Manchester Classic Films Group

Reeling from a recent break-up, Jed Towers checks into a New York hotel and is immediately drawn to one of his fellow guests. Nell Forbes appears to be glamorous and worldly, and she’s staying in the room directly opposite – for Jed, she might be the perfect distraction from his troubles. But when he learns the truth about his mysterious neighbour, Jed begins to question Nell’s mental stability and the safety of the child in her care.

Don’t Bother to Knock was Marilyn Monroe’s first starring role, though her breakthrough into top-billing was somewhat inauspicious. Contemporary reviewers, no doubt expecting Monroe to be first and foremost a pretty face, were unconvinced by this extended foray into dramatic acting.

In retrospect, though, Monroe’s performance is far more accomplished than she was credited for. She throws herself into the challenge of playing both the bombshell next door and the psychologically traumatised anti-hero. While Monroe will always be best remembered for her comedies, she delivers one of her finest performances in this unconventional film noir.

Event time is for the actual film. As usual, I'll be at the HOME bar grabbing a drink about 30-40 minutes before the film so feel free to join me.

Nevada, the "leave it" state: a gathering ground for misfits, burnouts, empty bottles and spare atom bombs. It's home to a host of interesting strangers.
Roslyn is a beautiful but naïve woman, set adrift after a shotgun divorce. Guido and Gay are cowboys with a half-finished house in the sticks and bittersweet memories of a west that's no longer wild. And Perce is a rodeo-rocked bull rider, lost and looking for his next trip.
The Misfits is a haunting piece of Hollywood history, troubled on and off screen by the ghosts of eras gone by.
On the surface, John Huston's film is an off-beat drama of broken-hearted cowboys and broken-down marriages; of a dying American Dream and the lost souls struggling to keep it alive. Behind the scenes, the production itself was fraught. As well as contending with the searing heat of the desert and challenging production logistics, Marilyn Monroe’s own marriage to screenwriter Arthur Miller was in trouble, and the actor’s mental health was spiralling.

The film would be the last for both Monroe and her co-star Clark Gable. Miller's script proved poignant and prophetic when it had one character, shotgun in hand, explain to the crew of horse wranglers gathered on the barren Nevada desert: "you'll probably never see this again in history, you know."

Event time is for the actual film. As usual, I'll be at the HOME bar grabbing a drink about 30-40 minutes before the film so feel free to join me.