April 15, 2008
Speaking of Marilyn Monroe ...
(oh were we??) -
The wonderful Kim Morgan has a piece up about Don't Bother to Knock - with Marilyn Monroe and Richard Widmark (rest in peace) - I remember Alex telling me I HAD to see this movie - somehow I had missed it, although I had seen most of Marilyn's other stuff ... I very much liked Kim's comment here, it really resonates with me:
But, why? Why must women have to be so normal? Though suffering from deep seated psychological problems, I sense that it’s this type of "normal" pressure making her crack (the punishing and smarmy Cook Jr. doesn't help either). Monroe portrays these ideas beautifully, so much so, that I wondered how much of her real life was seeping into her performance, it plays so real. I kept wishing that she could just get out of that hotel, doll herself up and have some fun with a man who might understand her. Widmark isn't really the one, even though underneath his smirk and swagger, he’s essentially a good heart.
Don't Bother to Knock is actually on my queue right now - but apparently I am trying to see every Iranian film I haven't yet seen in as short a time as possible - so Don't Bother to Knock got pushed down. I put it on the queue when Richard Widmark died - wanting to see it again ... and now, after reading Kim's piece, I feel quite urgent about it! She writes so well. (Great and insightful comment in the comments section too).
Posted by sheila | TrackBackI can't wait for you to see this film, Sheila! I have seen it a couple of times, but not recently, so it is not fresh in my mind (not as fresh as, say, Some Like It Hot), but I remember Marilyn's performance as very touching, and also thinking, as Kim does, that much of her own life was seeping through, or at least that the feelings she shows were very real somehow.
It's a pretty unusual film in Marilyn's career, in that she was not as famous yet as Niagara would make her, and it was certainly a very different character she was playing, not the dumb blonde at all, not a comedy either. Marilyn was excellent doing comedy, but I think she shines in this dramatic role as the troubled, sad, babysitter.