directed by
Roy Ward Baker
USA 1952
I loved this film. Marilyn Monroe plays a emotionally scarred babysitter working in a hotel. She is propositioned by Richard Widmark who gives a wonderful performance as a good looking pilot on the same floor. He spies her from his room around the corridor. Well, its Marilyn Monroe folks so he skips over to 'break the ice'. A parallel story line has already evolved in which Widmark is drifting out of his current relationship with bar-singer girlfriend Anne Bancroft (her 1st film!).
A lot of critics kept trying to pin this film (good or bad) on Marilyn's acting ability. Being her 12th film its hard to say the studio was giving her a chance. As in Niagara she plays the 'bad girl' very well. Her trouble, that would dog her career, is that she was too damn photogenic, and you find yourself following her every move instead of simply enjoying, what turns out to be, a wonderful performance. This has film noir all over it and is honestly my 2nd or 3rd favorite Marilyn film. It's a shame it never gets much mention. Widmark and Bancroft are perfect (watch for elevator operator, cum uncle, Elisha Cook Jr. and Jim Backus as the young daughter's father). If the film suffers at all it's the ending where suspense never truly evolves. Still a hidden gem of character development. I strongly recommend it!
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Posters
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Theatrical Release: July 18th, 1952
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Fox Home Entertainment - Region 1- NTSC
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Or buy the entire Marilyn Monroe - The Diamond Collection II (Don't Bother to Knock / Let's Make Love / Monkey Business / Niagara / River of No Return) :
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| Distribution | Fox Home Entertainment - Region 1- NTSC | |
| Runtime | 1:16:06 | |
| Video | 1.33:1
Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.68 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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| Bitrate: |
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| Audio | English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) | |
| Subtitles | English, Spanish, None | |
| Features |
Release Information: Edition Details: • Trailers |
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| Comments: |
Like the
other DVDs in the 2 Marilyn Collections - this image is excellent - good
tight lines, shadow detail, pitch black contrast and even some film
grain. I dislike the yellow subtitles, but the audio is clear as a bell.
Extras are a bit of a wash, but the restoration feature is pretty
interesting. Overall I was very happy and you can't beat the price...
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Recommended Reading in Film Noir (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)
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Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American
Style by Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward |
The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir by Foster Hirsch |
Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City by Nicholas Christopher |
Film Noir Reader 4 : The Crucial Films and Themes
(Film Noir Reader) by Alain Silver |
Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era,
1940-1959 by Michael F. Keaney |
Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir by Foster Hirsch |
More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts by James Naremore |
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