Doctor in Distress (film)

Doctor in Distress
Doctor in Distress
	Original British 1963 quad film poster
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Screenplay by	Nicholas Phipps; Ronald Scott Thorn
Produced by	Betty E. Box
Starring	Dirk Bogarde; James Robertson Justice; Samantha Eggar
Cinematography	Ernest Steward
Edited by	Alfred Roome
Music by	Norrie Paramor
Production; company	Rank Organisation
Distributed by	Rank Film Distributors
Release date	20 July 1963 (UK);
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Doctor in Distress is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, and Samantha Eggar. It is the fifth of the seven films in the Doctor series. After a one-film absence, it was the final return to the role of Simon Sparrow by Dirk Bogarde, and also the return (although in a different role) of Donald Houston. The film uses some of the characters in Richard Gordon's Doctor novels, but is not based on any of them.

Plot

Simon Sparrow, now a senior doctor at Hampden Cross Hospital, falls in love with Delia, a model and aspiring actress. They eventually move in together, but then she goes to Italy to audition for a film.

Meanwhile, Sir Lancelot Spratt injures his back in a fall. Placed under the care of physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he is initially hostile, but soon succumbs to her charms. He turns to his friend Simon for advice. Simon sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight. Spratt has Iris followed, and, when his private investigator turns up at Hampden Cross as a patient, follows her himself (terrorising a nervous train passenger in the process). He proposes to her, but is eventually rejected in favour of another of her patients, retired army Major Tommy French.

Delia returns to England, having somehow acquired an expensive Italian car (a Maserati Sebring) and expensive clothes, though she did not win a part in the film. It is implied that she and Simon get together again.

Main cast

Dirk Bogarde as Dr. Simon Sparrow
James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt
Samantha Eggar as Delia Mallory
Barbara Murray as Iris Marchant
Mylène Demongeot as Sonia and Helga
Donald Houston as Major Tommy French
Jessie Evans as Mrs. Parry
Ann Lynn as Mrs. Whittaker
Leo McKern as Harry
Dennis Price as Dr. Blacker
David Weston as Dr. Stewart
Fenella Fielding as Train Passenger
Jill Adams as Genevieve
Paul Whitsun-Jones as Grimes
Michael Flanders as Bradby
Amanda Barrie as Rona
Reginald Beckwith as Meyer
Bill Kerr as Australian Sailor
Michael Goldie as Physical Training Instructor
Ronnie Stevens as Hotel Manager
Peter Butterworth as Ambulance Driver
Derek Fowlds as Gillibrand
Timothy Bateson as Mr. Holly
Joe Robinson as Sonia's Boyfriend
Ronnie Barker as Man at Railway Station Ticket Counter
John Bluthal as Railway Porter
Marianne Stone as Cafe Waitress
Harry Landis as man in cafe
Ronald Lacey as man in cafe
Denise Coffey as Food seller at Railway Station
Jeanette Landis as Rosie
Margaret Boyd as Lady Willoughby
Frank Finlay as Corsetiere
Rodney Cardiff as Student Doctor
Richard Briers as Medical Student (uncredited)
Christopher Beeny as Medical Student (uncredited)
Johnny Briggs as Medical Student (uncredited)
Felix Felton as Farm Patient (uncredited)

Reception

The film was one of the ten most popular movies at the British box office in 1963.^[1]

According to Kine Weekly the four most popular films at the British box office in 1963 were From Russia With Love, Summer Holiday, Tom Jones and The Great Escape, followed by, in alphabetical order, Doctor in Distress, The Fast Lady, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Heaven's Above, Jason and the Argonauts, In Search of the Castaways, It Happened at the World's Fair, The Longest Day, On the Beat, Sodom and Gomorrah, The V. I. Ps, and The Wrong Arm of the Law.^[2]

References

^ "Most Popular Films of 1963", The Times, 3 January 1964, from The Times Digital Archive, retrieved 11 July 2012.
^ Hill, William John (1985). CLASS, SEXUALITY AND THE*BRITISH CINEMA 1956–63 (PDF) (Thesis). University of York. p. 288.