Doctor at Large

The third ‘Doctor’ film in the series produced by Betty E Box and Ralph Thomas, mainly follows on from the events of the first film, with small extracts from the second, as  Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), decides to return to work at St Swithin’s. This doesn’t last long though as he suddenly gets shunned from the hospital for overtly disobeying the rules for his own gain.

This leads to Doctor Sparrow taking a Private Practice in the countryside, however this comes to an abrupt halt, as the locals insist on paying their GP with fruit, veg & fresh fish rather than cold-hard cash. This is reflective of the local yokels who form his patient base, most of whom are rude and bad tempered.

Dr Sparrow then decides to devote his talent, to an upper class Harley Street establishment, however his treatment and popularity is about as equally well received, as it is in the Countryside. At this point Simon decides to make a final return to St Swithin’s under the tutorial wing of the bad tempered and cantankerous Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robinson Justice). This is a far more successful career path as he begins to regain his professional reputation, becoming an accomplished surgeon.

This is my favourite Doctor film of the series, because unlike the first or second film, it has an interesting and incredibly consistent plot. Doctor at Large flows perfectly, from the opening credits to the final scene, with several major laughs in the middle. There are several parts of the film, such as smacking a naughty Muriel Pavlow on the bottom, which although very gentle and tongue-in-cheek, which would now be seen as “politically incorrect”. These really are movies of their time, which like the Carry-on series, quite simply would not be allowed to be filmed today. There is no doubt that the public still love and need these these sorts of laughs, which no-longer exist in the current mainstream of comedy for a whole variety of reasons.

Dirk Bogarde, is just as good as he was in the first two films, yet remarkably he only ever appeared in one further film, Doctor in Distress, which was the fifth film in the series, coming out six years later. Doctor at Large also provides a wonderful snapshot of 1950’s London, which forms a major backdrop of the film set. As a whole, this is a fantastic comedy and is just as as funny now as it was when it was released, way back on the 26th of March 1957.

9/10 – Calum Roberts