gridoon2024 Review of While the Patient Slept

While the Patient Slept (1935)

Archetypal old-dark-house whodunit

[6/10 · 12 February 2014]

One of the earliest films in the Sarah Keate "series" (though each film has a different cast and setting), "While The Patient Slept" resembles a lot the Hildegarde Withers films of the same period, especially in the love-hate relationship between the male detective and the female nurse here - schoolteacher there. In some of the films Keate (also called Keating) actually solves the case herself, in others she does practically no detective work; in this one, she falls somewhere in between. Despite some fairly snappy dialogue and a large cast (including the doll-like Patricia Ellis) where everyone is a suspect, this film slows down at times; however, it is worth your patience for a (literally) last-minute surprise, just when you thought you had it all wrapped up. Allen Jenkins' comic relief is sometimes too loud but occasionally funny. **1/2 out of 4.