Doctor at Sea (1955)

Director:

Ralph Thomas

Writers:

Richard Gordon (adaptation)
Nicholas Phipps (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 February 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

HILARITY ON THE HIGH SEAS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

A bachelor doctor goes to sea to escape the boredom of shore practice, but studies the nurses more than medicine, and Brigitte Bardot is around.

Plot Keywords:

Sequel | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Dr. Simon Sparrow
Brenda De Banzie	...	Muriel Mallet (as Brenda de Banzie)
Brigitte Bardot	...	Hélène Colbert
James Robertson Justice	...	Capt. Hogg
Maurice Denham	...	Easter
Michael Medwin	...	Sub-lieutenant Trail
Hubert Gregg	...	Archer
James Kenney	...	Fellowes
Raymond Huntley	...	Capt. Beamish
Geoffrey Keen	...	Hornbeam
George Coulouris	...	Carpenter
Noel Purcell	...	Corbie
Jill Adams	...	Jill
Joan Sims	...	Wendy
Cyril Chamberlain	...	Whimble

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

France:U | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Group Film Productions Limited

Movie Connections:

Followed by Doctor in Love (1960)

Soundtrack:

Je Ne Sais Pas

Doesn't do anything that good or that bad but is only slightly entertaining in a bland sort of way

Fresh from his training and having gotten into women trouble in his dogsbody job as a junior doctor in a surgery, Dr Simon Sparrow runs away to sea, joining a cargo ship as the medical officer. Immediately finding that he is prone to seasickness, Sparrow has to content with all manner of colourful characters – the crew of a cargo ship not being the most stable of places for people to spend their time. Things are rough enough but when they stop in a port for some shore leave, the ship picks up a couple of female passengers – making live on the ship before look calm and peaceful by way of comparison.

Still containing the light farce and japes that the Carry On series still had in the early 1950's, the Doctor series continues with its second entry and just some predictable jokes and plots. Shoehorned out to sea, the narrative mixes some medical joking and a fairly plodding plot about nautical flirting (although never approaching what you could call innuendo). It is good-natured enough but never feels like it gets out of second gear – crawling along without any risk of doing anything that well or ever picking up a bit of speed. Without any laughs or enjoyable sequences the film does just come off as rather bland but I suppose it may still have enough about it to appeal to those just looking for an old film to watch on a wet weekend afternoon.

Bogarde doesn't really help things in my opinion; he is bland himself and he doesn't add anything to the comedy or romantic sides of the material. His support cast aren't much better although Bardot's singsong accent and pretty shape is easy on the eye, meanwhile Justice and Sims are really the only easily well-known faces involved. Overall then a fairly uninteresting film that treads a gentle comic path and rarely does anything that good or that bad – it is all pretty bland and average. Might do for those that like this sort of stuff while having a cup of tea during a wet Sunday afternoon but probably that's about it.