Knock on Any Door *** (1949, Humphrey Bogart, John Derek, George Macready, Allene Roberts) – Classic Movie Review 6765

Nicholas Ray’s intelligent 1949 courtroom melodrama Knock on Any Door stars Humphrey Bogart as a lawyer defending a Chicago slum kid (John Derek) from a cop killer murder rap by trying to appeal to the court.

Director Nicholas Ray’s high-minded, intelligent and thoughtful 1949 courtroom melodrama Knock on Any Door has not worn well like his later Rebel without a Cause (1955) and is now a rather faded gem.

Humphrey Bogart stars as Andrew Morton, a lawyer defending Chicago slum kid Nick (Pretty Boy) Romano (John Derek) from a cop killer murder rap by trying to appeal to the court. Told in flashback, the well-meaning tale argues so heavily against society’s ills that you begin to reject the preachy argument about the evils of the slums, where Morton has also come from.

Still, it is a pretty good movie, carefully crafted by director Ray, with Bogart compelling as usual, Derek appealing and George Macready excellent as the prosecutor, district attorney Kerman. And this was a key movie, now a virtually forgotten film, from the days when at least some mainstream movies with major stars were actually about something.

The piano player is Dooley Wilson, the man to whom Bogart said ‘Play it, Sam’ in Casablanca.

Daniel Taradash and John Monks Jr’s screenplay is based on Willard Motley’s novel. Bogart purchased the rights to the novel from his producing partner Mark Hellinger’s estate in 1948, and this film is the first production of Bogart’s independent company, Santana.

John Derek, aka Dare Harris, aka Derek Harris.

Bogart saw the young John Derek – (billed as Dare Harris though his real name was Derek Harris – in a small role in A Double Life (1947) and renamed him John Derek when he cast him as killer Nick Romano in Knock on Any Door.

Derek recalled: ‘I had a monotone voice which went even flatter when I tried to act. When I saw Knock On Any Door in Italy I only liked it because my voice was dubbed by an Italian actor who had a lot of fire in his voice.’

Also in the cast are Allene Roberts as Emma, Susan Perry, Mickey Knox, Barry Kelley, Florence Auer, Argentina Brunetti, Chester Conklin, Curt Conway, Joan Danton, Jimmy Conlin, Dudley Dickerson, Franklyn Farnum, Al Ferguson, Al Hill, Myron Healey, Sid Melton, Dewey Martin, John Mitchum, Netta Packer, Philip Morris, Lee Phelps, Houseley Stevenson, Charles Sullivan, Pierre Watkin, Sid Tomack, Thomas Sully, Dooley Wilson, Harry Wilson, Jeff York and Dick Sinatra.

Knock on any Door is directed by Nicholas Ray, runs 98 minutes, is produced by Santana, released by Columbia Pictures, written by Daniel Taradash and John Monks Jr, based on Willard Motley’s novel, shot in black and white by Burnett Guffey, produced by Robert Lord and scored by George Antheil.

Sequel: Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960), with James Darren as Nick Romano Jr.

Allene Roberts was born on September 1, 1928 in Birmingham, Alabama.

Allene Roberts was born on 1 September 1928 in Birmingham, Alabama, and turned 90 on 1 September 2018. She died on 9 May 2019 in Huntsville, Alabama. She made a small number of movies, and lived a spiritual life during her Hollywood years, turning down roles unsuited to her moral standards, and is said to have donated 10 per cent of her earnings to her Baptist church. She abandoned acting in 1957 soon after marrying Ralph Cochran, who worked for a pharmaceutical company. They returned to Alabama and raised four children. She recalled: ‘I got to work with some wonderful people and I got to know good directors and I really enjoyed what I was doing.’

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6765

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