Doctor in the House (1954)
Directed by Ralph Thomas

Film Review

The first and best in the series of film adaptations of Richard Gordon's Doctor novels benefits from the teaming of 1950s heartthrob Dirk Bogarde with Kenneth More and Donald Sinden and a script which offers clean good fun, rather than the cheap vulgarity of later entries in the series.  This is the film that catapulted Dirk Bogarde to stardom after several film appearances in unmemorable supporting roles.   The film was directed by Ralph Thomas, whose brother Gerald later directed the series of Carry Ons, including several hospital-based entries, notably Carry On Nurse, which were clearly influenced by this film.

Doctor in the House was a runaway box office hit in the UK when it was released in 1954, surprising the film's distributors, Rank, who were sceptical that the public would pay to watch a film set in a hospital.  The most enjoyable scenes are those in which Lancelot Spratt (played to perfection by James Robertson Justice) goes on the rampage, terrorising the life out of patients and doctors alike.  Although this film (in common with its six sequels) now appears somewhat dated, it retains some of its charm and offers one or two highly amusing gags.

Film Synopsis

Simon Sparrow's five years as a medical student at St Swithin's Hospital in London gets off to a far from promising start when he is forced to change lodgings after his landlady's daughter develops an obvious crush on him.  He moves in with three fellow students, Richard Grimsdyke, Tony Benskin and Taffy Evans.  Richard intends remaining a student forever, knowing that if ever he has the misfortune to pass his final exams he will have to forego a generous annuity left to him by a rich relative.  The life of a medical student is bad enough but with Sir Lancelot Spratt, the hospital's chief surgeon, more than ready to pounce on any mistake like a voracious overgrown tiger spotting its first tasty morsel in weeks, Simon and his friends soon have reason to regret their career choice.  Things are not helped by Simon's disastrous amorous escapades and an ultimatum that Richard receives from his fiancée to pass his exams or find a new girlfriend.  The two friends' hopes of graduation in their last year look well and truly scuppered when they get mixed up in a riot after a rugby match with another medical school...