Don't Bother to Knock (1952)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer-1.33:1, not 16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 (2:35) Featurette-Restoration Comparison (1:22) Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	1952
Running Time	73:04 (Case: 76)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Roy Baker
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Richard Widmark Marilyn Monroe Anne Bancroft Donna Corcoran
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	Lionel Newman

    There is something quite interesting in switching between Marilyn Monroe's later films and her earlier films. Despite the passage of little more than a decade, the changes we see in the tragic screen goddess are quite startling. Despite the startling nature of the changes however, there is one thing that does not change: the fact that she was and remains to this day one of the most beautiful and sensual women ever to grace the silver screen. Don't Bother To Knock is an important film for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it was one of Marilyn Monroe's first lead roles. Not only that, it was one of the first genuine attempts to showcase her talent as an actress rather than just as a drop dead gorgeous woman. It was also the debut film for Anne Bancroft, at the tender age of twenty, and it is interesting to see the aplomb with which she handles her role.

    Nell Forbes (Marilyn Monroe) is a woman with a tragic past. Her boyfriend Philip was a pilot who went missing whilst flying to Hawaii. His disappearance had a devastating effect upon Nell, who spent quite a deal of time in an institution before being declared well enough to be released into the custody of her Uncle Eddie (Elisha Cook, Jr.). Eddie is an elevator operator at a city hotel, and has been for fourteen years, and wishes to do what he can to get Nell's life back on track. He organises for her to baby-sit the daughter of Mr and Mrs Jones (Jim Backus and Lurene Tuttle), whilst they attend a dinner function at the hotel. It is figured that the young Bunny Jones (Donna Corcoran) should not prove too much for Nell to handle. The hotel is the central fixture of the film, for it is also where the other main character of the film has his problems. Jed Towers (Richard Widmark) just so happens to be a pilot and is in the throes of being ditched by his girlfriend Lyn Lesley (Anne Bancroft), a lounge singer at the hotel. After something of an argument with Lyn, basically over the fact that he is an unfeeling b******, Jed returns to his hotel room, whereupon he espies the lovely Nell across the courtyard in another room. Being in the mood, he works out what room she is in and telephones her to arrange a little meeting. Once he gets to meet her though, Jed starts to figure out that perhaps all is not what it seems, especially as Nell seems to become increasingly confused as to what is going on. This film noir plays out most of its action in Room 809 that single night.

    It really is not too bad a story but what makes it work is that Marilyn Monroe plays the confused woman really very well. It might not have been the greatest stretch in the world given her later life travails, but I would suspect more than a few would have been very surprised at how effective she was in a role that not all would be able to carry. It of course helps that she is surrounded by a bunch of good, solid professionals. Richard Widmark is effective in his role as the confused and dumped pilot, and convinces well with the changes in his character as the film progresses. It might have been Anne Bancroft's first film, and the dubbing of her singing might be a little on the obvious side, but she certainly proves that later success was no fluke. Lurene Tuttle and Elisha Cook, Jr. can always be relied upon to produce a steady professional job and they do it well here, especially Elisha Cook, Jr. as the somewhat obsequious elevator operator. Very well directed by Roy Baker, the overall result is a pacy, quite solid film that holds up pretty well in the overall summation of the career of Marilyn Monroe.

    A worthy film in the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection, even if not the most obvious demonstration of her acting ability.

Video

    It might be getting a little clichéd but the restoration job has really done a good job of returning a lot of the former glory to the transfer, even though it is blessed with one consistent, albeit relatively minor, problem.

    The transfer is presented in a Full Frame format that closely approximates the Academy ratio of the theatrical release. It is not 16x9 enhanced. For some reason that will be obvious to someone, the opening credits are windowboxed.

    Apart from the seemingly obligatory soft focus shots of the lady herself that are occasionally employed, this is a better than average transfer as far as sharpness and definition go. There are a few lapses but nothing to get really riled up about given the nature of the film. Shadow detail could have been a little better in places, but given the film-noirish nature it is not really a bothersome problem. There was a little bit of grain floating around, such as at 5:18, but none of this was really unexpected and certainly was nothing that would overly distract from the transfer. Clarity is pretty good and there is no low level noise in the transfer. There is some flickering in the image around 16:15 and at times the transfer does have a distinctly dirty look to it.

    The black and white tones could well have done with a bit more depth to them - this really is more across the well handled grey scales rather than black and white. This is not much of an issue however, as the grey scales are very nicely defined and nothing gets close to being murky. Obviously, there is a lack of depth to the blacks.

    There are no significant MPEG artefacts in the transfer. The main issue with the transfer really is the film-to-video artefacts, most especially a consistent, albeit generally minor, problem with moiré artefacting. This can be seen in Nell's dress at many points (6:57, 18:30 and 66:46 amongst them) as well as some in Jed's jacket (39:38 and 44:21). It does get a little distracting once you notice it. There is also a deal of minor aliasing in the transfer, such as the microphone lead at 10:43, in the book at 11:47 and the barman's shoulder at 17:23. Again the restoration has cleaned up the source material nicely and there are little in the way of film artefacts to distract.

    In the absence of again locating any layer change, and given the shortish length of the film, I would suggest that this is a Dual Layer DVD.

    There are thirteen subtitle or titling options on the DVD. The English efforts sampled are good with only relatively minor dialogue omissions in general.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are four soundtracks on the DVD, being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack, a German Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack, an Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack and a Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 mono soundtrack. English was once again my soundtrack of choice.

    The audio transfer is good and in general the dialogue comes up very well and easy to understand. There does not appear to be any significant audio sync issues with the transfer.

    The original music comes from Lionel Newman and is a not bad effort at all that does a fair job of supporting the pace and mood of the film without sounding clichéd.

    Being a mono soundtrack, there is no need for subwoofer and surround speakers here. Everything comes pretty much from the centre speaker, in a decent sounding manner. It is not at all strident and has a nice mellowness of tone that suits the film well.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A fairly typical collection of extras, similar to most we have seen in the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection.

Menu

    Fairly basic efforts, although reasonably decent looking and they are 16x9 enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer (2:35)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, it is not 16x9 enhanced and comes with reasonable Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. Again there is a fair bit of grain in the transfer as well as a few film artefacts. It does give a good idea of how well the restoration has treated the feature.

Featurette - Restoration Comparison (1:22)

    Another typical effort with three comparisons after the notes this time. The first compares the pre-restoration film with the restored film elements with video restoration. The second compares the existing video master with the same elements, whilst the third comparison is between the restored film elements and the restored film elements with video restoration.

Gallery - Stills

    Comprising twenty three stills, a mixture of stills from the film, posters and publicity shots.

    As far as we can ascertain the Region 4 release misses out on:

• Additional trailers for other Marilyn Monroe films
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix

    The Region 1 version misses out on:

• Additional language soundtracks

    Given that available reviews do not rate the Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo mix that highly, there is once again nothing of substance between the two versions.

    One of the early attempts to prove that Marilyn Monroe was a legitimate actress, and given good direction by Roy Baker, Don't Bother To Knock is a good film featuring some rather startlingly prophetic acting. The technical quality here is perhaps not quite up to the mark we have seen for the bulk of the Marilyn Monroe Diamond Collection, but that should not stop investigation of the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall