WHILE THE PATIENT SLEPT (1935)

This is the first of three B-mysteries based on the character Nurse Sarah Keate created by author Mignon Eberhart. They don't crop up too often, but I was pleased to see this one air on Turner Classic Movies not long after I had read the orginal novel. It's one of the few times that a film adaptation has done justice to a book. The whodunit plot is rather convoluted but the acting and atmosphere make the film worthwhile. Aline MacMahon is Nurse Sarah, who has been called in to take care of a ailing man who has lapsed into a coma just as his relatives are gathering at his mansion on the outskirts of town. Guy Kibbee is cop Lance O'Leary who shows up to investigate the murder of one of the relatives. There's a jade elephant that keep disappearing and reappearing, a murder commited with a violin string, and a fair amount of comic behavior from the two leads and Allen Jenkins. Lyle Talbot is the handsome red herring. The bantering relationship between the nurse and the cop is rather like the one between Hildegarde Withers and the inspector in PENGUIN POOL MYSTERY. As I recall from the book, the old house itself is as memorable as any of the characters and the movie does a good job bringing the place to life. Kibbee seems a bit too old for the cop, but MacMahon is great fun. The second in the series, PATIENT IN ROOM 18 has Ann Sheridan and Patrick Knowles, taking the characters in a much younger direction. The third is MYSTERY HOUSE with Sheridan and Dick Purcell. A fourth film, MURDER BY AN ARISTOCRAT, is based on the same character but gives her a slightly different name. [TCM]