Dentist on the Job (1961) User Reviews

Lesser sequel still offers a few laughs

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 19 February 2016]

This so-so sequel to the superior DENTIST IN THE CHAIR sees the trio of Bob Monkhouse, Kenneth Connor, and Ronnie Stevens return from the first film. This time around, they're working for a marketing company who decide to put a brand new type of toothpaste out on on the market, only to discover that it isn't much cop. So they make their own brand instead, with predictably unforeseen consequences.

I found the script of this sequel to be inferior to that of the first, because the humour is of a more sub-CARRY ON standard here. The first film had slapstick routines and character humour, whereas this is all about innuendo for the most part. There are still some funny sequences, but there just aren't as many as previously.

Monkhouse is still on fire here, ably supported by Stevens and in particular Connor, who gets to impersonate various characters as part of the fun. The superior supporting cast includes the fresh-faced Shirley Eaton (soon to go on to greater things with GOLDFINGER) alongside genre stalwarts Richard Wattis and Eric Barker. Watch out for Charles Hawtrey, cameoing early on.

DENTIST ON THE JOB (C. M. Pennington-Richards, 1961) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 3 January 2008]

This is a sequel to DENTIST IN THE CHAIR (1960), which I haven't watched; excerpts from the opening sequence were memorably featured as a gag at the start of the "Special Edition" DVD of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)!

The film is no classic, but harmless and certainly palatable for what it is – dealing with the invention and promotion of a new brand of toothpaste and going from a college to a factory, a TV studio and ending with a commercial being broadcast from space! It was possibly inspired by the popular "Doctor" series – of which I've yet to catch any entry – though in style it may actually be closer to the "Carry Ons", with a number of mild double entendres and two stalwart members from that series in the cast i.e. Kenneth Connor and guest star Charles Hawtrey.

Nominal star Bob Monkhouse is okay, but his repertory doesn't seem to be particularly distinctive; in fact, it's Connor who steals the show as an ex-con who's made to act as a door-to-door salesman for the new product (and faring disastrously at the task) and even impersonates an American senator at the climax! Future Bond girl Shirley Eaton provides the eye-candy as the actress promoting the old toothpaste and who joins Monkhouse & Co. in their scheme to make their own superior brand. The supporting cast includes such familiar faces as Richard Wattis and Reginald Beckwith.

Mediocre British comedy

[karl-a-hughes · 5/10 · 22 November 2007]

The cast of this film are familiar names to fans of British comedy, with major roles going to Eric Barker, Kenneth Connor and Bob Monkhouse, amongst others. Stylistically this film is more a precursor to the Talbot Rothwell era of Carry On films than a nod back to the Doctor films as there is quite a dependence on double entendre (you know the thought of thing, dentist says to girl "I want you on that couch"). Some of the jokes are lifted straight from a Bob Monkhouse stand-up comedy performance, and they show, but there are genuinely funny moments in this film. Some of the slapstick sequences also work quite well, although they are a little reminiscent of the kind of material to be found in a Norman Wisdom film. The highlight of the film was the scene where Shirley Eaton, in a film studio, is in a bath full of foam advertising the company's latest soap product. Watching in the wings is Monkhouse standing next to a very large wind machine. He's leaning on the machine, elbow frighteningly close to the on/off lever. You know just what's going to happen, and it's quite funny when it does.

In a film such as this the plot is secondary and involves two recently graduated dental students falsely lured to work for a toothpaste company. Once they have been hired they discover that they were employed to advertise the toothpaste, not to further their dental careers. Some of the scenes in this film are funny, some are not; it is more hit and miss than the Carry Ons.

Charles Hawtrey has a guest appearance right at the start of the film yet he has the scene stolen from him by an unknown (to me) female actress. Richard Wattis plays the unlikeable corporate bully, Eric Barker the 'barking' boss. A major role goes to Ronnie Stevens, who although does not bring very much to the film, does at least manage to avoid being embarrassing. Bob Monkhouse is the 'handsome' lead; we are expected to believe that hoards of women will melt at his merest uttering. In an ironic way that's perhaps the best joke in the film.

Has anyone actually *seen* this?

[Bry-2 · 14 December 2002]

I mean, in its entirety? I don't think it's fair to rate it if you've only seen the credits and first 49 seconds included in Holy Grail.

So c'mon, you 13 who have rated it -- let's see a proper review! And how about a plot outline? Is it available on DVD yet? Why not?

Credits are great

[mrsimpson21 · 5/10 · 5 August 2006]

As a movie, I'm not entirely sure how "Dentist On The Job" stacks up. However, i must say that when i first watched "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (special edition) This movie really made me sit up and take notice. Especially how it wasn't the movie i was expecting. As the movie opened on the unfamiliar black and white of "dentist" i was a bit taken aback. I admit that i restarted the movie to make sure i had got the right DVD in the player.

Whoever allowed this movie to preempt Holy Grail is a genius... it encouraged me to IMDb it to see just what the draw was. And i still am unsure.. much like many of the troupe's gags in and out of the mainstream. For random sake... i think it is hilarious.

Easy going 60's comedy

[Sergiodave · 6/10 · 22 January 2021]

There were two styles of British comedy in the 50's/60's, the wonderful Ealing comedies and the pretty awful, but watchable Carry on Films. This is more reminiscent of a Carry on, indeed the music score is almost identical, though the comedy is better. Bob Monkhouse also starred in the very first Carry on movie, Carry on Sergeant; and Shirley Eaton was literally the Golden Girl in James Bond's Goldfinger.

Saturday Matinee Fodder

[bigar-4 · 4/10 · 8 April 2003]

Silliness abounds in this comic affront to British advertising. Beckwith, an ad executive, enlists the services of wacky dentists, Monkhouse and Stevens, to revive the sagging sales of a toothpaste. They invent a new wonder toothpaste and their nutty attempts at promoting the product comprise the rest of the film.

Not better -or worse- than the average 50s/60s comedies. Although I expected Norman Wisdom coming in and shout "Mr Grimsdale!!!!"

Lady Chatterley's loofah

[wilvram · 5/10 · 28 July 2018]

Is one of the more memorable throw-away lines in this follow-up to DENTIST IN THE CHAIR. Squeezing some fun out of toothpaste sums up both plot and the general level of humour. Has a more professional look than its predecessor and Bob Monkhouse seems more at home, but the set-pieces such as the disastrous attempt to make a commercial go for nothing. With the always reliable Eric Barker in a dual role, Kenneth Connor with his impersonations and funny voices and Shirley Eaton providing the glamour it's less painful than it might have been. Includes a glimpse at the then popular quiz show Take Your Pick with Michael Miles, which I find infinitely funnier than many comedies of the day.

Worse than a trip to the dentist

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 1 August 2005]

I do vaguely remember actually paying to see this dross at the ABC Golders Green back in 1961.I want my money back.I saw it again last week and i have to say that it must be one of the unfunniestfilms produced in the 1960s by the British cinema and that takes in a lot of territory.The only decent actor in this was Kenneth Connor.Charlie Hawtry is totally wasted.As for Bob Monkhouse,did he really think that any of this was funny .At the time this was made he was riding the crest of his first wave of TV popularity.British film producers were in the initial stages of transferring TV hits to films.From this film there is a natural progression through to "On the Buses".All i can say is that if you want to watch a film which is 100% genuinely unfunny thane you must watch this

Keep trying to watch this.

[DreamLordsNextDoorNeighbor · 10/10 · 2 September 2010]

I keep trying to watch this movie and every copy I get gets interrupted about a minute into the movie by something called "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". I have written to the authorities in question that the copy of this movie is apparently bad and that they should use another print to obtain a viewable copy. I find the lack of quality control in production of the VHS and DVDs to be particularly shocking. I understand that the BBC destroyed many of the prints and video shot during the time the film was made, but it is pretty shoddy to attempt to deceive the public by placing the opening of the film then substituting an obvious Norwegian import film for the remainder of the movie. Nothing against the Norwegian film industry, but it just isn't done. The whole thing smacks of a "bait and switch" con game.

He's a dentist so we can't show you his face

[dsewizzrd-1 · 4/10 · 9 October 2018]

Bob Monkhouse, a 1950s heart-throb, is a graduate dentist, who together with his friend is hired by a toothpaste company to sell their product. In the origin of the Oral B myth, they are threatened with being struck off the dentists's register if they are involved with advertising. They come up with a new toothpaste with the worrying ingredient "luminous thymol" and get the idea to advertise it with a new Anglo-American satellite launched conveniently close to a TV station. This fairly tedious Hanna-Barbera style plot comprises the majority of the film. Much more interesting ideas are simply discarded presumably to appeal to the middle school market. In an early scene, there is a shot of a Morris Minor lowlight.

Will forever be linked with MONTY PYTHONS' 'GRAIL'

[seashellz · 5 January 2002]

Intermitently funny, but made in 1961, with an eye for inclusion in the then unformed, and as then, unreleased, as yet, uninvented, DVD of the future film MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL in the year of our Lord, 2001 AD. I'd say the wait was worth it...