While the Patient Slept | |
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Directed by | Ray Enright |
Written by | Robert N. Lee Eugene Solow Brown Holmes (add. dialogue) |
Based on | the novel While the Patient Slept 1930 novel by Mignon G. Eberhart |
Produced by | Harry Joe Brown (uncredited) |
Starring | Aline MacMahon Guy Kibbee |
Cinematography | Arthur Edeson |
Edited by | Owen Marks |
Music by | Bernhard Kaun (uncredited) |
Distributed by | First National Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 65-67 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
While the Patient Slept is a 1935 comedy murder mystery film directed by Ray Enright starring Aline MacMahon as a nurse/crime sleuth and Guy Kibbee as her boyfriend and police detective. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Mignon G. Eberhart.
A comedic murder mystery involving a nurse who is assigned to the at-home care of a man who recently had a stroke. While he is unconscious, on a dark and stormy night, a murder takes place in his bedroom. With family members and potential heirs confined to the house for several days, additional murders occur while the nurse and a police detective work on solving the case.
Warner Brothers marketed 12 mystery films as components of the "Clue Club", movies tied to Black Mask, a pulp magazine, aimed at increasing audiences attending WB mystery movies. There were twelve titles bearing the Warner Brothers "Clue Club" label released from 1935 to 1938. [1] [2] [3]
Clue Club #1: The White Cockatoo (1935)
Clue Club #2: While the Patient Slept (1935)
Clue Club #3: The Florentine Dagger (1935) [4]
Clue Club #4: The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)
Clue Club #5: The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935)
Clue Club #6: The Murder of Dr. Harrigan (1936)
Clue Club #7: Murder by an Aristocrat (1936)
Clue Club #8: The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)
Clue Club #9: The Case of the Black Cat (1936)
Clue Club #10: The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)
Clue Club #11: The Patient in Room 18 (1938)
Clue Club #12: Mystery House (1938)
The New York Times reviewer was unimpressed: "Mr. Kibbie and Miss MacMahon finally break the case ... but the solution is not altogether satisfactory. Neither, for that matter, is the picture. Come right down to it, it's quite unsatisfactory". [5] Later critics also had reservations about the film, as being a lesser version of the prize-winning book: "Unfortunately, the film producers, modeling the Eberhart mystery film versions on others of the day, sought to extend humorous quips between characters and eliminate significant elements of the plot that involved clues, no doubt in hopes of attracting a broader audience". [6]
Edith Caroline Rivett was a British crime writer, who wrote under the pseudonyms E. C. R. Lorac, Carol Carnac and Mary Le Bourne during the golden age of detective fiction.
Frank Reicher was a German-born American actor, director and producer. He is best known for playing Captain Englehorn in the 1933 film King Kong.
Mignon Good Eberhart was an American author of mystery novels. She had one of the longest careers among major American mystery writers.
Charles Fulton Oursler Sr. was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an author of mysteries and detective fiction. His son was the journalist and author Will Oursler (1913–1985).
The Living Ghost is a 1942 American mystery-drama film directed by William Beaudine and produced by Monogram Pictures. Starring James Dunn and Joan Woodbury, the film incorporates elements of the horror genre as it follows an ex-private detective who is called in to investigate why a banker has turned into a zombie. As the detective shares wisecracks with the banker's cheeky secretary, the two fall in love. The film was distributed in the United Kingdom under the title Lend Me Your Ear, and later released on home video as A Walking Nightmare.
The Patient in Room 18 is a 1938 American mystery romantic comedy film directed by Bobby Connolly and Crane Wilbur. It stars Patric Knowles and Ann Sheridan. The screenplay written by Eugene Solow and Robertson White was based on a 1929 novel of the same name by author Mignon G. Eberhart.
Mystery House is a 1938 American mystery crime film directed by Noel M. Smith and starring Dick Purcell and Ann Sheridan as nurse Sarah Keate, and is based on the 1930 novel The Mystery of Hunting's End by Mignon G. Eberhart. Sheridan also played the same character in The Patient in Room 18, released in January 1938, while Aline MacMahon played her in While the Patient Slept in 1935.
Eric Taylor was an American screenwriter with over fifty titles to his credit. He began writing crime fiction for the pulps before working in Hollywood. He contributed scripts to The Crime Club, Crime Doctor, Dick Tracy, Ellery Queen, and The Whistler series, as well as six Universal monster movies.
Charles Cahill Wilson was an American screen and stage actor. He appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the late 1920s to the late 1940s.
The Patient in Room 18 is a 1929 mystery novel written by Mignon G. Eberhart. Eberhart's first published novel, it follows the adventures of Nurse Sarah Keate, who would later appear in six more of Eberhart's works, and became one of the most popular mystery characters of the time. The novel later served as the basis for a 1938 motion picture released by Warner Brothers, with the same title, starring Patric Knowles and Ann Sheridan.
John Franklin Sheridan was an American actor of the silent and early sound film eras.
Murder by an Aristocrat is a 1936 American mystery film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Lyle Talbot, Marguerite Churchill and Claire Dodd. The film was based on a 1932 novel of the same title by Mignon G. Eberhart, with sets designed by Hugh Reticker. It was the seventh of 12 B-mysteries released by Warner Bros. as part of their "Clue Club" series between 1935 and 1938.
Mary Jane's Pa is a 1935 American drama film directed by William Keighley and written by Tom Reed and Peter Milne. The film stars Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Tom Brown, Robert McWade, Minor Watson, and Nan Grey. The film was released by Warner Bros. on April 27, 1935.
The Murder of Dr. Harrigan is a 1936 American mystery film directed by Frank McDonald and written by Peter Milne and Sy Bartlett. The film stars Ricardo Cortez, Kay Linaker, John Eldredge, Mary Astor, Joseph Crehan and Frank Reicher. The film was released by Warner Bros. on January 11, 1936. A story by Mignon G. Eberhart was the basis for the film.
While the Patient Slept is a 1930 mystery novel by Mignon G. Eberhart. It was both Eberhart's second novel, and the second of the author's seven novels revolving around the central character of Sarah Keate. The novel received positive reviews upon its release. A film adaptation of the same name was released by First National Pictures in 1935.
Henry Otho was an American actor. He has worked in The Big Stampede (1932), Mary Stevens (1933), Hard to Handle (1933), The Mayor of Hell (1933), Baby Face (1933), Mandalay (1934), Wonder Bar (1934), Stranded (1935), My Bill (1938), The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938), Overland Stage Raiders (1938), Each Dawn I Die (1939).
While the Patient Slept may refer to:
Sarah Keate is a fictional character, the protagonist in a series of medical mystery novels by American author Mignon G. Eberhart.
Cortland Fitzsimmons was an American writer and screenwriter, and author of crime fiction.