1h 16min | Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery | 18 July 1952
Director: Roy Ward Baker (as Roy Baker)
Stars: Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Jeanne Cagney, Elisha Cook Jr.
Recall that MM was 2nd billed in her 5th film, Ladies of the Chorus (1948, Columbia). In her 16th, Clash by Night (1952, RKO) she gets 4th billing, also her 17th, We're Not Married! (1952, Fox).
Here she rightfully gets 2nd billing again. (Unfortunately, the Stars billing on IMDb movie cards cannot be trusted; they formerly moved players based on popularity.)
This performance might have MM's most/best raw emotions until Bus Stop ('56) and The Misfits ('61). She's playing an emotionally unstable woman, haunted by the death of her fiance in post-war military service. My high rating is primarily for her, also for the moments of suspense where we don't know what this woman will do.
MM has definitely adopted her distinctive upper lip movement (I think she stretched her upper lip to make her nose not look so long?) which I didn't notice in LofC ('48). She doesn't have full glamour makeup, because that would be out of character. She dons some flashy earrings found in the hotel room where she's babysitting, which invokes the more glamorous MM of other (mostly future) films. When she cries, and her eye makeup runs, it's very subtle compared with what director John Huston did to Jean Hagen in The Asphalt Jungle ('50).
The character does know how to lure a man through posture/motion. So MM's persona is as complete as would be appropriate for the role. Missing: man-trapping career choices and/or strategy discussions.
Here she rightfully gets 2nd billing again. (Unfortunately, the Stars billing on IMDb movie cards cannot be trusted; they formerly moved players based on popularity.)
This performance might have MM's most/best raw emotions until Bus Stop ('56) and The Misfits ('61). She's playing an emotionally unstable woman, haunted by the death of her fiance in post-war military service. My high rating is primarily for her, also for the moments of suspense where we don't know what this woman will do.
MM has definitely adopted her distinctive upper lip movement (I think she stretched her upper lip to make her nose not look so long?) which I didn't notice in LofC ('48). She doesn't have full glamour makeup, because that would be out of character. She dons some flashy earrings found in the hotel room where she's babysitting, which invokes the more glamorous MM of other (mostly future) films. When she cries, and her eye makeup runs, it's very subtle compared with what director John Huston did to Jean Hagen in The Asphalt Jungle ('50).
The character does know how to lure a man through posture/motion. So MM's persona is as complete as would be appropriate for the role. Missing: man-trapping career choices and/or strategy discussions.
Fox, dir. Baker; 8
