Doctor in Trouble
| Doctor in Trouble | |
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Original British 1970 quad film poster
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| Directed by | Ralph Thomas |
| Produced by | Betty Box |
| Written by | Jack Davies Richard Gordon |
| Starring | Harry Secombe Leslie Phillips Robert Morley Angela Scoular |
| Music by | Eric Rogers |
| Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
| Edited by | Peter Boita |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors (UK) |
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Release dates
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Doctor in Trouble is a 1970 British comedy film, the seventh and last film in the Doctor series. It was directed by Ralph Thomas and stars Leslie Phillips as a doctor who gets accidentally trapped on an outgoing cruise ship while it begins a round the world trip. The cast was rounded out by a number of British comedy actors including James Robertson Justice, Harry Secombe and Angela Scoular. It was based on the story Doctor on Toast by Richard Gordon.
Plot
Renowned surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt (James Robertson Justice) arranges a cruise for his patient, the famous television star Basil Beauchamp (Simon Dee). The captain of the ship is Lancelot Spratt's brother (Robert Morley).
Doctor Burke (Leslie Phillips) becomes a stowaway by mistake when chasing his girlfriend (Angela Scoular) onto the ship to propose to her. She is one of a group of models doing a fashion shoot with camp photographer (Graham Chapman). Other passengers aboard ship include pools winner Llewellyn Wendover (Harry Secombe) and Mrs. Dailey (Irene Handl), a socially ambitious lady hoping to find a wealthy match for her daughter Dawn (Janet Mahoney).
Burke is pursued by the Master-at-Arms (Freddie Jones) who correctly suspects that he does not have a ticket. Burke tries various ruses to try to escape him, including dressing up as a doctor. Eventually he is caught and exposed as a stowaway. Captain Spratt orders him to serve as an orderly, scrubbing the ship.
When the ship's doctor falls ill from a tropical disease, Burke takes over his duties. He is called into action when a Soviet cargo ship sends a request for help due to a patient with acute appendicitis. Burke is transferred to that ship to perform an operation. By the time he has finished his own ship has departed, and he is forced to stay on board the Soviet vessel until it reaches Grimsby. When the cruise ship finally returns to port, Burke learns his girlfriend has married the ship's doctor, now recovered from his illness.
Meanwhile Dawn Dailey, having failed to snare Captain Spratt, decides to marry Wendover. She learns after the wedding that he is not as wealthy as she had imagined.
Main cast
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- Leslie Phillips - Doctor Anthony Burke
- Harry Secombe - Llewellyn Wendover
- Robert Morley - Captain George Spratt
- James Robertson Justice - Sir Lancelot Spratt
- Simon Dee - Basil Beauchamp
- Angela Scoular - Ophelia O'Brien
- Irene Handl - Mrs. Dailey
- Janet Mahoney - Dawn Dailey
- Freddie Jones - Master-at-Arms
- Joan Sims - Russian Captain
- John Le Mesurier - Purser
- Graham Stark - Saterjee
- Graham Chapman - Roddie
- Jacki Piper - Girl in taxi
- Fred Emney - Father
- Yuri Borienko - Sick Russian
- Gerald Sim - 1st Doctor
- Yutte Stensgaard - Eve (Model)
- Jimmy Thompson - Ship's Doctor
- Sylvana Henriques - Model
- Marcia Fox - Jean
- Tom Kempinski - Stedman Green
- Anthony Sharp - Chief Surgeon
- Marianne Stone - Spinster
- John Bluthal - TV Doctor
Reception
The film receives two stars out of five in the Radio Times Guide to Films, which describes it as "innocently smutty" and feeling as been made up of "leftovers from Doctor at Sea".[1]
References
- ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films p.382
