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IMDbPro

Toubib en liberté

Original title: Doctor at Large
  • 1957
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
936
YOUR RATING
Toubib en liberté (1957)
Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) graduates and sets out into the world. Hilarious internships with a miserly doctor and his young wife, a country doctor paid in kind not cash, and a quack specializing in rich neurotic women.
Play trailer2:41
1 Video
82 Photos
Comedy

Recent medical graduate Dr. Sparrow navigates humorous internships with eccentric mentors. After insulting a senior surgeon, he impresses hospital officials through timely intervention, secu... Read allRecent medical graduate Dr. Sparrow navigates humorous internships with eccentric mentors. After insulting a senior surgeon, he impresses hospital officials through timely intervention, securing a staff position.Recent medical graduate Dr. Sparrow navigates humorous internships with eccentric mentors. After insulting a senior surgeon, he impresses hospital officials through timely intervention, securing a staff position.

  • Director
    • Ralph Thomas
  • Writers
    • Richard Gordon
    • Nicholas Phipps
  • Stars
    • Dirk Bogarde
    • Muriel Pavlow
    • Donald Sinden
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    936
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ralph Thomas
    • Writers
      • Richard Gordon
      • Nicholas Phipps
    • Stars
      • Dirk Bogarde
      • Muriel Pavlow
      • Donald Sinden
    • 16User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:41
    Trailer

    Photos82

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    Top cast68

    Edit
    Dirk Bogarde
    Dirk Bogarde
    • Dr. Simon Sparrow
    Muriel Pavlow
    Muriel Pavlow
    • Dr. Joy Gibson
    Donald Sinden
    Donald Sinden
    • Dr. Tony Benskin
    James Robertson Justice
    James Robertson Justice
    • Sir Lancelot Spratt
    Shirley Eaton
    Shirley Eaton
    • Nurse Nan McPherson
    Derek Farr
    Derek Farr
    • Dr. Potter-Shine
    Michael Medwin
    Michael Medwin
    • Dr. Charles Bingham
    Martin Benson
    Martin Benson
    • Maharajah of Rhanda
    John Chandos
    • O'Malley
    Edward Chapman
    Edward Chapman
    • Wilkins
    George Coulouris
    George Coulouris
    • Pascoe
    Judith Furse
    Judith Furse
    • Mrs. Digby - Innkeeper
    Gladys Henson
    Gladys Henson
    • Mrs. Wilkins
    Anne Heywood
    Anne Heywood
    • Emerald
    Ernest Jay
    • Charles Hopcroft
    Lionel Jeffries
    Lionel Jeffries
    • Dr. Hatchet
    Mervyn Johns
    Mervyn Johns
    • Smith
    Geoffrey Keen
    Geoffrey Keen
    • Second Examiner
    • Director
      • Ralph Thomas
    • Writers
      • Richard Gordon
      • Nicholas Phipps
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews16

    6.0936
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    Featured reviews

    david-697

    Fun but slightly disappointing.

    After the high seas high-jinx of the previous movie, 'Doctor At Sea', 'Doctor At Large' sees the series go back to basics, with a return to St Swithin's and a reunion with all the main cast of 'Doctor In The House' (with the single exception of Kenneth More).

    This return is a slight disappointment, as it never seems to recapture the magic of the original. Part of the problem is, I think, down to the script. There is no plot worth mentioning, more a series of sketches, some good, some bad, while the fact that this move seems to change it's setting every ten minutes or so, (the scene changes from London to Birmingham, Ireland, London again, the countryside, the South of France and back to London again) prevents you getting involved with the characters.

    However, this constant change does have it's advantages, for one thing it shows off possibly the best cast ever assembled for a British comedy, with even the smallest role filled out by a familiar face. But, again, their appearance is usually limited to one or two brief scenes.

    Of the cast, Lionel Jefferies and Dilys Laye catch the eye, as a seedy, mean, slightly sinister Doctor and his (much) younger blonde wife. Donald Sinden, reprising his role as Benskin from 'Doctor In The House' is fun to watch, playing a character not that different from the ones that Leslie Phillips would later play in the series. While James Robertson Justice hardly seems to be in this move, appearing briefly at the beginning but then not seen until the last twenty minutes or so of the picture.

    On the whole 'Doctor At Large' is fun to watch and has a few good jokes (the 'big breaths' joke for example) but never seems to catch fire. It's worth watching but is far from being the best vehicle for Bogarde's Simon Sparrow.
    7bkoganbing

    Dr. Sparrow comes home

    After trying out being a ship's doctor in Doctor At Sea, Dr. Simon Sparrow returns home to Great Britain just looking for a place in the medical world. He gets a post at St. Swithins Hospital, but promptly insults the head honcho there James Robertson Justice. After that Dirk Bogarde as Sparrow for the third in the Doctor series gets to try and practice medicine in a variety of unusual and amusing situations.

    Bogarde once again strikes the right note as the earnest, dedicated, but a little bit socially challenged Dr. Sparrow. He's got the knack of not bumbling so much as walking into these incredible situations and people and sometimes mucking it up. But somehow it all works out in the end.

    Doctor At Large also boasts the usual memorable character players prominently as always James Robertson Justice as the tyrannical Dr. Lancelot Spratt who terrifies all who come within range of his booming voice. One guy who thinks he's got JRJ in his pocket is kiss up Dr. Michael Medwin who gains a coveted position on the surgical staff that Bogarde wanted originally. He screws up in the end though quite accidentally, still it's always good to see one of his kind lose out.

    But the guy who actually steals this film whenever he's on the screen is Donald Sinden. That this guy could become a doctor should frighten everyone in the United Kingdom. You have to see his 'examination' and how he gets his medical degree to believe it. Basically this guy became a doctor to get girls and he pursues that avocation quite avidly. Quite the rake Sinden, he does everything but twirl his mustache like some Snidely Whiplash villain. Most American audiences know him from being Grace Kelly's earnest, but dull husband in Mogambo. This is quite a change.

    Watching the Doctor series from Great Britain I'm struck by the fact that across the pond they seem to take a more lighthearted view of medicine than we do. It wasn't until after the Code was lifted that doctors were ever portrayed in a light hearted manner.

    Doctor At Large holds up quite well even for American viewers like myself who would not be acquainted with the fine points of the British health system. This series could easily be revived today, I could see someone like Hugh Grant playing Dr. Simon Sparrow.
    7dctrevans

    Oddly Inspiring

    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.
    7JohnHowardReid

    Simon Sparrow rides again!

    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.
    5thinker1691

    " Oh, alright, . . . . If you must be a doctor, . . do it quietly "

    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. ***

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Richard Gordon: The author of the original books (and of the screenplay here) is on-screen, hidden behind the anaesthetist's mask in the "patient wakes up" scene. Gordon did the job in real-life before turning to writing.
    • Goofs
      After Sparrow takes the letter from Sir Lancelot out of its envelope, the letter is folded into four, yet when he takes it out of his coat pocket while in the pub, it is folded in three.
    • Quotes

      Dr. Simon Sparrow: [brandishing stethoscope] Now, Eva, big breaths!

      Eva: Yeth, and I'm only thixteen.

    • Connections
      Featured in Muriel Pavlow in Conversation with Jo Botting (2024)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • April 25, 1958 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Doctor at Large
    • Filming locations
      • University College Hospital, London, England, UK(St Swithins Hospital)
    • Production company
      • Rank Organisation Film Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes

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