Doctor in Clover ** (1966, Leslie Phillips, James Robertson Justice, Shirley Anne Field, Joan Sims, John Fraser, Arthur Haynes, Fenella Fielding) – Classic Movie Review 3143

The sixth Doctor film from 1966 has some very rough edges, and plays without series star Dirk Bogarde but with Leslie Phillips as the main star instead, which is not the same thing at all.

Returning from Doctor in Love (1960) in which he played Dr Tony Burke, Phillips now stars as Dr Gaston Grimsdyke, who goes back to his old alma mater, St Swithin’s Hospital in London, and takes a youth-restoring cure to help with his relentless skirt-chasing of the nurses.

Jack Davies takes over as screen-writer and the series has unfortunately now sunk to a poor sub-Carry On level, with rampant sexism and dated jokes. But co-star James Robertson Justice (as head surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt) and director Ralph Thomas carry on regardless (Thomas directed all seven Doctor films).

Some very reliable names in the sweet comedy cast might be tempting: Shirley Anne Field as Nurse Bancroft, Joan Sims as Matron Sweet, John Fraser as Dr Miles Grimsdyke, Arthur Haynes as Tarquin Wendover, Fenella Fielding as Tatiana Rubikov, Noel Purcell, Jeremy Lloyd as Lambert Symington, Eric Barker as Professor Halfbeck, Terry Scott, Alfie Bass, Norman Vaughan, Robert Stevens, Bill Kerr, Robert Hutton, Elizabeth Ercy and Harry Fowler.

The film is also known as Carnaby, MD.

Doctor in Love followed in 1970.

Fenella Fielding, who is 90 on 17 November 2017, appears in three Doctor films: Doctor in Love (1960), Doctor in Distress (1963) and Doctor in Clover.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3143

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