Don't Bother to Knock
1952 · Movie · 76 min · ★ 6.6 · 81% critics
In a hotel, a pilot’s curiosity about a babysitter across the courtyard turns into a tense late-night encounter. As he gets closer, her stories and behavior grow increasingly unsettling, forcing him to question what’s really happening behind the closed door of the suite she’s watching.
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Details
- Years
- 1952
- Release date
- 1952-07-18
- Language
- English
- Runtime
- 76 min
- Critic score
- 81/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.6/10 (166 votes)
About
You’ll likely enjoy this if you want a compact, claustrophobic thriller about obsession and unraveling nerves in a single-night setting; Not for you if you dislike slow builds or distressing babysitter-in-danger themes like The Old Dark House.
Pros: tense hotel-room suspense; unsettling lead performance; brisk runtime | Cons: slow-burn pacing; thin side romance; far-fetched moments
Themes
- hotel
- based on novel or book
- detective
- pilot
- babysitter
- singer
- murder
- madness
- voyeur
Cast & crew
Richard Widmark
as Jed Towers
Marilyn Monroe
as Nell Forbes
Anne Bancroft
as Lyn Lesley
Donna Corcoran
as Bunny Jones
Jeanne Cagney
as Rochelle
Lurene Tuttle
as Ruth Jones
Elisha Cook Jr.
as Eddie Forbes
Jim Backus
as Peter Jones
Verna Felton
as Mrs. Ballew
Willis Bouchey
as Joe the Bartender
Directed by Roy Ward Baker