Suspicious characters and mysterious locked doors abound in this "old dark house" thriller adapted from a Mary Robert Rinehart story. When an elderly woman (Clara Blandick, best known as Auntie Em) suffers an injury after discovering her nephew's dead body, inexperienced police detective Regis Toomey gets girlfriend Lee Patrick assigned as her nurse. Together they try to determine whether the death was a suicide, an accident or murder, with a large insurance payment hanging in the balance. Warner Bros. had filmed Rinehart's story as Miss Pinkerton in 1932, with Joan Blondell and George Brent, and as While the Patient Sleeps in 1935, with Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee. Each version has its strong points, but the third and final version has the benefit of surprise. Lee Patrick, who played everything from sluts to daffy society women, only occasionally got a chance to carry a film, which she does with great aplomb this time out. In addition, Regis Toomey gets a rare shot at comedy as the inexperienced police detective bumbling his way through the case. The supporting cast includes such solid character players as Blandick and Charles Waldron, alongside leading ladies in waiting Julie Bishop and Faye Emerson.

By Frank Miller