While the Patient Slept

WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT in the creepy old house, his alert nurse looks for clues that will help catch a killer...

Fast-moving & fun, this is another example of the comedy crime picture that Warner Brothers was so expert at producing. Casts & plots could be shuffled endlessly, with very predictable results. While this assembly line approach created few classics, audience enjoyment could usually be assured.

Intricately plotted, the film boasts excellent production values & a finely sustained spooky atmosphere. Clutching hands, hidden passageways, resentful relatives, suspicious servants & sudden death all make this a prime entry into the Old Dark House genre of suspense films. However, there are enough solid laughs to help lighten the mood.

Aline MacMahon, as a starched no-nonsense nurse, shows once again why she was one of the finest character actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age. Her facial expressions & body movements are perfectly controlled and constantly entertaining to watch. Arch & angular, she has the right riposte for any situation, but she is also warmhearted & fearlessly brave. From her very first scene, Miss MacMahon puts the picture in her pocket & walks off with it.

Chubby Guy Kibbee & loudmouthed Allen Jenkins both add considerably to the entertainment as the cops assigned to the murder case. The suspects consist of a whole gaggle of cousins, including pretty Patricia Ellis, stalwart Lyle Talbot, prissy Hobart Cavanaugh & spiteful Dorothy Tree - as well as mysterious butler Brandon Hurst & the family lawyer, Henry O'Neill.

The MacMahon & Kibbee characters reappear in THE PATIENT IN ROOM 18 (1938) and MYSTERY HOUSE (1938), although portrayed by other performers.

I am a fan of Aline MacMahon, and consider her to be one the unsung actresses of the era. She is always worth watching.

I ran across this movie on TCM. It is a wonderful classic 30's mystery. Typical of the genre and period, it is not very demanding, entertaining with great chemistry between Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee.

Not Sommerset Maugham here, just fun and light humor. I had never heard of this series until today. I love light mysteries like the Thin Man Series and the Charlie Chan series. When I am stressed out, I can put one of these "light mysteries" on and just sit back and let the entertainment flow over me. I almost never know "who done it" and the characters, while light weight, are always entertaining.

I am thrilled to "discover" a new series.

Just grab the popcorn and enjoy!

This is probably the first entry in the "Lance O'Leary/Nurse Keat" detective series; in subsequent O'Leary films, he was played by much younger actors than Guy Kibbee.

A group of relatives (all played by well-known character actors) gathers in an old house (on a rainy nite, of course!) to speak to a wealthy relative, who goes into a coma.

While they wait for him to recover, all sorts of mysterious goings-on happen, including a couple of murders.

A creepy film; worth seeing!

This is a good old-fashioned Thirties mystery, with comic turns from Guy Kibbee, Aline MacMahon, and Allen Jenkins doing his usual Sheldon Leonard- like one-step-behind sidekick cop. It's based on an early novel by Mignon G. Eberhart, who had a knack for implausible plotting that didn't matter because the action spun everything along at a nice clip. Nice to see Kibbee taking the spotlight, even if in a B movie, because he was such a stalwart supporting player, a familiar face in so many movies of the era. He and MacMahon play well off each other, even creating a bit of a romance, though MacMahon's Nurse Sarah Keate isn't quite as acerbic and witty as the character in the novel. However, the movie has its own charm, spiced with a bit of wackiness, and is a pleasant way to while away a little more than one hour.