Doctor in Trouble (1970) User Reviews

No more house calls for the doctor

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 1 May 2012]

The Doctor series of British comedy films was coming to a halt with this one Doctor In Trouble. If there was ever a redundancy in titles this certainly was it. When was the doctor character ever not in some kind of trouble in the series.

The series itself was in trouble. The beginning films had Dirk Bogarde who wanted to and successfully went on to more dramatic parts, but his Doctor Simon Sparrow had an innocence and vulnerability and was so earnest, things just seemed to happen around him. His main antagonist was the eminent Doctor James Robertson Justice with the booming voice and overbearing manner. He was barely in this one.

So with both of them out more or less, the Doctor series lost too much. Leslie Phillips is the Doctor here and he's not as noble as Bogarde, in fact there's really very little noble about him at all. In fact he's jealous because a medical school classmate of his, Simon Dee, forsook medicine for the theater and now plays a TV doctor heartthrob.

Through a bizarre set of circumstances Phillips winds up stowing away on a cruise ship with Dee and Angela Scoular a girl they're both interested in. And the captain is the brother of James Robertson Justice, a man just as imperious Robert Morley.

A lot of the real comedy in this film is provided by Harry Secombe who plays a brash newly minted millionaire who hasn't got the social graces quite down yet. I really wanted to see more of Secombe than Phillips.

Doctor In Trouble is a good, not hardly great British comedy and it was clear the Doctor was no longer going to make house calls on our funny bone shortly.

All Aboard the Golden Horn

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 13 June 2022]

A fascinating piece of film history, with a cast that just for starters manages to include Simon Dee, Fred Emney, a Python, a Goon and Joan Sims as an amorous, cigar-smoking Russian captain.

Shot almost entirely on a soundstage in Pinewood, it also works well as a quiz with a point for each offensive stereotype as it appears: Graham Stark in blackface and a 'hilarious' Indian accent (check), a camp fashion photographer (check), dolly birds in big hair and short skirts (check). And so on.

Carry On Cruising Meets Doctor At Sea

[mlefaye · 6/10 · 4 April 2022]

'Doctor in Trouble' is the seventh, final and possibly least heralded instalment of the successful 'Doctor' comedy movies, which had begun sixteen years earlier.

Even in the early, glory days of the series, with Dirk Bogarde starring as Simon Sparrow, the films were not laugh out loud affairs. Instead the charm of the characters, and their amusing interplay, created an experience that audiences enjoyed and queued up in their thousands to see. Unfortunately, by 1970, times had changed. Bogarde had left the series and cinema goers preferred broader, more 'Carry On' type humour. 'Doctor In Trouble' went for this somewhat bawdier approach and the resulting production was not a success. The plot was rather nonsensical and the screenplay lacking laughs.

Having said that I would recommend giving it a viewing purely for watching the cast in action. It was a real shame that an ailing James Robertson Justice could only film a short reprise of his legendary Sir Lancelot Spratt characterisation. He was replaced in the central part of Captain George Spratt by Robert Morley, a past master at playing pomposity, but it wasn't quite the same. Leslie Phillips played his usual smoothie role with likability and a sparkle in his eye. The bonus was Harry Secombe. On this evidence the ex-Goon would have made an excellent member of the 'Carry On' repertory company. His character certainly supplied the majority of the film's laughs. As ever in this sort of film, the cast was stuffed with British comedy character actors doing what they do best. Notably Irene Handl as a no nonsense mother and John Le Mesurier doing his usual turn as a world weary, authority figure.

Less effective were the main female characters and Simon Dee's portrayal of a lascivious TV actor. Graham Stark (Pink Panther) and Graham Chapman (Monty Python) did not have their greatest moments either. Perhaps strangest of all was seeing Joan Sims pop up in a very unlikely cameo role as a Russian captain!

Overall worth seeing to complete the series and to spot the acting talent, but don't expect many laughs.

Just another 1970's British sexual comedy – not terrible just basic and dated

[bob the moo · 1 September 2006]

A famous television "doctor" goes on a cruise that includes a pools winner, models, a camp photographer and a stern captain (a relation to Sir Spratt himself). Dr Burke tries to get onto the same cruise to talk to the wild Ophelia but finds himself stuck when it sails. He tries to hide as a stowaway. Lots of people run around, women are sexy, men are quite horny and so the whole horrible lot sails off into a period of British cinema that some like to forget, some thing of as fun and others call "sh1te".

If you want a potted history of how British film comedy changed in a few decades there are several places you can go but one place is the "Doctor" series of films that started in the 1950's and ended with this one in 1970. At the start the series was light to the point of blandness and very clean humour, however by this point the series has "sunk" to the sexual level of other British comedies of the 1970's such as the Carry On or Confessions type of film. Watching this will show you what I mean as there is loads of partial nudity, suggestive dialogue, Benny Hill ogling and so on. This doesn't mean it is better or worse than the original film but just a different thing and some viewers will enjoy it. Although it isn't high class or that funny, it does have a rough energy to it even if the sexual stuff hits the ground with a massively dated clang. It doesn't really stand out from anything else similar from the period but it is amusing and very genre and will perhaps please those expecting just that. The plot is meaningless of course but this shouldn't surprise anyone.

The British cast help on paper even if there isn't that much strong material for them. Philips has been much better elsewhere but he is a good sport and does his best with the "ooh I say" material that he was forever delivering. Justice barely makes an impression but his role is well covered by Morley who is amusing. Secombe is probably the pick of the cast – in real life I would have drowned myself to be free of his character but in the film he was pretty funny and he played it really well. Scoular is rubbish but to be honest most of the female cast are there for their bodies and the material only uses them for such. Dee is flat and seems all at sea alongside much more talented people. Small turns from Chapman and Le Mesurier are of good value though.

Overall this is a very basic film that tries to do all the things that the other sexual comedies of the period were doing. As such it is nothing special although happily it is not painful to watch (as some of them are). Fans of the original Doctor films will feel that this has drifted far from port, while others may just feel it is not that funny but it is distracting if dated stuff that can be enjoyed if in the mood.

Woeful

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 4 July 2022]

The Doctor series had run its course by the time this film was made. Its a sort of down-market Carry On. There are two particularly cringe making performances from Graham Stark and Graham Chapman.

The script was poor and the standard of production was truly awful. A sad demise.

The weakest of the Leslie Phillips 1970s farces is still very enjoyable...

[manchester_england2004 · 7/10 · 24 August 2017]

Leslie Phillips made a number of bedroom farces in the 1970s. Aside from this film he also starred in NOT NOW DARLING, DON'T JUST LIE THERE, SAY SOMETHING, Spanish FLY and NOT NOW COMRADE. DOCTOR IN TROUBLE is more a vehicle for Phillips to do his "thing" rather than a true entry in the DOCTOR film series. It's also the weakest of the five Phillips farces in my opinion, but still very enjoyable nonetheless.

The plot is simple - a doctor finds out the woman he's in love with is going away on a cruise. He wants to propose to her so he decides to go aboard the ship and ends up being a stowaway, hunted down by the crew. While Phillips is the star of the film, the film itself focuses much of the time on the antics of the other passengers of the ship. This isn't a bad thing, though, since Harry Secombe especially is very funny in the film. But he's enjoyable to watch nonetheless and fans of British humour will find his mishaps funny.

Phillips is on form in this film. I wouldn't say he was at his best and most energetic, like in NOT NOW DARLING and DON'T JUST LIE THERE, SAY SOMETHING. His caddish on screen persona is less exploited in this film than in those for one thing. Secondly, this film plays out more like a CARRY ON film rather than a stage farce, so lacks the usual clothes coming off, mistaken identities and so on to quite an extent. Finally, his hiding out from the crew and running away when looks like getting caught, gets a bit repetitive after a while.

Janet Mahoney is fun to watch as a stripper who hooks up with Harry Secombe (thinking he has recently come into a fortune). The striptease scene is also the best scene in the film, with a wonderfully catchy stripper theme composed by Eric Rogers, playing in the background. I could listen to that theme all day; it's that catchy. It was later re-used in CARRY ON BEHIND and CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE.

There are good supporting roles played by Irene Handl, Freddie Jones, John Le Mesurier and others. Sadly, James Robertson Justice appears in only scene, with most of his role being played by Robert Morley, who plays his on screen brother. Morley is very good as the captain of the ship and his exchanges with Secombe are very funny and provide much of the delight of this film's very British humour. Graham Chapman also turns up playing a comic gay character.

There really isn't much more to say. For fans of the DOCTOR series, I recommend it only if you can accept that this is more of a Leslie Phillips film rather than a true DOCTOR film. For fans of Leslie Phillips or the CARRY ON films, it's definitely worth at least one viewing.

"You've Done It Again, Haven't You, Whiskers?"

[ShadeGrenade · 9/10 · 9 September 2006]

The last 'Doctor' film was adapted by Jack Davies from Richard Gordon's book 'Doctor On Toast', and is basically a hybrid of 'At Sea' and 'In Clover'. Leslie Phillips is back as sex-mad but ambitious 'Dr.Tony Burke', whom he had last played in 1960's 'In Love' ( his character in 'Clover' was 'Dr.Gaston Grimsdyke' ). Once again Burke wants desperately to be married so he can qualify for a well-paid medical job in America. He tries to propose to his girlfriend - kooky fashion model 'Ophelia O'Brien' ( Angela Scoular ) - but she is about to set sail on a Mediterranean cruise. Attempting to find her, he is knocked unconscious, and awakes to find the ship has set sail, technically making him a stowaway. Burke must track down Ophelia to complete the proposal, while attempting to steer clear of the Hitler-like 'Master-At-Arms' ( Freddie Jones )...

The gaps between films was becoming noticeably longer. The previous entry - 'In Clover' - had been four years before. By 1970, tastes in comedy had shifted away from harmless slapstick to more adult content, including the use of profanities and nudity, hence Phillips gets to say 'bastard!' more than once, and we see Scoular topless and Phillips' bare bottom. The series was now indistinguishable to the 'Carry On' films in every respect, even Eric Rogers was hired to do the music. That said, 'Trouble' is enormous fun. The cast are good; ex-disc jockey Simon Dee is not bad as a vain television star ( some would say he was not acting at all ) called 'Basil Beauchump'. The film was made just before his television career self-destructed. Soon after its premiere on I.T.V. on Christmas Day 1975, a viewer's letter in 'The People' newspaper said how good it was to see Dee on television again, even if only in a film. Though he still had his admirers, there were not enough of them to get him reinstated as a Saturday night chat show host. These days the name 'Simon Dee' is a byword for fleeting fame. Harry Secombe is a riot as loudmouthed Welsh pools winner 'Llewelyn Wendover' ( the same surname, incidentally, as Arthur Haynes' character in the last film ). Because he is now well off, he thinks he is free to leer at the local crumpet, wander uninvited onto the bridge, and dine at the Captain's table. James Robertson Justice's 'Sir Lancelot' is reduced to a cameo ( the actor was nearing the end of his life ). The Captain of Phillips' ship is Spratt's brother, and is played by Robert Morley. Joan Sims appears briefly near the end as a Russian sea captain, and Graham Chapman - then starring in the B.B.C.'s 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' - flounces around as gay photographer 'Roddy'. Irene Handl is a scream as the social climbing mother of airhead stripper 'Dawn Dailey' ( Janet Mahoney ), who wants her little girl to get on in life by marrying the Captain. Modern audiences will probably be appalled by Graham Stark's Indian steward, but it was all part of the comedy scene at that time.

Funniest moment - the running gag about Wendover turning up for dinner wearing the wrong clothing. On being told to only wear a black tie for dinner, he proceeds to do exactly that! Second funniest moment - in an effort to fool the Master-At-Arms, Tony impersonates a female passenger named 'Lavinia' ( "or 'lav' for short!" ). Needless to say, the disguise is soon exposed; he falls over, his legs flying into the air, leaving the Master Of Arms in no doubt as to his true gender.

Things To Look Out For - Burke's brief chat with a nameless St. Swithins doctor played by Geoffrey Davies. Its never established, but he's obviously meant to be 'Dick Stuart-Clark' from L.W.T.'s 'Doctor' series. The series had proved so popular it was decided to acknowledge it in some way. It suggests that a movie version based on the television show was on the cards. Strangely, it never happened.

Another Thing To Look Out For - when Burke is watching television with some nurses, one of them is an uncredited Sheila White, later to play Robin Askwith's sister in the 'Confessions' films.

Some fun at the end of the line.

[david-697 · 28 September 2003]

By now a long way from the innocence of 'Doctor In The House', this, the seventh and last movie in the series, sees Leslie Phillips romping around a luxury liner, in what comes across as a less funny cross between 'Doctor At Sea' and 'Carry On Cruising'

I never expected to like this movie for a number of reasons, firstly, James Robertson Justice (for me the heart and soul of the 'Doctor' series) is restricted to a brief cameo (and very ill-looking he is too), while watching it you can't help notice how cheap looking and studio bound the movie is. While the script is at times very poor, the 'Pill' joke was especially dire and yet they included it in the trailer! In addition, it seems clear that the director is running out of ideas when he (often) resorts to speeded up photography to raise a laugh.

Yet I quite enjoyed it. Leslie Phillips was his usual, dependable self, doing wonders with the often-ropey script, at one point even enduring a drag scene! While the cast is a strong one, full of familiar faces. Harry Secombe steals the movie with a very funny performance, one that makes you wish he made more movies, and Irene Handle was also well used. There was even a small role for 'Monty Python's' Graham Chapman, as a very camp photographer.

Despite it's (many) flaws, 'Doctor In Trouble' is a fun little movie, while not in the same comic league as some of the earlier 'Doctor' films, it's far funnier than the previous movie in the series, the lukewarm 'Doctor In Clover'.