Hilfe, der Doktor kommt!

Not as good as the first (Doctor In The House), but easily better than the second, Doctor At Sea, and it's great to see Joy (Muriel Pavlow) make a welcome return. James Robertson Justice is at his acerbic best in this installment, and the predicaments Dirk Bogarde gets himself into in the rural practitioners are hilarious. 7.5/10.

After the high seas high-jinx of the previous movie, 'Doctor At Sea', 'Doctor At Large' sees the series go back to basics, with a return to St Swithin's and a reunion with all the main cast of 'Doctor In The House' (with the single exception of Kenneth More).

This return is a slight disappointment, as it never seems to recapture the magic of the original. Part of the problem is, I think, down to the script. There is no plot worth mentioning, more a series of sketches, some good, some bad, while the fact that this move seems to change it's setting every ten minutes or so, (the scene changes from London to Birmingham, Ireland, London again, the countryside, the South of France and back to London again) prevents you getting involved with the characters.

However, this constant change does have it's advantages, for one thing it shows off possibly the best cast ever assembled for a British comedy, with even the smallest role filled out by a familiar face. But, again, their appearance is usually limited to one or two brief scenes.

Of the cast, Lionel Jefferies and Dilys Laye catch the eye, as a seedy, mean, slightly sinister Doctor and his (much) younger blonde wife. Donald Sinden, reprising his role as Benskin from 'Doctor In The House' is fun to watch, playing a character not that different from the ones that Leslie Phillips would later play in the series. While James Robertson Justice hardly seems to be in this move, appearing briefly at the beginning but then not seen until the last twenty minutes or so of the picture.

On the whole 'Doctor At Large' is fun to watch and has a few good jokes (the 'big breaths' joke for example) but never seems to catch fire. It's worth watching but is far from being the best vehicle for Bogarde's Simon Sparrow.

After trying out being a ship's doctor in Doctor At Sea, Dr. Simon Sparrow returns home to Great Britain just looking for a place in the medical world. He gets a post at St. Swithins Hospital, but promptly insults the head honcho there James Robertson Justice. After that Dirk Bogarde as Sparrow for the third in the Doctor series gets to try and practice medicine in a variety of unusual and amusing situations.

Bogarde once again strikes the right note as the earnest, dedicated, but a little bit socially challenged Dr. Sparrow. He's got the knack of not bumbling so much as walking into these incredible situations and people and sometimes mucking it up. But somehow it all works out in the end.

Doctor At Large also boasts the usual memorable character players prominently as always James Robertson Justice as the tyrannical Dr. Lancelot Spratt who terrifies all who come within range of his booming voice. One guy who thinks he's got JRJ in his pocket is kiss up Dr. Michael Medwin who gains a coveted position on the surgical staff that Bogarde wanted originally. He screws up in the end though quite accidentally, still it's always good to see one of his kind lose out.

But the guy who actually steals this film whenever he's on the screen is Donald Sinden. That this guy could become a doctor should frighten everyone in the United Kingdom. You have to see his 'examination' and how he gets his medical degree to believe it. Basically this guy became a doctor to get girls and he pursues that avocation quite avidly. Quite the rake Sinden, he does everything but twirl his mustache like some Snidely Whiplash villain. Most American audiences know him from being Grace Kelly's earnest, but dull husband in Mogambo. This is quite a change.

Watching the Doctor series from Great Britain I'm struck by the fact that across the pond they seem to take a more lighthearted view of medicine than we do. It wasn't until after the Code was lifted that doctors were ever portrayed in a light hearted manner.

Doctor At Large holds up quite well even for American viewers like myself who would not be acquainted with the fine points of the British health system. This series could easily be revived today, I could see someone like Hugh Grant playing Dr. Simon Sparrow.

English medical comedy in the dark medium of a theater, is often subtle, urbane and sleigh of hand. For American audiences, we see British laughter in two ways, either loud and in your face, such as Monte Python's Flying Circus or tall abrupt and seriously stuffy as in this offering. This film " Doctor at Large " is the second installment and although much is expected, falls a bit flat. Despite having two of the finest English actors like Dirk Bogarde as Dr. Simon Sparrow and James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt, the movie, like the story is hampered with fractured scenes and little adhesion to comedy. One wonders if the characters are seeking sympathy for the script or for the jumbled set of patients which range from the very neurotic to the very eccentric. The movie strives for understanding, but despite its best efforts never achieves the nobility of the original. A great waste of serious talent. ***

A typical film of the "doldrums" era of British cinema.

A formulaic, lacklustre comedy with the type of populist humour that was acceptable, perhaps even funny, to audiences of the 1950's.

You can see it very much as a forerunner to the smutty humour of the Carry On series but this was 1957 and they couldn't get away with very much just yet.

What humour there is is very lame and pretty cringey. The big breaths "joke" particularly. It's no wonder British cinema was disregarded so roundly in this era.

It's obviously before the era of "medical ethics" too, with Dr Sparrow overstepping the doctor/patient boundary quite worryingly at times, putting one rich female patient over his knee and slapping her on the rear end. Again, all a bit cringey. Stereotypes of all kinds abound, racial, social and sexual.

As a period piece on how films were made in the 1950's it's a classic example. It hasn't stood the test of time very well though!