Don't Bother to Knock is a 1952 American psychological thriller starring Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe and directed by Roy Ward Baker. The screenplay was written by Daniel Taradash, based on the 1951 novel Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong. Monroe is featured as a disturbed babysitter watching a child at the same New York hotel where a pilot, played by Widmark, is staying. He starts flirting with her, but over the evening her strange behavior makes him increasingly aware that she is unhinged. How he copes with the situation ends up profoundly impacting all three lives. Plot Lyn Lesley is the lounge singer at New York's McKinley Hotel. She muses to the bartender about her relationship with an airline pilot, Jed Towers, revealing she had ended their six-month relationship with a letter. Jed has checked in at the same hotel and approaches her; she explains that she sees no future with him because his coldness with people shows he "lacks an understanding heart". He strongly rejects her dismissal, but ultimately retreats to his room. Meanwhile, elevator operator Eddie introduces his reticent niece, Nell Forbes, to guests Peter and Ruth Jones as a babysitter for their daughter Bunny. The Joneses leave for an awards banquet downstairs. After she puts the child to bed, Nell tries on Ruth's negligee, then her jewelry, perfume, and lipstick. Seeing the striking young Nell from his room directly across an air shaft, Jed calls her on the house phone; alternately curious and put-off, she rebuffs his aggressive advances. When Eddie checks up on her, he is appalled to find Nell wearing Ruth's things and orders her to take them off. He tells her she can have such indulgences for herself by finding a boyfriend to replace the one she is still struggling to get over, a pilot who was killed in an aircraft accident. After Eddie leaves, Nell puts them back on and invites Jed over. He brings the bottle of whisky he has been drinking and pours both of them large glasses. Nell tells him a series of lies, painting herself as a wealthy globe-trotter. She is startled when he reveals that he is a pilot. She confides that her boyfriend Philip died while flying a bomber to Hawaii during World War II. Aware something awry is going on, the precocious Bunny appears and shatters Nell's charade. Furious, Nell shakes the child and orders her back