Doctor at Large (film)

Doctor at Large
Original British cinema poster
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Screenplay by	Nicholas Phipps
Based on	Doctor at Large by Richard Gordon
Produced by	Betty Box
Starring	Dirk Bogarde Muriel Pavlow Donald Sinden James Robertson Justice
Cinematography	Ernest Steward
Edited by	Frederick Wilson
Music by	Bruce Montgomery
Distributed by	Rank Film Distributors (UK) Universal-International (US)
Release dates	26 March 1957 (1957-03-26) (UK) 28 July 1957 (1957-07-28) (US)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Doctor at Large is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas, the third of the seven films in the Doctor series. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Donald Sinden and James Robertson Justice. It is based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon.

Main cast

• Dirk Bogarde as Dr. Simon Sparrow
• Muriel Pavlow as Joy Gibson
• Donald Sinden as Benskin
• James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt
• Shirley Eaton as Nurse Nan McPherson
• Derek Farr as Dr. Potter-Shine
• Michael Medwin as Dr. Charles Bingham
• Martin Benson as Maharajah
• John Chandos as O'Malley
• Edward Chapman as Wilkins
• George Coulouris as Pascoe
• Judith Furse as Mrs. Digby
• Gladys Henson as Mrs. Wilkins
• Anne Heywood as Emerald
• Ernest Jay as Charles Hopcroft
• Lionel Jeffries as Dr. Hatchet
• Mervyn Johns as Smith
• Geoffrey Keen as Second Examiner
• Dilys Laye as Mrs. Jasmine Hatchet
• Harry Locke as Porter
• Terence Longdon as George - House Surgeon
• A. E. Matthews as Duke of Skye and Lewes
• Guy Middleton as Major Porter
• Barbara Murray as Kitty
• Dandy Nichols as Lady in Outpatients Dept.
• Nicholas Phipps as Mr. Wayland - Solicitor
• Wensley Pithey as Sam - Poacher
• Maureen Pryor as Mrs. Dalton
• Noel Purcell as "Padre", pub landlord
• George Relph as Dr. Farquarson
• Athene Seyler as Lady Hawkins
• Ronnie Stevens as Waiter at hotel
• Ernest Thesiger as First Examiner
• Michael Trubshawe as Colonel Graves

Plot

Back at St Swithin's, Dr Simon Sparrow loses out to the self-important Dr Bingham for a job as senior house surgeon. Feeling that he has no future as a surgeon, he takes a general practice job in an industrial town. He finds that he has to do most of the work, including night calls, and is also the target of his partner's flirty wife.

He then takes a locum job with Dr Potter-Shine's Harley Street practice, where most of the patients are dotty aristocrats and neurotic society women. Leaving after three months, he moves to a rural practice where patients pay in kind, ranging from home-grown raspberries to poached salmon.

Meanwhile, Tony Benskin fails his finals – again – and travels to Ireland where he buys a very dubious medical degree. This leads to a post as private physician to a rich elderly aristocratic lady in Wiltshire.

Sparrow and Benskin take a short holiday in France, where they save Dr Hopcroft, a governor at St Swithin's, from an embarrassing incident. In return, he arranges for Sparrow and Benskin to return to St Swithin's. Sparrow commences advanced surgical training with Sir Lancelot Spratt, whilst Benskin becomes personal physician to a rich Maharajah.

Reception

The film was the second most popular movie of the year at the British box office, after High Society.

Critical

Variety noted "a blending of light comedy and a dash of sentiment, with punch comedy lines providing timely shots in the arm. They’re welcome when they come, but they’re too irregular," with the reviewer concluding, "Bogarde, of course, is the mainstay of the story, but Justice again emerges as the standout character"; while The New York Times wrote that despite "signs of fatigue," with the film prescribing the same mixture as before, "If it is diluted, it is still not too hard to take."

External links

• Doctor at Large at IMDb
• Review of film at Variety
• Doctor at Large at Britmovie