Doctor in the House **** (1954, Dirk Bogarde, Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, Kay Kendall, Donald Houston, James Robertson Justice, Muriel Pavlow) – Classic Movie Review 2,691

Ralph Thomas’s 1954 British comedy smash Doctor in the House is the now venerable first film of Richard Gordon’s stories of the medical students of St Swithin’s Hospital in London. It was Britain’s most popular film in 1954, with six sequels. 

Director Ralph Thomas’s 1954 British comedy smash Doctor in the House is the now venerable first film of Richard Gordon’s stories of the medical students of St Swithin’s Hospital in London.

The movie is a blissfully happy experience thanks to the high spirits of a bunch of Equity’s finest in their glorious prime. Dirk Bogarde stars as Simon Sparrow, along with Kenneth More, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston, Kay Kendall, Muriel Pavlow and James Robertson Justice. Bogarde stars, but it was More who won the 1955 Bafta award as Best British Actor.

Simon Sparrow falls in with three longer-serving trainee doctors, Richard Grimsdyke (More), Tony Benskin (Sinden) and  Taffy Evans (Houston) – and he is soon enjoying in the wooing, drinking and sports-car driving that were apparently part of Fifties British medical training, at least according to Richard Gordon’s screenplay adapted from his 1952 novel with screen-writer Nicholas Phipps.

The film’s settings and jokes have acquired great period charm along the decades. It’s a product of a simpler, more innocent age. Sixty years or so ago the nation was apparently convulsed with laughter when James Robertson Justice’s irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt asked ‘What’s the bleeding time?’ Now, hopefully, we just smile tolerantly.

Also in the cast are Geoffrey Keen, Donald Houston, George Coulouris, Shirley Eaton, Joan Hickson, Richard Wattis, Suzanne Cloutier, Jean Taylor-Smith, Joan Sims (as Rigor Mortis, oh dear!), Geoffrey Sumner, Nicholas Phipps, Amy Veness, Lisa Gastoni, George Benson, Grace Wyndham Goldie, Mark Dignam and Mona Washbourne.

Filming started in September 1953 and it was released on 23 March 1954.

It was the most popular film at the British box office in 1954 and the Rank Organisation’s most successful film. An astounding 15,500,000 people paid to go to see it, around a third of Britain’s adult population.

Six sequels followed, three starring Bogarde, one with Michael Craig and Leslie Phillips, and the other two with Phillips, until director Thomas finally called it a day in 1970. The successful TV sitcom from London Weekend Television took over, with Barry Evans starring.

Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, Geoffrey Keen, Joan Hickson and Joan Sims are all in the first sequel, Doctor at Sea (1955), and so is Brigitte Bardot.

Bogarde twice won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, for The Servant (1963) and Darling (1965).

The cast are Dirk Bogarde as Simon Sparrow, Muriel Pavlow as Joy Gibson, Kenneth More as Richard Grimsdyke, Donald Sinden as Tony Benskin, Kay Kendall as Isobel Minster, James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt, Donald Houston as Taffy Evans, Suzanne Cloutier as Stella, George Coulouris as Mrm William 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, 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, Geoffrey Sumner as Forensic Lecturer, Amy Veness as Grandma Cooper, Mona Washbourne as Midwifery sister, Felix Felton as Examiner, Wyndham Goldie as Examiner, Richard Gordon as Anaesthetist, Noel Purcell as pub landlord Padre, Bruce Seton as Police driver, and Richard Wattis as Medical book salesman.

It is a veritable Equity Who’s Who of the era. If the film wasn’t so good, it would be worth it just for the cast. Most of them were not comedy actors. Rank, who didn’t have much faith in the material, only offered Ralph Thomas a small budget and contract artists, Thomas recalled: ‘They didn’t really have any funny actors to work with; they were all straight actors. Dirk Bogarde had never played a funny line in his life. Not one of them ever did anything because they wanted to make it funny, They played it within a very strict, tight limit of believability. Dirk was able to do that, he got away with it and it stopped him from being just another bright, good looking leading man and made him a star.’

St Swithin’s Hospital is represented by the front of University College London.

St Swithin’s is based on Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the medical school attached to St Bartholomew’s Hospital, where Richard Gordon was a student.

They wanted Robert Morley as Sir Lancelot Spratt but he wanted £15,000 and James Robertson Justice came cheap at £1,500.

Shirley Eaton (born 12 January 1937) appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, with an appearance in Doctor at Large, an iconic appearance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in Goldfinger (1964), and roles in the early Carry On films: Carry On Sergeant, Carry On Nurse and Carry On Constable.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,691

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