Nurse on Wheels

This type of movie played a major part of my childhood/early 'teens. During the school holidays (or when ever I was off ill during term time), there was always an old black and white movie playing on Monday and Friday afternoons.

Sometimes a thriller or a war movie, most of the time a comedy, all of them 'forgotten' movies such as this one.

Re-watching 'Nurse On Wheels' after almost twenty years a few things become obvious. The most important being that, despite what some marketing people have tried to do recently, this isn't a 'Carry On' movie under a different name. The humour is more gentle and sentimental (though the movie ends with a variation on 'Carry On Nurse's famous 'daffodil gag') and comes across as a slightly more serious 'Doctor' movie. In fact parts of it verge on comedy-drama, for example Raymond Huntley's Vicar is no comedy eccentric, but a man going through a crisis of faith (or simply compare Jim Dale's comic turn as an expectant father in 'Carry On Cabby', with his more serious role in this).

Once again Juliet Mills lights up the screen, proving to have genuine screen presence and she is backed by a typically strong cast of familiar British faces. Not a movie to watch for belly laughs, but a pleasant, charming movie that they really do not make any more.

In the style of the carry on films with producer and music from the above, and full of so many of the best famous names in British film comedy ! It may not be one of the greatest films, but with the cast and the music it's still a class example British film comedy of the 1960's.

Juliet Mills was rewarded for her charming performance as a nurse in 'Twice Round the Daffodils' with the title role in this breezy little comedy in black & white.

A strong female supporting cast includes Esma Cannon as Mills's feather-brained mother ("How your mind wanders. I wonder who you get it from!"), Joan Sims in a refreshingly 'normal' role, with a name - Deborah Walcott - to match, and Athene Seyler in her final big screen appearance.

Among the men Jim Dale plays the first of two expectant fathers in a row for director Gerald Thomas, and Ronald Lewis (who's Land Rover carries a tax disc bearing an April 63 expiry date) is unfortunately a boor as Mills's supposed love interest (which makes it a pleasure to see him scared witless by her driving in a white-knuckle drive through the fictional village of Blandley which is probably the film's comic highlight).

This film is funny. Make no mistake about that. It's a gem of a comedy which provokes out-loud laughter in abundance. A whole host of comic characters are at hand to deliver some unforgettable lines amid a very simple, ungarnished plot.

Passing her driving test qualifies nurse Joanna Jones (Juliet Mills) for a position as a district nurse. So she, together with her dotty mother, moves into an out-of-the-way village to take up her new duties. After twenty-odd years under the care of an elderly district nurse, the villagers are somewhat distrustful of the young and beautiful Nurse Jones. This leads to some hilarious situations as the new district nurse is thrown amongst the village's inhabitants. Abel Worthy (brilliantly played by the irascible Noel Purcell) is felled by a tin of corned beef - just one in a series of delightful mishaps. And the dialogue is even funnier. `You know Dr Golfrey's secretary? That flighty young thing? Well, she's flown.'

Esma Cannon relishes the role of Joanna's eccentric mother and Norman Rossington plays a blinder as George Judd, the lovelorn hob-jobber but Juliet Mills is nothing short of outstanding in the lead role.

All in all, Nurse On Wheels is a wonderful example of English comedy. It may be a cliché but they don't make 'em like this anymore.

Nurse Joanna Jones finally passes her driving test and thus is eligible to take the job as District Nurse in a small country village. When she manages to get to her new location with her dotty mother in tow, she finds that she has got to fill the very large shoes of her predecessor Nurse Merrick. Settling into her job, Jones gets to know the eccentric set of patients she has to deal with – not to mention the attractive Dr Golfrey and the embittered local vicar.

Modern packaging and marketing of this film would have you believe that it is part of the Carry On series but even a viewing of the first 15 minutes will tell you that, other than Joan Sims, this has very little in common with Carry On Nurse (which was of the similar period). Instead of the freewheeling irreverence of that series this is much more structured and actually a mix of a light humour with a reasonable story. This is not to say that it is brilliant of course, because it is a fairly unremarkable affair although it is enjoyable if you meet it on its own terms. The humour is consistently gentle but does coax out some laughs while producing an amusing tone throughout, it isn't hilarious of course but I quite liked it and did find it a bit more refined than the other Nurse film (although it does have some similar joking, including a "bottom" joke at the end that is reminiscent of Nurse's famous daffodil conclusion).

The cast are quite pleasing and they seem to take to the relaxed tone of the material easier than the rather forced "wackiness" of the Carry On films. Mills is pretty and pitches it well in the lead role, but many of her scenes are stolen from her by Cannon's wonderfully comic dotty mother. Support features some good turns from Sims, Dale and a few others but I must admit that I wasn't overly taken by Howard as Dr Golfrey.

Overall this is an enjoyable film even if it isn't anything special and is never hilarious at any point. The cast do well with the tone of the material and the film delivers a consistent good humour within a story that is well enough structured to stand up better than some of the Carry On films that did feel a bit like a collection of sketches at times.