Doctor in the House

This article is about the film. For the television series, see Doctor in the House (TV series). For the novel, see Doctor in the House (novel).
Doctor in the House

British original cinema poster
Directed by Ralph Thomas
Produced by Betty E. Box
Screenplay by Nicholas Phipps
Richard Gordon
Ronald Wilkinson
Based on Doctor in the House 
by Richard Gordon
Starring Dirk Bogarde
Muriel Pavlow
Kenneth More
Donald Sinden
Kay Kendall
James Robertson Justice
Donald Houston
Cinematography Ernest Steward
Production
company
Distributed by GFD (UK)
Republic Pictures (US)
Release dates
  • 23 March 1954 (UK)
  • 2 February 1955 (US)
Running time
 87 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £120,000[1]

Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Ralph Thomas and produced by Betty Box. The screenplay, by Nicholas Phipps, Richard Gordon and Ronald Wilkinson, is based on the novel by Gordon, and follows a group of students through medical school.

It was the most popular box office film of 1954 in Great Britain. Its success spawned six sequels, and also a television and radio series entitled Doctor in the House.

It made Dirk Bogarde one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s. Other well-known British actors featured in the film were Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston. James Robertson Justice appeared as the irascible chief surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt, a role he would repeat in many of the sequels.

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:

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 fiancée 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

Awards

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 World War Two 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.

Kenneth More had just made Genevieve (1953) when he signed to appear in the cast, but that Genevieve had not been released yet. Accordingly his fee was only £3,500.[2]

Sequels

Main article: Doctor Series

Doctor in the House was the most popular film at the British box office in 1954.[3] Its 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.

References

  1. ↑ Geoffrey Macnab, J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry, London, Routledge (1993) p224
  2. ↑ Kenneth More, More or Less, Hodder & Staughton, 1978 p 160
  3. ↑ "JOHN WAYNE HEADS BOX-OFFICE POLL.". The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 – 1954) (Hobart, Tas.: National Library of Australia). 31 December 1954. p. 6. Retrieved 24 April 2012.

External links