Police detective Lance O’Leary (Patric Knowles) is having a nervous breakdown. He had been recuperating at home, but when he starts sleepwalking outside, his doctor, Dr. Arthur Lethany (Harland Tucker), brings him to the hospital to rest. O’Leary is put into room 18 at the private Thatcher Hospital. O’Leary’s girlfriend, Sara Keate (Ann Sheridan) works at the hospital. Lately they have been having a bit of a spat. Sara has been helping O’Leary on some of his cases. O’Leary wants Sara to quit nursing, settle down, at get married. Sara isn’t ready to give up her freedom to become a housewife.
Frank Warren (Edward McWade) is a wealthy VIP who checks into the hospital for a special procedure under the care of Dr. Lethany. He is given room 13, but Mr. Warren is superstitious, so he is then given room 18. O’Leary is moved from Room 18 to Room 13. The procedure that Warren is in the hospital for includes taping $100,000 worth of radium to his chest. The radium is in a small package. That night Warren is killed by an overdose of morphine and the $100,000 worth of radium is stolen. The killer hides the radium in a flowerpot and disappears.
Inspector Foley (Cliff Clark) is called in to investigate. As Foley questions everyone, it is discovered that Dr. Lethany has disappeared. Speculation as what happened to the doctor is put to rest when his body is found stuffed in a closet. With everyone having motives, affairs, and issues with everyone else, it’s up to O’Leary to lay a trap for the murderer.
“The Patient in Room 18” was released in 1938 and was directed by Bobby Connolly and Crane Wilbur. It is an American murder mystery. The film was based on the 1929 novel by Mignon G. Eberhart. It is the first of seven novels written by Eberhart featuring the crime solving nurse, Sarah Keate. It is also the fourth Sarah Keate story to be made into a film and the second featuring Ann Sheridan as Nurse Keate.
This is one of the plethora of mystery movies done in the late thirties and early forties that rely heavily on comedy to keep the plot going. Somehow it is supposed to make up for the lack of continuity in the story. The slightly disjointed feel of the film may have something to do with the fact that two directors were involved in the movie, or it may be because the story had to be trimmed to fit into a 58-minute movie. It is an OK mystery, and it gets the job done, but nothing super special.
Radium was discovered in 1898 by Madame Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie. At the time the film was made, radium was used for a lot of things and was put in a lot of products. Toothpaste, paint, even food sometimes had radium added to it. Since the thirties it was discovered that radium is poisonous and causes cancer. It is still used in industrial radiography and medicine when used properly.