Toubib or not toubib

Watching Doctor In The House which was the first in the Doctor Simon Sparrow series that was a standby for Dirk Bogarde it put me in mind of the American film Not As A Stranger which came out the following year. Both films dealt with medical students and their training. While the American film was quite serious and quite good this film overed a lot of the same ground.

Bogarde's Dr. Sparrow is an earnest and serious character who just keeps falling into comic situations that seem to find him. This is a funny film, but Bogarde plays it absolutely serious as he did in the whole series and the comedy just plays off him.

Kenneth More who is his best friend plays it far more laughs. If you see Not As A Stranger note Robert Mitchum as the lead like Bogarde and More is most like Frank Sinatra who was Mitchum's best friend. The parallels are quite striking.

A lot of familiar faces from British cinema are in the cast. James Robertson Justice of the booming voice is the terror of the students. He takes a special interest in Bogarde though like Broderick Crawford did in Mitchum in Not As A Stranger. Robertson Justice would return in the sequels so popular was his character.

Bogarde who always took on quirky and challenging roles throughout his career always came back to Simon Sparrow. I suspect he liked the money and some of his more challenging parts didn't yield well at he box office.

Doctor In The House holds up well as does the rest of the series I've seen so far.

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.

Doctor In The House was so successful that it spawned not only six sequels (of diminishing quality) but also a television spin-off. Oddly enough this success works against it, as it is easy to forget how good the original was.

Medical school provides a good background for the comedy capers, as well as providing a sound plot structure that some of the sequels lacked.

Dirk Bogarde leads a very strong cast, which includes such familiar British comedy faces as Joan Sims and Shirley Eaton in small roles. Kenneth More provides strong support to Bogarde but the great James Robertson Justice, in his signature role as Sir Lancelot Spratt steals the movie. Despite only appearing in a handful of scenes, Justice dominates the screen, notably in the famous `What's the bleeding time' scene.

Luscious colour photography adds to the enjoyment as the movie delivers a great hour and half of escapist fun, still fresh and breezy after almost fifty years, I'd recommend this move to any one who is interested in British comedy.

James Robertson Justice was born to play Sir Lancelot Spratt, an iconic figure who can't fail to bring a smile to your face simply by walking into a room......you just know what is coming next! I grew up with this film and the other Doctor films, and whilst the rest were average to good, this just stands out as the perfect example of British comedy making in the 1950's. The bridge from Ealing to Carry On! The cast is to die for, J R J, Kenneth More (so underrated), Donald Houston, Muriel Pavlow, Kay Kendall and Donald Sinden. The dialogue is superb...what's the bleeding time...ten past ten sir!!! I can't recommend this film high enough, if you ever are feeling a little low or just want to sit and watch something innocent and intelligent that will make you laugh.....Doctor in the House is just what should be ordered!!!!