Just another 1970's British sexual comedy not terrible just basic and dated
A famous television "doctor" goes on a cruise that includes a pools winner, models, a camp photographer and a stern captain (a relation to Sir Spratt himself). Dr Burke tries to get onto the same cruise to talk to the wild Ophelia but finds himself stuck when it sails. He tries to hide as a stowaway. Lots of people run around, women are sexy, men are quite horny and so the whole horrible lot sails off into a period of British cinema that some like to forget, some thing of as fun and others call "sh1te".
If you want a potted history of how British film comedy changed in a few decades there are several places you can go but one place is the "Doctor" series of films that started in the 1950's and ended with this one in 1970. At the start the series was light to the point of blandness and very clean humour, however by this point the series has "sunk" to the sexual level of other British comedies of the 1970's such as the Carry On or Confessions type of film. Watching this will show you what I mean as there is loads of partial nudity, suggestive dialogue, Benny Hill ogling and so on. This doesn't mean it is better or worse than the original film but just a different thing and some viewers will enjoy it. Although it isn't high class or that funny, it does have a rough energy to it even if the sexual stuff hits the ground with a massively dated clang. It doesn't really stand out from anything else similar from the period but it is amusing and very genre and will perhaps please those expecting just that. The plot is meaningless of course but this shouldn't surprise anyone.
The British cast help on paper even if there isn't that much strong material for them. Philips has been much better elsewhere but he is a good sport and does his best with the "ooh I say" material that he was forever delivering. Justice barely makes an impression but his role is well covered by Morley who is amusing. Secombe is probably the pick of the cast in real life I would have drowned myself to be free of his character but in the film he was pretty funny and he played it really well. Scoular is rubbish but to be honest most of the female cast are there for their bodies and the material only uses them for such. Dee is flat and seems all at sea alongside much more talented people. Small turns from Chapman and Le Mesurier are of good value though.
Overall this is a very basic film that tries to do all the things that the other sexual comedies of the period were doing. As such it is nothing special although happily it is not painful to watch (as some of them are). Fans of the original Doctor films will feel that this has drifted far from port, while others may just feel it is not that funny but it is distracting if dated stuff that can be enjoyed if in the mood.
If you want a potted history of how British film comedy changed in a few decades there are several places you can go but one place is the "Doctor" series of films that started in the 1950's and ended with this one in 1970. At the start the series was light to the point of blandness and very clean humour, however by this point the series has "sunk" to the sexual level of other British comedies of the 1970's such as the Carry On or Confessions type of film. Watching this will show you what I mean as there is loads of partial nudity, suggestive dialogue, Benny Hill ogling and so on. This doesn't mean it is better or worse than the original film but just a different thing and some viewers will enjoy it. Although it isn't high class or that funny, it does have a rough energy to it even if the sexual stuff hits the ground with a massively dated clang. It doesn't really stand out from anything else similar from the period but it is amusing and very genre and will perhaps please those expecting just that. The plot is meaningless of course but this shouldn't surprise anyone.
The British cast help on paper even if there isn't that much strong material for them. Philips has been much better elsewhere but he is a good sport and does his best with the "ooh I say" material that he was forever delivering. Justice barely makes an impression but his role is well covered by Morley who is amusing. Secombe is probably the pick of the cast in real life I would have drowned myself to be free of his character but in the film he was pretty funny and he played it really well. Scoular is rubbish but to be honest most of the female cast are there for their bodies and the material only uses them for such. Dee is flat and seems all at sea alongside much more talented people. Small turns from Chapman and Le Mesurier are of good value though.
Overall this is a very basic film that tries to do all the things that the other sexual comedies of the period were doing. As such it is nothing special although happily it is not painful to watch (as some of them are). Fans of the original Doctor films will feel that this has drifted far from port, while others may just feel it is not that funny but it is distracting if dated stuff that can be enjoyed if in the mood.
- bob the moo
- Aug 31, 2006