Wednesday, August 16, 2006

I'm different all the time...

Holy SHIT. I just watched Don't Bother to Knock (1952). In case you didn't catch that, 1952. And DAMN. That movie was messed up. It was based on a book, Mischief, by Charlotte Armstrong (1950), which is obvious. Anything with this kind of characterization is either based on a play or book. And holy balls was it incredible.

Monroe plays a woman who's helping out her uncle--a longtime employee of a hotel, an elevator man--by babysitting. Well, she's disturbed. And then she meets a man from across the courtyard who's having lady-issues. Yeah, his lady-issues kinda EVAPORATE when he meets Monroe and gets a glimpse into her world. The end had just a tad of cheese I coulda done without, but all the in-between more than made up for it.

Even better, this was 1952, before Marilyn Monroe was considered a "sex symbol," so she's not doing that airy vampy annoying BS she ususally does. She was actually acting.

It was fucked up and disturbing. I liked it a lot.

This was a fantastic film for acting--it started out slow (an early film for Anne Bancroft, too--her first, infact--she's in the beginning and the end) and then it just went crazy. I guess I can be a little naive with what I expect from older films, so when things started to get a little dark, well, I just had no idea what might happen. This would be really incredible onstage and everyone involved did a remarkable job making it an incredible movie.

Damn.

I recommend this, totally.

4 comments:

4 Non Blogs said...

I love old films...and I thought Monroe was capable of a lot more than she ended up being.

I need to check it out. Added to the queue.

Why don't you write for BSL? I'd give you access in a heartbeat. A husband/wife team would be awesome.

Ellen Aim said...

Yeah! Someone else who actually likes old films! D won't watch them with me...well, unless I really force him.

And heck yes, I'd like to write for BSL!

4 Non Blogs said...

Yea..I wouldn't say I like a lot of them, but lately I've watched some good ones. I find myself getting sucked into TCM from time to time.

Email me your email address. Mine's in my profile. I need that to send you the invite.

Mob said...

One of us! One of us!