Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

MartinHafer "While the Patient Slept" is a strange film. Through much of the film, many of the actors say their lines way too quickly and there are few pauses in the conversations. It's as if the director realized that plot was too long for a B-movie (which usually clock in at between 55 and 70 minutes at the most) and told folks to talk very rapidly in order to obtain the 66 minute runtime! And, it is like a "Reader's Digest" condensed version of a movie!The plot is a pretty standard B-movie whodunnit. While an old rich man is dying, various family members come to attend him. However, his disreputable son (Robert Barrat) is shot and killed during the night and it's up to an amateur detective (Aline MacMahon) who also happens to be the old man's nurse as well as a dopey detective (Guy Kibbee) and his even dopier assistants (Allan Jenkins and Eddie Shubert) to get to the bottom of it.I have a particular fondness for these sort of murder mysteries and have seen just about every Charlie Chan, Falcon, Saint and Mr. Moto film. However, I must say that "While the Patient Slept" is a very poor one--even if it was made by the premier studio of the day, MGM. It's mostly because of the direction. In addition to most of the folks talking too fast, they often yell, over-emote or talk very loud for practically no reason. The pacing is awful and the performances are among the worst of the actors' careers--and the director is the one to blame. Additionally, the character Jenkins plays is too annoying and one-dimensional--much like the super-annoying detective he played in "Sh! The Octopus". He's meant to be funny...he isn't. Overall, the film comes off as shrill, loud and awful.Incidentally, it is interesting that the film seems to strongly imply that Eustace is gay. See the film and see if you agree.

David (Handlinghandel) This is among the better entries in the comedy/mystery genre popular in the 1940s. No one liked the person murdered. Many people had reason to do him or her in. All are assembled in creepy surroundings.Apart from a plot that's easy and logical, what sets this apart is Aline MacMahon. She plays a nurse who happens to be in the house and who helps the police solve the crime.MacMahon was unique in Hollywood history. Though only in her thirties here, she was already playing an old maid. Yet she had an occasional fling at glamor roles. And she was an exceptionally good actress, with a haunting beauty.Her rather heavy-lidded eyes seem to bore right through her co-players, here as elsewhere. ZaSu Pitts had a somewhat parallel career. But at least Erich Von Stroheim saw her as a beauty and a great actress.Maybe MacMahon really couldn't have done it. But I think she had the potential for far greater roles than she was given. As strange as this probably sounds, I can see her, decades later, as the tragic Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey Into Night." (She would surely have been better than Katharine Hepburn, an actress, I often liked, in that role.)

James Knoppow When is a Nurse Keating film not a Nurse Keating film? When it's a Hildegarde Withers film. If you liked this one, you'll love the first four of the Hildegarde flicks from RKO. 'While the Patient Slept' is taken from the first Hildegarde story, 'Penguin Pool Murder'. Penguin Pool's plot is different (except for being a humorous murder mystery, but the main characters are the same, and while penguins are the trademark of author Stuart Palmer, here they've substituted a green elephant.I now have a copy of this movie, and that completes both my Nurse Keate and Hildegarde Withers collections. Speaking of rip-offs, if you like the 'Thin Man' Series, try "The Ex-Mrs. Bradford" and "Star Of Midnight," both with William Powell, Bradford with Jean Arthur and Midnight with Ginger Rogers. RKO got Powell on a loan-out and took full advantage of it.

wmalven 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!