Don't Bother to Knock (1952) review

There's some drama happening at the McKinley Hotel in NYC: pilot Jed (Richard Widmark) is staying there trying to keep lounge singer Lyn Lesley (Anne Bancroft, in her screen debut) from leaving him but he won't change her mind; later on, he finds himself in another room with babysitter Nell (Marilyn Monroe), who can barely take care of herself.  Too much criticism has been directed at Ms. Monroe for her performance, but that's letting the screenplay (by Daniel Taradash, based on a novel by Charlotte Armstrong) off the hook, especially when it's subpar itself: its sole focus seems to be stacking things up against Nell (screaming child, nosy neighbors, pesky uncle) in order to "torment" her, which is unfortunate because her grasp of reality is already tenuous: it's like kicking a wounded animal huddled in the corner.  One thing it gets right is the setting - keeping the activity confined to a couple of rooms in a single building adds to the claustrophobic tension.  But for Jed, it's a lot to endure just to earn a drink from the future Mrs. Robinson....