Doctor at Large

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. ***

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.

This entry in the "Doctor At Large" series has a great cast but little direction. The film is really little more than a series of picaresque encounters, enlivened by a solid support cast that largely manages to overcome Ralph Thomas's heavy-handed direction. Dirk Bogarde and Muriel Pavlow are both okay, but it's a pity so much of the plot is given over to Donald Sinden, who is the least graceful member of the cast. He tries vainly to give a Kenneth More edge to the part. Shirley Eaton looks great. It's a real shame her role is so small. And speaking of small roles, Dr Richard Gordon can be spotted in the brief scene with James Robertson Justice. He's the diminutive doctor in the green (? -- my still is in black-and-white) cap and gown.

"Doctor at Large" is the third installment of the "Doctor" series, with Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), losing a higher level position at St. Swithins, tries out several other scenarios where he can practice.

This is a very light film, without much plot, except that Simon comes up against Benskin (Donald Sinden), his rival at St. Swithins, who gets the position that Sparrow wanted. It's humorous without being riotous.

The best scene for me was when Simon and Nan McPherson (Shirley Eaton) stay overnight at an inn. The proprietress puts them on different floors, and when Simon attempts to sneak downstairs into Nan's room, the woman comes out into the hall. "I was looking for the bathroom," he says. "It's on your floor," she says. "The door is marked 'Bathroom.'" Then she sits in the hall, thus thwarting further attempts.

The cast is good, and Muriel Pavlov is back as Joy. It's really interesting to see Bogarde in this type of film, for which he is so well known, as he spent much of his career doing dark roles in deeper films: "The Servant," "The Night Porter," Death in Venice," and "Victim," to name only a few.

The commercial cinema traded on his matinée idol looks; but his heart was elsewhere. Nevertheless, he handled this type of film very well, giving the character a gentleness that people like to see in a real doctor.

I think it's a riot that when he appeared in Shaw's "Doctor's Dilemma" on film, the British audience steered clear when they found out it wasn't part of the "Doctor" series. Obviously, these films are beloved, particularly in England.

I hadn't seen this since I was a young teenager in the early 1970s and on rewatching it yesterday I realised that this film, along with Richard Gordon's book "Doctor in the House", inspired me to apply for medical school. Mind you, if I'd behaved like the students and doctors portrayed here I would have been struck off. I sure kissing patients, even private ones is not encouraged any more. It's not at all far fetched. If anything a rather restrained and gentle version of medical life.

The film is a succession of set-piece comedy sketches some of which are very creaky in a Carry On Doctor style but what must have got to the younger me was the time Simon Sparrow spent as a locum GP in Scotland (poached fish - I've certainly had some of them from patients) and his reassurance to a scared pre-operative patient which I used as a model in my own career.