Monday, November 8, 2021

Doctor at Sea (1955)

To escape his boss' daughter (Joan Sims), Dr Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) signs up to be the ship's doctor of a merchant ship captained by the formidable Hogg (James Robertson Justice). He finds that Hogg's ship, despite the captain's pretensions, is a dreadful old tub with booze instead of medicine and one-dimensional comedy stereotypes instead of actual crew.



Ashore on some far flung corner of the world (Brazil to be exact), Hogg finds, to his horror, he has to take the boss' daughter Muriel (Brenda de Banzie) back to Blighty, also along for the trip is Muriel's friend Helene (Brigette Bardot) who begins a romance with Dr Sparrow. However, the Doctor's medical skills are soon put to the test in more ways that one...

Although not rip-roaringly funny (though it has it's moments) this is an enjoyable romp with the right mixture of nonsense, mild smut and heart to make a typical, and very watchable, British comedy of the early post-war period.