The Impatient Maiden

Coming between the horror classics FRANKENSTEIN (1931) and THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), this is all the more disappointing for a Whale movie; in fact, I would say it is even drearier than his worst-regarded effort i.e. THEY DARE NOT LOVE (1941)! The film seems undecided whether it wants to be a comedy or a drama: second leads Una Merkel and Andy Devine are positively irritating but, then, protagonists Mae Clarke and Lew Ayres – both off acclaimed dramatic showcases, she in Whale's own WATERLOO BRIDGE (1931) and he in the Oscar-wining WWI masterpiece ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) – do not exactly set the screen on fire (incidentally, his doctor role proved prophetic since he would eventually incarnate Dr. Kildare in a long-running series of 'B' pictures!).

To be fair to it, though, the narrative is very typical of the time – with Clarke a secretary in an office dealing with divorce cases (a timely and very hot topic over here at the moment, since Malta is one of only 2 countries in the world which has still not implemented it!) who yearns for romance. She meets Ayres when he is called to pick up an attempted suicide at her tenement house, but their relationship runs far from smoothly…while her dumb pal Merkel falls head-over-heels for his gawky nurse Devine! The trouble concerns both her ageing but suave employer John Halliday's attentions (he even buys her a swank apartment and there is a suggestion that he seduces clients as well!) and Ayres' low income (he is still a student); of course, the two eventually get together in melodramatic fashion – when he has to operate on Clarke due to her suffering from acute appendicitis! Incidentally, despite the title, along the way it is Ayres who does most of the pursuing – in one scene, he phones her up twice in the middle of the night (from an uncredited Walter Brennan's bar!) after having just been with her and then presents himself at her doorstep yet again!

Unfortunately, the copy I acquired is of very poor quality – being generally hazy and missing frames, as well as featuring picture loss and extremely dark night-time sequences; that said, it ran some 7 minutes longer than the official 72-minute length given on IMDb: go figure!

Mae Clarke works as a secretary to divorce lawyer John Halliday. When her apartment mate Una Merkel smells gas, Miss Clarke finds that the pregnant woman in the next apartment, who has been abandoned by her husband has tried to kill herself. Miss Clarke smashes the window and summons an ambulance. Doctor Lew Ayres shows up and they soon fall in love, but he's years from being able to marry, and she's seen too much of failed marriage, so they part.

It's a depressing soap opera for the Depression, and everyone hits the right notes. Director James Whale seems to have been trying for a British stiff-upper-lip attitude among the characters, but it offers an air of anomie and helplessness, as does the decision to have DP Arthur Edeson run a lot of traveling shots right through walls in a god-like and uncaring fashion. Perhaps it's that dispassionate attitude that made this movie less than compelling; if the characters viewed their own lives as machines to be run for optimal living, regardless of how they felt, how can the audience invest anything more than a vague pity in these poor fools?

A fascinating curio, Impatient Maiden reveals director James Whales' cinema style as well as his personal evasiveness.

This slice-of-life romantic drama concerns one Ruth Robbins, effectively portrayed by Mae Clark. By day, a secretary to a divorce attorney, Ruth brushes up against life one broken marriage at a time. At home, a neighbor's wife attempts suicide when her husband leaves her and it's left to Ruth to summon an ambulance. So when ambulance driver Myron Brown sparks Ruth's interest, Ruth's own cynical attitudes become her biggest obstacle. Distain for marriage and having personal obstacles were themes which may have found resonance to the personally challenged James Whale. He presents his tableau in matter-of-fact style, without undue emphases: Ruth's lonely plight is just something she does everyday.

Lew Ayers as Myron Brown displays a natural ease in his role, and with Whale blocking for him he'll never look better. Supporting roles are well cast. An early Andy Devine keeps the dramatic tone from sinking. On the distaff side, an ebullient Una Merkel is on hand to perk up Ruth. Great casting and solid performances maintain a balance that makes this film more "accessible" than others of this ilk.

The presentation is smartly handled, too. A Whale trademark was a scene transition that followed characters from room to room by tracking the camera through the wall. Though the end of the wall gets a close-up, the viewer's perception is priority. Rose walks from one end of her apartment to the other and in one shot the limits of her 3 room flat are established. Indeed, the film opens with an establishing sequence when Rose leaves for work. In a location shot, she quits her flat into a rundown neighborhood and boards Angel's Flight. She continues her conversation as Arthur Edeson's camera boards and rides down a piece of history. The viewer gets a real feel for what Ruth's life is like.

The attraction between Ruth and Myron is advanced and retracted like waves on the beach. Love can't catch a break until the last reel. Elusive love, what fun the chase is, especially in this film. Recommended.

Although I have always thought Lew Ayres was a fine actor, here he's one of his worst films...mostly because the script is rather second- rate. I also found Una Merkel (again, someone I usually like in films) played a rather annoying character. As a result, I think it's a movie you could easily just skip.

When the film begins, Ruth (Mae Clark) and her dopey friend (Merkel) meet a dopey ambulance driver (Andy Devine) and a young doctor working on his internship at the hospital (Ayres). The Doc and Ruth fall for each other...but their relationship later sours. Towards the end of the film, Ruth is dying and apparently there's no one else in the entire hospital who can operate on her other than her ex-boyfriend, the Doc (it was JUST an inflamed appendix)!! Will she pull through...and will we care?

Una is clearly there as comic relief and her character just comes on way too strong with the stupid act. Fortunately, she's mostly in the first half of the film. As for Devine, he's actually pretty restrained and much better in the same sort of role. But the plot is so soapy and silly that I never found myself caring much about what happened to Ruth or any of them. A misfire.

This film starts out with legal secretary Ruth Robbins (Mae Clarke) on her way to the subway to work. Along the way she hears one woman viciously henpecking her husband. Another man says that four years of marriage is enough for any man and walks out on his pleading pregnant wife. Then she gets to work and she is taking dictation in a divorce case where the woman has had enough of her milquetoast husband and is demanding a divorce. This is just another workday though, as her attorney boss is a divorce lawyer. This has, not surprisingly, left Ruth cynical concerning matrimony.

Then, when the pregnant woman who was dumped by her husband attempts suicide, Ruth meets Dr. Myron Brown (Lew Ayres) when he shows up in an ambulance. They are immediately attracted. They don't have your standard dates as Myron invites her to the hospital for an X-Ray and to a medical lecture. Maybe his lack of a blatant come on gets her guard down and she grows to care for him. But he does pop the question. Ruth tells him about all that she has seen and about how all couples start out with high hopes and good intentions and then how their love dies with the death of a thousand cuts. She suggests living together. He angrily refuses and they break up. Meanwhile, Ruth's boss , played by the dapper John Halliday, is waiting in the wings with an offer of being a kept woman. At first I thought this film was going to waste Halliday, but he does show up in this important role towards the end.

Una Merkel does here what she always did so well - provide humorous contrast and a loyal friend to the leading lady as Ruth's roommate. Andy Devine is the male nurse and friend of Ayres' character who takes a shine to Merkel. They have a disastrous pseudo first date that involves Devine's new invention - a zipperless straight jacket. Oh - and he's also very judgmental and moralizing. How does this all turn out ? Watch and find out.

The film has Whales's usual interesting visual style, even for a bunch of mundane settings. Oddly enough, this was the first time Ayres played a doctor, and he said he had the feeling that director James Whale thought him wrong for the part, although one of his early claims to fame was playing the title lead in the Dr. Kildare series over at MGM.