Doctor in the House
Encyclopedia
Doctor in the House is a 1954 British comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

, directed by Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....

 and produced by Betty Box
Betty Box
Betty Evelyn Box was a prolific British film producer. She is considered one of the best of her generation, with a flair for making genuinely popular British films....

. 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 a television series also entitled Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...

.

It made Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...

 one of the biggest British stars of the 1950s. Other well known British actors featured in the film were Kenneth More
Kenneth More
Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...

, Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...

 and Donald Houston
Donald Houston
Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...

. James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice
James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...

 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
Shirley Eaton
Shirley Eaton is an English actress.Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and achieved notability for her performance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger...

), he ends up with three amiable but less-than-shining fellow students as flatmates:
  • Richard Grimsdyke (Kenneth More). A relative had left him a small but adequate annuity while he remains in medical school, so he sees to it he flunks each year.
  • Tony Benskin (Donald Sinden), an inveterate woman chaser.
  • Taffy Evans (Donald Houston), a rugby
    Rugby football
    Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

     fanatic.

Towering over them all is the short-tempered, demanding chief surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

, 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
Joan Sims
Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...

), then with Isobel (Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall
Kay Kendall was an English actress.Kendall began her film career in the 1946 musical London Town. Though the film was a financial failure, Kendall continued to work regularly until her appearance in the comedy Genevieve brought her widespread recognition...

), a woman with very expensive tastes, and finally with Joy (Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Lilian Pavlow is a British actress. Her mother was French and her father was Russian.-Film career:She began work as a child actor with John Gielgud and the Royal Shakespeare Company...

), 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
Suzanne Cloutier
Suzanne Cloutier was a Canadian film actress.She was born in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1952 she appeared in the film Derby Day as a maid who wins a trip to the Epsom Derby in the company of a famous film star. She appeared as Desdemona in Orson Welles' 1952 film adaptation of Othello...

) – 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
Geoffrey Keen
Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...

). When Simon helps Joy sneak into the nurses' residence after curfew
Curfew
A curfew is an order specifying a time after which certain regulations apply. Examples:# An order by a government for certain persons to return home daily before a certain time...

, 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
Lady Godiva
Godiva , often referred to as Lady Godiva , was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants...

'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

  • Dirk Bogarde
    Dirk Bogarde
    Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...

     as Simon Sparrow
  • Muriel Pavlow
    Muriel Pavlow
    Muriel Lilian Pavlow is a British actress. Her mother was French and her father was Russian.-Film career:She began work as a child actor with John Gielgud and the Royal Shakespeare Company...

     as Joy Gibson
  • Kenneth More
    Kenneth More
    Kenneth Gilbert More CBE was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feature films, often in the role of an archetypal carefree and happy-go-lucky middle-class gentleman.-Early life:Kenneth More was born in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the...

     as Richard Grimsdyke
  • Donald Sinden
    Donald Sinden
    Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...

     as Tony Benskin
  • Kay Kendall
    Kay Kendall
    Kay Kendall was an English actress.Kendall began her film career in the 1946 musical London Town. Though the film was a financial failure, Kendall continued to work regularly until her appearance in the comedy Genevieve brought her widespread recognition...

     as Isobel
  • James Robertson Justice
    James Robertson Justice
    James Robertson Justice was a popular British character actor in British films of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.-Biography:...

     as Lancelot Spratt
  • Donald Houston
    Donald Houston
    Donald Daniel Houston was a Welsh actor whose first two films – The Blue Lagoon with Jean Simmons, and A Run for Your Money with Sir Alec Guinness – were highly successful...

     as Taffy Evans
  • Suzanne Cloutier
    Suzanne Cloutier
    Suzanne Cloutier was a Canadian film actress.She was born in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1952 she appeared in the film Derby Day as a maid who wins a trip to the Epsom Derby in the company of a famous film star. She appeared as Desdemona in Orson Welles' 1952 film adaptation of Othello...

     as Stella
  • George Coulouris
    George Coulouris
    George Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...

     as Briggs
  • Jean Taylor Smith as Sister Virtue
  • Nicholas Phipps
    Nicholas Phipps
    Nicholas Phipps was a British actor and screenwriter who appeared in more than thirty films during a career that lasted between 1938 and 1970. He was born in London in 1913. He made his screen debut in the 1938 television film Hands Across the Sea. He appeared mainly in British comedy films, often...

     as Magistrate
  • Geoffrey Keen
    Geoffrey Keen
    Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...

     as Dean
  • Martin Boddey
    Martin Boddey
    Martin Boddey was a British film and television actor.He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity.-Selected filmography:* The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery * Cairo Road...

     as Lecturer at pedal machine
  • Joan Sims
    Joan Sims
    Joan Sims was an English actress best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, and latterly for playing Madge Hardcastle in As Time Goes By.-Early life:...

     as "Rigor Mortis"
  • Gudrun Ure
    Gudrun Ure
    Gudrun Ure is a Scottish actress, most famous for her portrayal of the titular character in Super Gran. She also starred in the pilot of a series called Life After Life, written by Yes Minister creator Jonathan Lynn...

     as May (as Ann Gudrun)
  • Harry Locke
    Harry Locke
    Harry Locke was a British character actor.He was born and died in London. He was a familiar face in three decades of British cinema, with appearances including Passport to Pimlico , Reach for the Sky , Carry On Nurse , The Devil-Ship Pirates and The Family Way .In 1969 he appeared in Randall...

     as Jessup
  • Cyril Chamberlain
    Cyril Chamberlain
    Cyril Chamberlain was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early Carry On, Doctor in the House and St. Trinian's films....

     as Policeman
  • Ernest Clark
    Ernest Clark
    Ernest Clark was a British actor of stage, television and film.-Early life:Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving school he became a reporter on a local newspaper in Croydon...

     as Mr Parrish
  • Maureen Pryor
    Maureen Pryor
    Maureen Pryor was an Irish-born English character actress. She appeared on stage, screen and television.-Early life:Maureen Pryor was born Maureen Pook in 1922 in Limerick, Ireland, to a Cockney father and an Irish mother...

     as Mrs. Cooper
  • George Benson
    George Benson (actor)
    George Christopher Benson was a Welsh and English actor of both theatre and screen, whose career spanned from the 1930s to the late 1970s...

     as Lecturer on drains
  • Shirley Eaton
    Shirley Eaton
    Shirley Eaton is an English actress.Eaton appeared regularly in British films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and achieved notability for her performance as Bond Girl Jill Masterson in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger...

     as Milly Groaker
  • Eliot Makeham
    Eliot Makeham
    Eliot Makeham , sometimes credited as Eliott Makeham or Elliot Makeham, was an English film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born Harold Elliott Makeham in 1882, in London, England....

     as Elderly Examiner
  • Joan Hickson
    Joan Hickson
    Joan Hickson OBE was an English actress of theatre, film and television, famed for playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple.- Wivenhoe :...

     as Mrs. Groaker
  • Brian Oulton
    Brian Oulton
    Brian Oulton was an English character actor.Born in Liverpool, he made his acting debut in 1939 as a lead actor...

     as Medical equipment salesman
  • Shirley Burniston as Barbara
  • Mark Dignam
    Mark Dignam
    Mark Dignam was a prolific English actor.Born in London, the son of salesman in the steel industry, Dignam grew up in Sheffield and was educated at the Jesuit College where he appeared in numerous Shakespearean plays....

     as Examiner at microscope
  • Felix Felton as Examiner
  • Lisa Gastoni
    Lisa Gastoni
    Lisa Gastoni is an Italian film actress. She has appeared in 60 films since 1954. She also co-starred as Giulia, Ricco Poccari's girlfriend in the Sapphire Films TV series The Four Just Men for ITV.-Selected filmography:* Doctor in the House * The Baby and the Battleship * Three Men...

     as Jane
  • Wyndham Goldie as Examiner
  • Douglas Ives as Sprogett
  • Anthony Marlowe as Paul
  • Geoffrey Sumner
    Geoffrey Sumner
    Geoffrey Sumner was a British actor. As well as appearing in a number of films, he was also a commentator for British Movietone News.-Selected filmography:* Too Many Husbands * - narrator* Helter Skelter...

     as Forensic Lecturer
  • Amy Veness
    Amy Veness
    Amy Veness was a British film actress. She played the role of Grandma Huggett in The Huggetts Trilogy.-Selected filmography:* Please Help Emily * Let Me Explain, Dear * A Southern Maid...

     as Grandma Cooper
  • Mona Washbourne
    Mona Washbourne
    Mona Washbourne was an English actress of stage, film and television.Mona Washbourne began her entertaining career training as a concert pianist. While performing on stage in the early 1920s, she found that she liked acting and became an actress...

     as Midwifery sister
  • Mary Chapman as Girl (uncredited)
  • Richard Gordon as Anaethetist (uncredited)
  • Fred Griffiths as Taxi driver (uncredited)
  • Joan Ingram as Woman (uncredited)
  • Noel Purcell
    Noel Purcell (actor)
    Noel Purcell was an Irish film and television actor.-Career:Purcell began his show business career at the age of 12 in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Later, he toured Ireland in a vaudeville act with Jimmy O'Dea....

     as "The padre", the bartender at the doctors' favourite pub (uncredited)
  • Bruce Seton
    Bruce Seton
    Major Sir Bruce Lovat Seton of Abercorn, 11th Baronet , better known as Bruce Seton, was a British actor and soldier....

     as Police driver (uncredited)
  • Richard Wattis
    Richard Wattis
    Richard Cameron Wattis , was an English character actor.He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham and Bromsgrove School, after which he worked for the family electrical engineering firm before becoming a professional actor. After his debut with Croydon Repertory Theatre he made many stage...

     as Medical book salesman (uncredited)
  • Carol White
    Carol White
    Carol White was a British actress.She achieved notability for her performances in the television play Cathy Come Home and the films Poor Cow and I'll Never Forget What's'isname , but alcoholism and drug abuse damaged her career, and from the early 1970s she worked infrequently.-Life and...

     as Bit Role (uncredited)

Awards

  • Won, 1955 BAFTA Film Award for Best British Actor, Kenneth More
  • Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best British Film
  • Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best British Screenplay, Nicholas Phipps
  • Nominated, 1955 BAFTA Film Award, Best Film from any Source

Production

Betty Box
Betty Box
Betty Evelyn Box was a prolific British film producer. She is considered one of the best of her generation, with a flair for making genuinely popular British films....

 picked up a copy of the book at Crewe
Crewe
Crewe is a railway town within the unitary authority area of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 census the urban area had a population of 67,683...

 during a long rail journey. She saw its possibility as a film, but Box and Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull. He is perhaps best known for directing the Doctor series of films....

 had a job convincing Rank
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....

 executives that people would go to a film about doctors, and that Bogarde, who up to then had played spiv
Spiv
In the United Kingdom, a spiv is a particular type of petty criminal, who deals in stolen or black market goods of questionable authenticity, especially a slickly-dressed man offering goods at bargain prices...

s and Service 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
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

.

Sequels

The film's success resulted in six sequels, three starring Bogarde, one with Michael Craig
Michael Craig (actor)
Michael Craig is a British actor, known for his work in film and television in both the United Kingdom and Australia. Craig was born in Poona, Maharashtra, British India, the son of Donald Gregson, a captain in the 3rd Indian Cavalry. He came to England with his family when aged three, and went to...

 and Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...

, and the other two with Phillips, as well as a successful television series from London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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