set of ideas underpinning each supposedly new and exciting motion picture entry. Seeing the hypocrisy of society filtered through the eyes of a complex protagonist is compelling enough, but lending it the gravitas of having a female perspective only increases the tension and helps the film along on its way to defining some revolutionary ideas, without becoming too ambitious in its own right.

Running at a brisk 76 minutes, and featuring one of Marilyn Monroe’s finest screen performances (at least in terms of being a radical departure from the roles she was most known for), Don’t Bother to Knock is a tremendously satisfying film, and one that deserves to be seen, if only for how Roy Ward Baker, himself a fascinating filmmaker who worked in many different genres, extracts some enthralling commentary from an otherwise standard, by-the-numbers crime thriller. Set over the course of one night, and focused less on the crime, and more on the psychological implications of such actions, the film is a captivating example of carefully manipulating a genre and presenting audiences with something very unique, but still within the confines of what is familiar to them. It’s a simple but effective approach, and one that allows this film to flourish into an exceptionally engrossing film noir that may not be a defining entry into the genre, but has numerous merits that qualify it to be, at the very least, incredibly interesting, which sometimes means more than having a truly revolutionary spirit, since it takes an incredible amount of skill to entertain while still provoking thought, especially in a genre that produced films at an alarming rate, and often fell victim to the concept of quantity overriding quality. Don’t Bother to Knock is a worthwhile film for devotees of the genre, as well as those who may not be entirely enamoured with film noir, but are looking for a classic era film that tests the boundaries and challenges a few of its more notable ideas, which immediately makes it, at the very least, worth the time and effort.