mark.waltz Review of While the Patient Slept

While the Patient Slept (1935)

Murders in an old dark house? Oh, wow, never seen this plot before....

[5/10 · 12 May 2015]

The presence of the wonderful Aline MacMahon makes this old chestnut of a plot line more tolerable. Of course, it involves an aging wealthy patriarch, an eccentric greedy family (one of them practices playing the funeral march on the piano as the old geezer listens in seclusion), mysterious servants, and bumbling detectives, lead by the pompous Guy Kibbee and the foolish Allen Jenkins. In one of their many teamings together, MacMahon and Kibbee play old rivals. The script gives the indication that this is a reunion for their characters from another film, but other than two films where Ann Sheridan played the same character MacMahon is playing here, research shows otherwise. One of Sheridan's films, "Mystery House", seems to be a remake of this film with an extremely similar plot line. The attractive MacMahon is the epitome of an untraditional leading lady, but there is something about her that is absolutely fascinating. She delivers her dialog (both wisecracks and wisdom) with a very arch, knowing attitude, obviously aware that she's probably the smartest person in the room, and determined to prove that the inmates have been running the asylum far longer than they should have been.