Aber, Herr Doktor

Were this med-school frolic made today, I expect the raunch factor would top out at 10. But this is 1954, and there are still limits, and something quaint called "good taste". As a result, the humor depends more on character and tempting the limits than it does on bedpans and tossing limits aside. The laughs come less from the obvious or outrageous, and more subtly from situations and wit (except for the street chase, which really doesn't come off that well). True, the movie may be no knee-slapper, but neither does it cause indigestion afterwards.

Well, you do have to accept that these 30-somethings are still young enough to be starting med-school, something of a stretch. Nonetheless, Bogarde and Co. come through as a likable crew, and I think I'll get sick on the off-chance that the cute little number Muriel Pavlow will be my nurse. Too bad we don't see more of that gifted and sexy comedienne Kay Kendall. I love the way she snubs Houston after he makes an untoward remark-- what a classy looking gal who died much too young. And, of course, there's the imperious James Robertson Justice looking and sounding like Emperor of the Universe, but really a regular guy when the chips are down.

I like the way the unassuming Sparrow (Bogarde) comes to a sense of confidence and pride after delivering his first baby. It's his first case and now, after all the training and sacrifice, he departs the house, a real doctor. What a fine, versatile actor Bogarde was. Anyway, the movie holds up pretty well, a nice balance of the antic and the affable.

I cannot see how anybody can dislike this delicious film. One liners stay in the mind like the infamous

"What's the bleeding time, son?" and

"Cut it out, man, cut it out"

from the wonderful James Robertson Justice.

Muriel Pavlow is the girlfriend that went on to, well, do not much else but Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston developed and honed their excellent comedy talent.

Dirk Bogarde is a marvellous innocent in the lead as Dr. Simon Sparrow enduring a four-year trial in Saint Swithens Medical School. But Kenneth More and James Robertson Justice each steal every scene they are in. The dialogue is hilarious and the sight gags even better, but the movie also works for me on a "truth and beauty" level as well. Marvellous, fast-paced entertainment that holds up well to this day!

Dirk Bogarde was at the height of his matinée idol handsomeness when he made "Doctor in the House," a 1954 film that led to a series of films. It also stars Kenneth More, Kay Kendall, Muriel Pavlow, James Robertson Justice, and Donald Sinden.

The story concerns the hijinks of the young medical students as they flirt with the nurses, attempt to pass their boards (sometimes more than once), drink, and party.

Bogarde is Simon Sparrow, the naive, serious-minded young man who comes into this den of playboys. Everyone is very good, especially James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt, a role he truly made his own.

Bogarde, as always, injects some shyness and gentleness into the proceedings, and his scene with a new young mother when he delivers her baby is especially sweet.

Bogarde had a fascinating career path - he wasn't really interested in being a "movie star," as such, and worked his way into character parts and finally working with directors like Visconti in prestigious, if not widely distributed, films. He also had a very prolific writing career.

If you like these "Doctor" films, this one is probably the best, so you're sure to enjoy it.

John Davis, the dreaded executive producer at Pinewood was so wary of setting a film in a hospital he made the cast wear sports jackets rather than white coats in the publicity pictures; fortunately it went on to be a big hit, and the rest is history.

Lavishly produced, it provides the pleasure of seeing plenty of familiar faces in Technicolor - not to mention Kenneth More's loud waistcoats - recording in colour a London in which people still carried ration books, a phone call cost thruppence and ten quid constituted a hefty fine.

Serving as the ego to the id of the Carry On's, some of whose regulars put in fleeting appearances (including a very young Shirley Eaton bearing very little resemblance to the svelte young sixties chick she ripened into), James Robinson Justice doesn't dominate the proceedings as he later did; while by bizarre coincidence Ernest Clark - who later took over his function as Professor Loftus in the seventies TV spin-off - is also in it.

The lovely Kay Kendal briefly glides through it as a dinner date with a taste for caviare; while Lisa Gastoni also makes an uncredited but striking appearance - first seen in a green leather coat - in a dubbed role as a tart, bespectacled rival student.