In the Doghouse

Having just dashed off a trio of Brian Rix vehicles this production-line Leslie Phillips comedy could only be a step up for director Darcy Conyers; although it proved his final feature film (ditto female lead Peggy Cummins; seen modelling a basque as a showgirl in a double act with a monkey).

Although the title tells you all you need to know about the level of wit to be anticipated, some of writer Michael Pertwee's sardonic wit makes it into the film (including digs at the tabloid press and a final gag about the Queen's corgis which can still be understood after six decades) and it shows a prescient concern with animal welfare.

Leslie Phillips struggles with this drama/comedy that has a few very predictable gags and some serious scenes that don't really fit together.

As a new graduate, Phillips runs an ethical vet practice while a fellow student that cheated on his exams runs a wealthy but dodgy business, and uses Phillips in a scheme to export old horses to France for their meat.

Phillips was known at the time on the TV series "Doctor in the house", and it's a bit difficult to know at the start of the scene whether it's going to be a funny scene or tragic, which sometimes makes for uncomfortable viewing.

The film is typical of its era.Films about Doctors,midwives,nurses,and here vets.It isn't up to to the standard of the Betty Box and Peter Rogers films.The humour,particularly the climax is too forced and the slapstick comedy doesn't really work.Poor old Fans Cannon is lumbered with a rather lachrymose part.Phillips shines brightest.

Leslie Philips graduates from veterinary college after ten years, when they run the same exam as seven years earlier. He buys a moribund practice where everyone wants him to put down unwanted pets. His love of animals brings him unusual patients like a lion, and a chimp belonging to showgirl Peggy Cummins (in her last big-screen role). Meanwhile, unscrupulous fellow vet James Booth seduces the ladies, works out advertising and quackery, and gets Phillips involved in an unlicensed scheme to ship horses to France for butchering.

It's one of those British comedies that came into popularity with the DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE series about various professionals and their humorous tribulations. All it lacks is James Robertson Justice as the curmudgeonly authority figure. Certainly, with all the animals, it runs more to the slapstick than that series. Although I began watching it with a weary expectation, I found the combination of cute animals and Phillips' befuddled, sympathetic nature made it enjoyable.

Episodic mix of humor and pathos as bumbling Fox-Upton (Leslie Phillips) struggles to finally pass (on his fifth attempt) his exams to become a veterinarian and begin a practice. He buys a small London practice only to find that the cheating Skeffington (James Booth) opens a swank practice around the corner.

Several little stories about Fox-Upton's dealings with the locals, meeting a woman (Peggy Cummins) and her mischievous chimp, and Skeffington's plan to sell horses for meat in France. Not always a good mix and some bits are rather too long, but Phillips is quite good.

Lots of familiar faces include Hattie Jacques as a sympathetic cop, Esma Cannon as an old-age pensioner, Dick Bentley as a horse thief, and Joan Hickson, Vida Hope, Peggy Thorpe-Bates, Joan Young, Judith Furse, Patsy Rowlands as various women, and Fenella Fielding as another of her plummy-voiced eccentrics.