In the Doghouse ** (1961, Leslie Phillips, Peggy Cummins, Hattie Jacques, James Booth, Dick Bentley) – Classic Movie Review 9736

Director Darcy Conyers’s 1961 comedy In the Doghouse has us in mild stitches with James Herriot-type adventures, this time adapted from the novel It’s a Vet’s Life by Alex Duncan, in a screenplay by the endlessly prolific Michael Pertwee.

Much-loved star comic actor Leslie Phillips is plenty engaging enough as Jimmy Fox-Upton, the youngish London veterinarian who encounters several farmloads of trouble, including his evil rival Bob Skeffington (James Booth)’s horsemeat exporting business and a showbiz gal Sally Huxley (Peggy Cummins)’s pet chimp.

A treasure-trove host of well-known British comedy-film names of the day pop up appealingly in an amiable, if too daffy and air-headed, countryside entertainment.

Hattie Jacques scores strongly, having more to do than usual, as a friendly RSPCA inspector called Primrose Gudgeon, and there is space too for those other venerable ladies Joan Heal (as Mrs Peddle), Fenella Fielding (Miss Fordyce), Esma Cannon (a rare dramatic role as Mrs Raikes), Joan Hickson (as Miss Gibbs), Vida Hope (Mrs Crabtree) and Peggy Thorpe-Bates (Mrs Muswell).

Leslie Phillips built his career playing plummy English stereotypes, but he is from Tottenham and took elocution lessons as a child to lose his cockney accent.

Also in the cast are Dick Bentley, Colin Gordon, Richard Goolden, Harry Locke, Kynaston Reeves, Joan Young, Judith Furse, Philip Ray and Gerald Anderson.

In the Doghouse is directed by Darcy Conyers, runs 95 minutes, is made by Zenith, is released by Rank, is written by Michael Pertwee, based on the novel It’s a Vet’s Life by Alex Duncan, is shot in black and white by Alan Hume, is produced by Hugh Stewart and is scored by Philip Green.

 © Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9736

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