Doctor in Clover

The sixth movie in the long-running "Doctor" comedy series sees the format begin to show it's age. The series, which had by now ran for over twelve years has now more or less lost it's direction. In place of Dirk Bogarde's Simon Sparrow we have Leslie Phillips,who does his best with a script which abandons the wit of the earlier movies and replaces it with second-rate slapstick.

Once again James Robertson Justice's Lancalot Spratt is the main reason to watch this movie, but the sub-plot (Spratt clashes with Matron Joan Sims, over his pet parrot)is possibly the weakest of the series and JRJ has all too few scenes.

Compared to the Carry On's which were now hitting their peak, this movie seems jaded, lacking laughs as well as looking cheap. It's watchable enough, thanks to the efforts of the cast, but should have been far funnier.

Once Dirk Bogarde stopped doing the Doctor movies (based on Richard Gordon's autobiographical Doctor In The House series), they declined in quality, but this one wasn't too bad.

Leslie Phillips plays his trademark slightly ageing roue part as Dr Grimsdyke, but as is usual with Doctor films, it's the lesser characters - James Robertson Justice as the eminent surgeon, Joan Sims as Matron, Fenella Fielding as an opera singer who's a patient in the hospital who make this a good example of 50s/60s Britcom.

Not very good, but OK if you like that sort of thing.

Doctor in the House was released in 1954 and promptly became the start of a franchise of Brit comedy films. The quality and standard of each film, a total of seven, varies and will always be a subject of debate among fans. Clover, the 6th offering, isn't particularly great, and minus series regular Dirk Bogarde, it is often painted as the runt of the litter. Yet there are some strengths worthy of time spent with the pic to save it from sequel damnation.

Leslie Phillips fronts up as the focal point, he's a randy doctor who as he attempts to go about his fanciful Lothario ways, becomes acutely aware of his advancing years, cue his attempts at looking young. James Robertson Justice is still on hand as the boisterous Sir Lancelot Spratt, while Joan Sims, Fenella Fielding, Arthur Haynes, Shirley Anne Field and John Fraser are filing in for some daft medical shenanigans.

It's a bit "Carry On" lite, at times feeling like it's trying to be more risqué than is possible. Yet Fielding and Haynes are super as strong personality patients, Phillips carries the movie with ease, while Justice cuts lose from the gruff persona - to see him have fun courtesy of a dubious serum plot line. Nobody's idea of a British classic, for sure, but fun enough with a G&T on a Sunday afternoon. 6/10

By this time the Doctor films were using the Carry-On scripts. It's all very familiar and features a lot of Carry-On regulars, including Terry Scott as a gay hairdresser. The series had also lost the edge of the original Bogarde films, this being very much more slapstick. It's nice to see Robertson Justice reprising his role, but his character has now become a parady figure of fun. The popular "swinging sixties" element gets into the film here as there is references to Carnaby Street and girls in mini-skirts, coupled with a repetitive pop tune of the era. Leslie Phillips is good though and settles into the role of a charming, but bungling cad with ease. I would like to know why during the end credits the film suddenly goes into rewind. It strikes me as very odd.

Crassly retitled 'Carnaby, M.D.' in the United States; with a couple of songs by Kiki Dee to bring Richard Gordon's creation into the swinging sixties. With Leslie Phillips in the lead the slide of the Doctor films into another 'Carry On' series was complete.

When I first saw this movie in 1976 I was very impressed by the actor who played Tarquin Wendover and was shocked to learn he died the same year it was released (the stay in hospital presumably hadn't done him any good). That marked my introduction to Arthur Haynes; whose presence in this otherwise thoroughly unnecessary film justifies it's existence.