Doctor at Sea

An average, very English fifties comedy, set on a freight ship.

Nevertheless this movie offers two outstanding dimensions: the first is leading man Dirk Bogarde, who plays with his usual excellence.

The second is Brigitte Bardot, adding much charm by her English-with-a-French-accent.

By the way, the English film crew did a magnificent job on Brigitte: out of the many thousand of shots spanning her entire career, those from 'Doctor at Sea' are among the very best. For this reason alone it is really worth watching this movie.

2 years out of medical school now, Dr. Simon Sparrow takes a post as a ship's doctor to escape the not-so-good intentions of an amorous female friend. His post is on a cargo ship, so there's no girls aboard! Naturally this all changes when they acquire two female passengers, one being, as it would happen, Miss Bardot. Pretty predictable after that, but there are some good laughs and a lot of fun, though it's not as good as Doctor In The House. The hilarious James Robertson Justice is here again, though in a different role to the last movie, but it's a huge shame that the delightful Muriel Pavlow is missing from the cast! Considering Bogarde ended up with her at the end of the last movie, it's curious where her character seems to have gotten to; she doesn't even garner a mention from him at the start of the film. At least she appears to be in the further sequels.

7/10 - Pavlow over Bardot any day!

The second in the popular British comedy series already shows signs of flagging from the class evident in the original film. For one thing, the change of setting proves a bit of a quandary: it both opens up and cramps the jokes (while generally ship-bound, we do get a stretch on dry land – which sees the hero first involved with a drunken blonde and falling foul of her father and then put to jail for being 'under the influence' himself!).

Incidentally, while Dirk Bogarde reprises his role of Simon Sparrow, both James Robertson Justice and George Coulouris (who were also in DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE [1954]) play new characters here – the former's gruffness, while amusing at first, borders on caricature eventually; similarly, Brenda de Banzie's middle-aged passenger (pampered daughter of the seafaring company's President) is somewhat over bearing, evoking memories of Kay Walsh in an episode from the portmanteau film TRIO (1950). Bogarde's love interest, then, is rather incongruously filled by Brigitte Bardot – who's undeniably attractive but not yet the sex symbol of subsequent repute (although she does get to be seen taking a shower at one point).

Gags and innuendo sometimes approach the broad humor one normally associates with the rival "Carry On" series (which was actually still three years away from its inception) and CARRY ON CRUISING (1962) in particular (both films, in fact, culminated in a party on deck which ends in disaster).

A fairly faithful rendition of Richard Gordon's semi-biographical novel of the same name. The characters are "right", the episodic nature of the story follows, even if loosely, the basic form of the novel. The "south American Port" is an amalgam of Santos and Buenos Aires, and is pretty accurate for those places in the 1950's. The relationships between the officers, crew, and the general milieu is also very accurate. There are some superb scenes, my absolute favourite being the logging (the Merchant Navy version of a disciplinary hearing) which is both accurate and very funny. As many reviewers have already pointed out, it is a cargo ship, not a cruise ship, and the passengers are actually guests of the company. Finally, it is SS Lotus, a merchant vessel, not HMS.

One year after the highly successful 'Doctor In The House', Bogarde is back as the hapless medic Doctor Simon Sparrow. Unusually, 'St Swithins' is nowhere to be seen, neither are most of the supporting from the first movie. Even the great James Robertson Justice is playing a different character (a 'Doctor' movie without Sir Lancelot? Unthinkable!)

That said, it's pretty much business as usual, as Doctor Sparrow runs away to sea and gets himself involved in several embarrassing situations, while James Robertson Justice roars and blusters as Captain Hogg.

One shapely distraction is none other than Brigitte Bardot, in her first English-speaking role. A shower scene especially raises our hero's temperature!

Veteran actor Maurice Denham makes the most of a supporting role, while familiar British faces fill out the rest of the cast.

While not as good as the first movie, it never outstays it's welcome and is good fun.