Doctor in the House
Plot
The story follows the fortunes of Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), starting as a new medical student at the fictional St Swithin’s hospital in London. His five years of student life, involving drinking, dating women, and falling foul of the rigid hospital authorities, provide many humorous incidents.
When he has to leave his first choice of lodgings to get away from his landlady’s amorous daughter (Shirley Eaton), he ends up with three amiable but less-than-shining fellow students as flatmates:
Richard Grimsdyke (Kenneth More). A relative had left him a small but adequate annuity while he remains in medical school, so he sees to it he flunks each year.
Tony Benskin (Donald Sinden), an inveterate woman chaser.
Taffy Evans (Donald Houston), a rugby fanatic.
Towering over them all is the short-tempered, demanding chief surgeon, Sir Lancelot Spratt (played by James Robertson Justice in a manner quite unlike Gordon’s original literary character), who strikes terror into everyone.
Simon’s friends cajole him into a series of disastrous dates, first with a placidly uninterested “Rigor Mortis” (Joan Sims), then with Isobel (Kay Kendall), a woman with very expensive tastes, and finally with Joy (Muriel Pavlow), a nurse at St Swithin’s. After a rocky start, he finds he likes Joy a great deal. Meanwhile, Richard is given an ultimatum by his fiance Stella (Suzanne Cloutier): graduate or she will leave him. He buckles down.
The climax of the film is a rugby match with a rival medical school during Simon’s fifth and final year. After St Swithin’s wins, the other side tries to steal the school mascot, a stuffed gorilla, resulting in a riot and car chase through the streets of London. Simon and his friends are almost expelled for their part in this by the humourless Dean of St Swithin’s (Geoffrey Keen). When Simon helps Joy sneak into the nurses’ residence after curfew, he accidentally falls through a skylight. This second incident gets him expelled, even though he is a short time away from completing his finals. Sir Lancelot, however, has fond memories of his own student days, particularly of the Dean’s own youthful indiscretion (persuading a nurse to reenact Lady Godiva’s ride). His discreet blackmail gets Simon reinstated. In the end, Richard fails (as does Tony), but Stella decides to enroll at St Swithin’s herself so there will be at least one doctor in the family. Simon and Taffy graduate.
Cast
Dirk Bogarde as Simon Sparrow
Muriel Pavlow as Joy Gibson
Kenneth More as Richard Grimsdyke
Donald Sinden as Tony Benskin
Kay Kendall as Isobel
James Robertson Justice as Lancelot Spratt
Donald Houston as Taffy Evans
Suzanne Cloutier as Stella
George Coulouris as Briggs
Jean Taylor Smith as Sister Virtue
Nicholas Phipps as Magistrate
Geoffrey Keen as Dean
Martin Boddey as Lecturer at pedal machine
Joan Sims as “Rigor Mortis”
Gudrun Ure as May (as Ann Gudrun)
Harry Locke as Jessup
Cyril Chamberlain as Policeman
Ernest Clark as Mr Parrish
Maureen Pryor as Mrs. Cooper
George Benson as Lecturer on drains
Shirley Eaton as Milly Groaker
Eliot Makeham as Elderly Examiner
Joan Hickson as Mrs. Groaker
Brian Oulton as Medical equipment salesman
Shirley Burniston as Barbara
Mark Dignam as Examiner at microscope
Felix Felton as Examiner
Lisa Gastoni as Jane
Wyndham Goldie as Examiner
Douglas Ives as Sprogett
Anthony Marlowe as Paul
Geoffrey Sumner as Forensic Lecturer
Amy Veness as Grandma Cooper
Mona Washbourne as Midwifery sister
Mary Chapman as Girl (uncredited)
Richard Gordon as Anaethetist (uncredited)
Fred Griffiths as Taxi driver (uncredited)
Joan Ingram as Woman (uncredited)
Noel Purcell as “The padre”, the bartender at the doctors’ favourite pub (uncredited)
Bruce Seton as Police driver (uncredited)
Richard Wattis as Medical book salesman (uncredited)
Carol White as Bit Role (uncredited)
Awards
Won, 1955 BAFTA Film Award for Best British Actor, Kenneth More
Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best British Film
Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best British Screenplay, Nicholas Phipps
Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source
Production
Betty Box picked up a copy of the book at Crewe during a long rail journey. She saw its possibility as a film, but Box and Ralph Thomas had a job convincing Rank executives that people would go to a film about doctors, and that Bogarde, who up to then had played spivs and Service heroes, had sex appeal and could play light comedy. They got a low budget, and were only allowed to use available Rank contract artists.
St Swithin’s hospital is represented by the front of University College London.
Sequels
Main article: Doctor Series
The film’s success resulted in six sequels, three starring Bogarde, one with Michael Craig and Leslie Phillips, and the other two with Phillips, as well as a successful television series from London Weekend Television.
External links
Doctor in the House at the Internet Movie Database
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Richard Gordon’s Doctor series
Books
Doctor in the House (1952) Doctor at Sea (1953) Doctor at Large (1955) Doctor in Clover (1960) Doctor on Toast (1961) Love and Sir Lancelot (1965) Doctor on the Boil (1970) Doctor on the Brain (1972) Doctor in the Nude (1973) The Sleep of Life (1975) Doctor on the Job (1976) Doctor in the Nest (1979) Doctor’s Daughters (1981) Doctor on the Ball (1985) Doctor in the Soup (1986)
Films
Doctor in the House (1954) Doctor at Sea (1955) Doctor at Large (1957) Doctor in Love (1957) Doctor in Distress (1963) Doctor in Clover (1966) Doctor in Trouble (1970)
Television
series
Doctor in the House (1969-70) Doctor at Large (1971) Doctor in Charge (1972-73) Doctor at Sea (1974) Doctor on the Go (1975-77) Doctor Down Under (1979) Doctor at the Top (1991)
This film article about a 1950s comedy is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Categories: English-language films | 1950s comedy film stubs | 1954 films | British films | Films based on novels | Films directed by Ralph Thomas | Hospital films | 1950s comedy films
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