The Impatient Maiden *** (1932, Mae Clarke, Lew Ayres, Una Merkel, Andy Devine, John Halliday) – Classic Movie Review 12,123

The Impatient Maiden (1932, Mae Clarke, John Halliday).

Director James Whale’s 1932 Universal Pictures American pre-Code drama film The Impatient Maiden stars Mae Clarke, Lew Ayres and Una Merkel.

The Impatient Maiden is a modest but intriguing romantic-comedy drama – which remains shaky despite the bright cast and an excellent director – with a rather daft story about a daffy secretary called Ruth Robbins (Mae Clarke) who won’t marry an infatuated ambulance medic named Dr Myron Brown (Lew Ayres) till he proves himself, which he does by cutting out her appendix.

It was a studio chore for James Whale. The Impatient Maiden is not really ideal material for a rather uninvolved-seeming director Whale, who made it at the request of his Universal Pictures boss, Carl Laemmle Jr, when the original director Cyril Gardner was dismissed. Whale brought in Clarke from his Frankenstein film and her teaming with the already cast Ayres proves enduringly enjoyable. Ayres claimed that Whale gave him no direction.

James Whale on the set of The Invisible Man (1933).

The screenplay, by Richard Schayer and Winifred Dunn and partly by Frankenstein collaborator Francis Edward Faragoh, is based on Donald Henderson Clarke’s novel The Impatient Virgin. Note the subtle title change of Virgin into Maiden.

The Impatient Maiden is a fascinating curio, certainly of great interest to Whale’s fans.

Also in the cast are John Halliday, Andy Devine, Berton Churchill, Arthur Hoyt, Ethel Griffies, Helen Jerome Eddy, Bert Roach, and Cecil Cunningham.

Whale’s story is told in the 1998 biopic Gods and Monsters.

The Impatient Maiden is directed by James Whale, runs 74 minutes, is made and released by Universal, is written by Francis Edward Faragoh, Richard Schayer (screenplay) and Winifred Dunn (screenplay), based on the novel The Impatient Virgin by Donald Henderson Clarke, is shot in black and white by Arthur Edeson, is produced by Carl Laemmle Jr (producer) and E M Asher (associate producer), and designed by Charles D Hall.

It uses stock music by James Dietrich and J S Zamecnik.

It was released on 1 March 1932.

The cast are Lew Ayres as Dr Myron Brown, Mae Clarke as Ruth Robbins, Una Merkel as Betty Merrick, Andy Devine as Clarence Howe, John Halliday as Albert Hartman, Oscar Apfel as Dr Wilcox, Ethel Griffies as Nurse Lovett, Helen Jerome Eddy as Mrs. Gilman, Bert Roach as Mr Gilman, Cecil Cunningham as Mrs Rosy, Lorin Raker as Mr Rosy, Blanche Payson as Mrs. Thomas, Arthur Hoyt as Mr Thomas, Monte Montague as ambulance driver, Elspeth Dudgeon, Hattie McDaniel, Walter Brennan, Francis Ford, Mary Gordon, Olaf Hytten, Edwin Maxwell, Ellinor Vanderveer, and Dick Winslow.

Films directed by James Whale: Journey’s End (1930), Hell’s Angels (1930) [director of dialogue], Waterloo Bridge (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Impatient Maiden (1932), The Old Dark House (1932), The Kiss Before the Mirror (1933), The Invisible Man (1933), By Candlelight (1933), One More River (1934), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Remember Last Night? (1935), Show Boat (1936), The Road Back (1937), The Great Garrick (1937), Sinners in Paradise (1938), Wives Under Suspicion (1938), Port of Seven Seas (1938), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), Green Hell (1940), and They Dare Not Love (1941).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,123

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