Knock on Any Door

Released Feb 21, 1949

1h 40m

Crime

Drama

List

69%

Tomatometer

13 Reviews

58%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Having pulled himself out of the poverty and squalor of a big city slum, idealist lawyer Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) agrees to defend a young juvenile delinquent from his old neighborhood. Nick Romano (John Derek), the son of an innocent man Morton had unsuccessfully defended as a young lawyer years earlier, stands accused of murdering a policeman. In opposition to a law-and-order prosecutor (George Macready), Morton argues that Nick's deprived upbringing led to his life of crime.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Nicholas Ray's direction stresses the realism of the script taken from Willard Motley's novel of the same title, and gives the film a hard, taut pace that compels complete attention.

Oct 22, 2007

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

A pretentiously 'social' melodrama which came to the Astor yesterday.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Time Out

I's hard hitting in its own right, tautly crafted, and repeatedly stabbed through with Ray's impulsive generosity and anguish towards his characters.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Nell Dodson Russell

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

A suspense-packed movie that packs an audience wallop.

Jan 14, 2022

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

A melodrama that never stops being floppy and one-dimensional. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 5/10

Sep 23, 2021

Full Review

Jesse H. Walker

New York Age

Although the screenwriters of the best-selling novel take the usual and sometimes puzzling Hollywood liberties in interpreting an author's work for the screen, the movie retains Motley's searching and biting theme.

Sep 7, 2021

Full Review

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Megan e

Depressing but very true. The legal bits aren’t all correct, but the sentiment and strategy are correct. Worth watching!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

05/04/24

Full Review

Blu B

The second half really helps and makes it worth sitting through this if your a fan of Bogie or the director. The music is just ok and very underused giving it a very dry tone throughout most of it and what is used is very stock and generic. The other core issue is editing wise while it makes perfect sense and is passable, it doesn't flow well mainly because this feels like a courtroom drama merged with a Gangster flick and the two just don't work that well together. The courtroom drama is significantly stronger and if this would've just stayed with that the whole way this probably would've been a classic. Which brings the problems that really hang this. While everything else is half decent most of this film is actually about Nick and Bogart is really only in the final 25 minutes or so and Nick is NO WHERE near as good as Bogie. He is wooden, stilted, and just very unlikeable, coming across more as whiny and arrogant than charming or misunderstood even before he goes down the wrong path. The chemistry witth his wife isn't anything special either and it feels like all the key points especially with the romance development feel very rushed and not fully developed at all. Outside of the courtroom there really isn't much to make any scene stick out either. Sometimes also, it feels like it can start to meander a bit when showing Nicks life as he just keeps screwing up in a loop that gets repetitive. If this just would've made Nick more likeable, focused more on the courtroom, or not rushed through key events this would've been a lot better, but it's a miracle somewhat it's still half decent.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/06/23

Full Review

Steve D

I am not convinced of its message but it is some of Bogart's best work.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

06/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Absolute POS. Proves that even Bogart could have major misfire. Banal, melodramatic, soap-opera mediocrity. Courtroom scenes utterly unrealistic; whining soapbox platform for late 1940s liberalism, devoid of any reality. Another example of the simpleminded trash Hollywood trafficked in, between the all too rare extraordinary film, let alone masterpiece.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

In 2020, this film is more real than ever. Nurture is the determinant of the human species. This film says it is nurture not on the individual and family level but more importantly on the social level. These themes, so familiar to cine noir fans, are not filmed anymore.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

Full Review

dave j

At night a police officer gets himself shot and killed during a shoot out with the perpetrator chucking the gun into a barrel of water before escaping. The police then nab some people assuming they got the right suspect. One of those people is Nick Romano (John Derek), and as a result of past history he calls up lawyer, Andrew Morton (movie veteran Humphrey Bogart).

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Nicholas Ray

Director

Humphrey Bogart

Andrew Morton

John Derek

Nick Romano

George Macready

Dist. Atty. Kerman

Allene Roberts

Emma

Susan Perry

Adele Morton

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Synopsis

Having pulled himself out of the poverty and squalor of a big city slum, idealist lawyer Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) agrees to defend a young juvenile delinquent from his old neighborhood. Nick Romano (John Derek), the son of an innocent man Morton had unsuccessfully defended as a young lawyer years earlier, stands accused of murdering a policeman. In opposition to a law-and-order prosecutor (George Macready), Morton argues that Nick's deprived upbringing led to his life of crime.

Director: Nicholas Ray
Screenwriter: John Monks Jr., Willard Motley, Daniel Taradash
Distributor: Columbia Pictures, Columbia Home Video
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 21, 1949, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 20, 2016
Runtime: 1h 40m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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