The Great Hospital Mystery
Cast & Crew
James Tinling
Jane Darwell
Sig Rumann
Sally Blane
Thomas Beck
Joan Davis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
A robbery takes place at the Triborough Savings Bank. As the robbers leave, they kidnap Allen Tracy. With the police in pursuit, Allen crashes the car, forcing all to flee by foot. Back at the bank, Dr. David McKerry pronounces a guard dead while his fiancée, nurse Ann Smith, is questioned about the robbery. Allen goes to his best friend, Tom Kirby, an intern at the Samaritan Hospital, begging for help, saying he is "as good as a dead man." The hospital superintendent, Dr. Triggert, arrives, telling Tom that he has failed his medical school exams for a third time. Upset, Tom devises a plan to save Allen from the gangsters and get even with Triggert, but it requires Ann's help. As the gangsters watch, Allen checks himself into the hospital as a patient of Triggert, requesting Ann as his nurse. He is put in room 707. At the same time, hypochondriac Mortimer Beatty is checked into room 708 and is treated by inept student nurse Flossie Duffy. Ann announces that her patient has died, orders his body sent to the morgue, and begs David to sign the death certificate. When the body is examined by nursing supervisor Miss Keats, she finds a bullet wound. Detective Lieutenant Mattoon arrives and immediately suspects Ann. Keats, having heard someone on the fire escape earlier, ties a string from the fire escape to a statute on her desk. When the statue moves, Keats calls for Mattoon, thinking they have caught the killer, but it is only Flossie trying to sneak out for a date. Examining the body more closely, they discover that it has been dead for twelve hours, long before Allen checked in. The body is actually that of Jacob Pearl, a charity ward patient who died earlier that day. David goes to Tom's office, but is knocked out by an unknown assailant. When the police question Beatty, he says he heard two gunshots and saw a man crawl out of the room, but heard no other sounds. Keats checks Tom's office, finding a note to Ann. When Flossie finds Tom's dead body in the sun room, shot through the heart, Ann agrees to tell all. She confesses that Allen is actually her brother, Arthur Smith, who was once involved with the Lucky Frank gang. By chance, the gang robbed the bank while Allen was waiting for Ann. Tom then came up with the idea of using an unclaimed dead body for Allen, so the gangsters would think he was dead. Mattoon accuses Ann and Allen of killing Tom as a cover-up, but Keats knows better. Triggert orders an appendectomy for Beatty. In the operating room, the patient is discovered to be Allen, causing David to accuse Triggert of the murders. Allen is put in room 415, along with his sister, who has been given a sedative. In Keats's office, the statue moves again and all race to Allen's room. The killer escapes David and Mattoon, but Keats knock him out with the statue. The killer turns out to be Beatty, a out-of-town "hit man." Back in Keats's office, congratulations are shared by all until Flossie has a sudden pain. Triggert exams her, finding that she has appendicitis. Flossie, in pain, replies, "I bet you say that to all the girls."
Director
James Tinling
Cast
Jane Darwell
Sig Rumann
Sally Blane
Thomas Beck
Joan Davis
William Demarest
George Walcott
Wade Boteler
Howard Phillips
Ruth Peterson
Carl Faulkner
Frank G. Fanning
Davison Clark
Pat O'malley
Margaret Brayton
Gloria Roy
Lew Harvey
Tom Mahoney
Robert E. Homans
Lona Andre
Stanley Mack
Crew
Sam Berson
Arthur Berthelet
Jerry Cady
Eddie Collins
William Conselman
G. P. Costello
Edwin H. Curtis
Nick Demaggio
Edward Ebele
Mack Elliott
Adele Farnum
Duke Goux
Herschel
Al Hogselt
Albert Hogsett
Harry Jackson
Harry Jackson
Samuel Kaylin
Harry M. Leonard
Winnie Leverett
Bess Meredyth
J. C. Milligan
Paul Monroe
Eddie Petzoldt
Mary Raffa
Stanley Scheuer
Johnny Schmitz
Samuel Schneider
John Stone
Junius Stout
Henry Weinberger
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The original title of this film was Dead Yesterday and it was reviewed under that title by a number of contemporary sources. According to Daily Variety, Allan Dwan was originally assigned to direct this film.
