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Doctor in the House (1954) More at IMDb Pro »

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Sadly they don't make them like this anymore!, 5 June 2006
9/10
Author: bobbybaggio from United Kingdom

James Robertson Justice was born to play Sir Lancelot Spratt, an iconic figure who can't fail to bring a smile to your face simply by walking into a room......you just know what is coming next! I grew up with this film and the other Doctor films, and whilst the rest were average to good, this just stands out as the perfect example of British comedy making in the 1950's. The bridge from Ealing to Carry On! The cast is to die for, J R J, Kenneth More (so underrated), Donald Houston, Muriel Pavlow, Kay Kendall and Donald Sinden. The dialogue is superb...what's the bleeding time...ten past ten sir!!! I can't recommend this film high enough, if you ever are feeling a little low or just want to sit and watch something innocent and intelligent that will make you laugh.....Doctor in the House is just what should be ordered!!!!

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
"What's the bleeding time?", 7 December 2005
8/10
Author: ianlouisiana from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

From sociopathic killer in "The blue lamp" to charming (if rather elderly) medical student in "Doctor in the house",thus was the career path of Dirk Bogarde marked out in its early stages,leading to matinée idol roles in the late fifties,followed by big star status and finally "Grand old man" parts in prestigious small productions as his reputation as an author grew to match his reputation as an actor. Simon Sparrow is archetypal early Bogarde,a slight stutter,a raised eyebrow,a hesitant smile.....perhaps in 50 years or so they'll be saying the same about Hugh Grant....then again perhaps not.Well,its nice to know where he nicked it from. Muriel Pavlow shone briefly as a nice English gel then disappeared as Cockney and Scouse came into fashion.I can't imagine her walking the wards in "Casualty" or "Holby City" somehow but her rather saintly persona fits very comfortably in the reassuringly middle class environs of St Swithin's. Kenneth More deserves to be considered along with Sir John Mills and James Mason at the very pinnacle of British movie acting.Too often seen as a buffoon(indeed too often cast -as here-as a buffoon)his claim to serious status was recognised only after the original(the good one) TV production of "The Forsyte Saga". The incomparable James Robertson Justice was born to play Sir Lancelot Spratt,heaping good-natured scorn on everyone who crosses his path. If this had been his only screen appearance he would still be immortal. "Doctor in the house" is a seriously good comedy,one of the last from the golden age of the British cinema,the age of innocence if you like,

before we got "Carried on" to death. The cast is a veritable "Who's who" or,sadly,now a "Who was who" of the cream of UK screen light comedians,those faces whose regular appearance at the pictures was the occasion for a sigh of pleasant anticipation and a contented wiggling of the bum in the seat.I'm sure that none of them could ask for a better epitaph.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Doctor Feel-Good, 12 September 2003
10/10
Author: david-697 from Stockton, England

Doctor In The House was so successful that it spawned not only six sequels (of diminishing quality) but also a television spin-off. Oddly enough this success works against it, as it is easy to forget how good the original was.

Medical school provides a good background for the comedy capers, as well as providing a sound plot structure that some of the sequels lacked.

Dirk Bogarde leads a very strong cast, which includes such familiar British comedy faces as Joan Sims and Shirley Eaton in small roles. Kenneth More provides strong support to Bogarde but the great James Robertson Justice, in his signature role as Sir Lancelot Spratt steals the movie. Despite only appearing in a handful of scenes, Justice dominates the screen, notably in the famous `What's the bleeding time' scene.

Luscious colour photography adds to the enjoyment as the movie delivers a great hour and half of escapist fun, still fresh and breezy after almost fifty years, I'd recommend this move to any one who is interested in British comedy.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A Classic Comedy, 14 June 2001
10/10
Author: rachdeveraux from Teaneck, NJ

Dirk Bogarde is a marvellous innocent in the lead as Dr. Simon Sparrow enduring a four-year trial in Saint Swithens Medical School. But Kenneth More and James Robertson Justice each steal every scene they are in. The dialogue is hilarious and the sight gags even better, but the movie also works for me on a "truth and beauty" level as well. Marvellous, fast-paced entertainment that holds up well to this day!

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
One of my most loved comedies, 12 August 2001
10/10
Author: simon_sparrow (simon.sparrow@samoa.com) from London, UK

This is one of the funniest movies from my youth, and I still love it completely. Dirk Bogarde is marvelous as the medical student with an incredibly bad streak of luck. Kenneth More steals every scene in which he appears. James Robertson Justice is hilarious as Sparrow's venerable mentor.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
1950's Brit Comedy at its best, 16 December 2002
Author: Geoff from St albans

I cannot see how anybody can dislike this delicious film. One liners stay in the mind like the infamous

"What's the bleeding time, son?" and

"Cut it out, man, cut it out"

from the wonderful James Robertson Justice.

Muriel Pavlow is the girlfriend that went on to, well, do not much else but Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and Donald Houston developed and honed their excellent comedy talent.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
The Quintesssential Med School Comedy, 17 December 2006
9/10
Author: lord woodburry (deanofrpps@aol.com) from The Society NY

I was truly surprised to see this film was not as well received as I might have expected. Enter a young med student. He's surrounded by older students who can't seem to get out of the first year of studies. I'm told that does happen in Britain at least.

He does have some allies in navigating the unfamiliar course of study. There's the nurse who takes a liking to him and then there are some patients possibly malingerers on the ward who are won over to the inexperienced student.

Will our good med student make it through or will he be left by the wayside with the circle of students marking time and filling up space.

Certainly this film inspired such worthy American films as GROSS ANATOMY and BAD MEDICINE, which seemingly brought the essential plot up to date by eliminating the nurse scheming to become a doctor and substituting for her a female medical student.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
A true classic you can watch with the whole family, 17 April 2002
10/10
Author: Grim Reaper from Virginia

I grew up watching these movies on TV. They seem to get better with age. This movie is right up there with "Genevieve", "Doctor at Sea" and the classic David Niven movie, "The Bishops Wife".

Kenneth More was one of the finest Actors of his generation, if you haven't seen "Reach for the Sky" you haven't lived. He was truly versatile as this movie shows.

Brilliant, a keeper.

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DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE (Ralph Thomas, 1954) ***, 16 September 2008
7/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@onvol.net) from Naxxar, Malta

I never had the opportunity to sample the popular “Doctor” series lampooning the medical profession (the inspiration for which was a novel by Richard Gordon – not the horror film-producer) until now; while I thoroughly enjoyed this first (and universally best-regarded) entry, I can’t quite see how the typical farcical situations could be stretched for seven pictures – especially since the rival “Carry On” stable made four films of its own on the subject over the years! Interestingly, at least five members of the film’s cast and crew would become fixtures of that even more durable series – actresses Joan Sims and Shirley Eaton, composer Bruce Montgomery, cinematographer Ernest Steward, and editor Gerald Thomas (director Ralph’s brother who would actually proceed to helm all 31 “Carry On” outings!); incidentally, the entire run of “Doctor” films were similarly Ralph’s domain.

Still, this series clearly had a bigger budget since they were all made in color and attracted a roster of top British stars – none more impressive than the one assembled here: Dirk Bogarde (he would feature in four of these – amazingly, even after he had gone on to more adult roles such as the blackmailed homosexual barrister in VICTIM [1961]!), Kenneth More (his one stint in the series), James Robertson-Justice (whose Sir Lancelot Spratt – turning up in all seven pictures – would become his signature role), Donald Sinden (he was featured in one other entry), Donald Houston (ditto), Muriel Pavlow (she too appeared in one more “Doctor” film – for what it’s worth, she had just co-starred with Alec Guinness in MALTA STORY [1953], shot on location), Geoffrey Keen (who had three series entries to his name), Kay Kendall (in what amounts to an extended cameo – she had just scored her biggest success with GENEVIEVE [1953], coincidentally in the company of two other cast members from this one i.e. More and Keen!) and George Coulouris (a native of Britain, he got his break into films while in Hollywood – though he seemed to have relocated back home by this time and, in fact, would make another two “Doctor” movies).

If one were to compare the “Doctor” series with the “Carry Ons”, judging by this preliminary view of one entry from the former franchise, I’d say that these were essentially genteel (the same goes for GENEVIEVE, itself a classic of British comedy) – which, being aimed at middle-class audiences, stressed characterization over gags…whereas the coarser, wackier style of the “Carry On” brand of humor had the working-class people in mind. Suffice to say that, for all the scrapes they got into, the medical students were no more than merry mischief-makers (with each character a well-established stereotype: charmingly gauche, amiable slacker, incurable womanizer, sports fanatic, etc.) whereas the “Carry On” gang were largely unethical and generally filthy-minded!

Among the comical situations found in DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE are: romantic complications involving Bogarde, More and Sinden; examinations (both scholarly and physical – with Coulouris as a willing, even helpful guinea pig); young girls having a crush on doctor types (Eaton); the students’ own attempt to break into high society by taking advantage of the eminence attached to their aspiring position (the Kendall subplot); being looked upon with suspicion when transporting a skeleton specimen on a bus; the old favorite of a student having a fainting spell inside the operating theater – but who eventually makes good when he has to deliver a baby (on Christmas Eve!) single-handed; college rivalry landing our heroes (they belong to St. Swithin’s, which has a gorilla for a mascot!) into trouble with both the law and their superiors – ditto for an incident in which Bogarde faces expulsion when he tumbles from the roof into the nurses’ quarters (and which is ultimately resolved by Spratt’s personal intervention, being the typical outwardly-gruff-but-essentially soft-hearted chap, reminding a couple of stuffy senior board members of their own past indiscretions), etc.

I guess it’s unfair, at this point, to state my preference for the admittedly patchy “Carry On” films since I’ve watched all 31 entries – all I can say is that the quality of DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE is readily evident, given the sheer amount of talent on display. For the record, the outlet from where I rented the R2 DVD has some (probably all) of the others handy, so I should just check them out now while I’m at it – though only one at a time, since the repetitive environment would no doubt lose its freshness and get tiresome rather quickly…

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
My brief review of the film, 22 June 2005
Author: sol- from Perth, Australia

A fairly good watch, especially considering the number of flaws in the film, it mixes good dialogue with British mannerisms to create a reasonably amusing picture. The film has no real sense of time, with years passing but only feeling like months, and the characters all look too old to be fresh medical students, plus there are quite a few lame jokes. The Technicolor looks a bit too colourful to be natural too, though colour does suit the film more than black and white would have. As has been alluded to already, the film is still quite reasonable entertainment in spite of its shortcomings, and James Robert Justice gives a highly memorable performance, keeping it all buoyant whenever he is on screen.

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