Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959) User Reviews

"Sorry darling, a pulmonary oedema"

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 23 February 2022]

A breezy spin-off of the popular TV series with the regular cast augmented by Michael Craig and Wilfred Hyde White. Tragedy is covered by the death of a patient, comedy by Joan Sims as a mother expecting quads and Glyn Owen in drag; while it comes close to a cuss word at one point when the latter says "Oh sh-!"

Dull spin-off

[malcolmgsw · 5/10 · 25 December 2021]

This is an early attempt to extract cinematic mileage out of a TV drama. Obviously made on a low budget. It shows that soaps haven't changed much over the years. Hyde White is a stubborn crusty old surgeon. Michael Craig is a progressive young registrar. Really needs the use of a daffodil somewhere.

Predictable hospital drama

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 6 May 2017]

LIFE IN EMERGENCY WARD 10 is a genteel British hospital drama chiefly of interest for the familiar faces in the cast that it features. It's a spin-off of a popular hospital TV show of the era; such programmes have been perennially popular around the world, with America's ER and Britain's CASUALTY being two of the modern, long-running variants. Sadly, it's the type of genre that dates very badly and thus nowadays this film merely provides a mildly amusing snapshot of the time.

The appearance of Wilfrid Hyde-White and Joan Sims in the cast reminds one of the much funnier CARRY ON NURSE, and this does feel like that film albeit without much of the humour. The likes of Rupert Davies, Charles Tingwell, and Michael Craig soldier on through the predictable material and much is made of an ill young boy desperate for heart surgery, but it all feels a little twee and sentimental by modern standards and the ending is never in doubt.