Doctor at Sea (1955)
Directed by Ralph Thomas

Film Review

Doctor at Sea was the second in the Rank Organisation's popular series of film adaptations of the autobiographical novels by Richard Gordon. Although somewhat less memorable than the first - Doctor in the House (1954) - the film has its charms and some great comic moments.  Dirk Bogarde once again plays the adorable Dr Sparrow (his most popular screen persona) whilst the magnificent James Robertson Justice appears to taunt him, not as Sir Lancelot Spratt, but as the even more lugubrious Captain Hogg. Joan Sims also crops up again, also in a different guise, just a few years before making her Carry On debut in Carry on Nurse (1959).

One of the main selling points of Doctor at Sea is that it features the French beauty Brigitte Bardot in her first English speaking role. The actress had already made her mark on French cinema through such films as Willy Rozier's Manina, la fille sans voile (1952) and Le Portrait de son père (1953) but it would be another year before she became an international sex goddess, after her appearance in Roger Vadim's Et Dieu... créa la femme (1956). Here, Bardot is at her most winsome and works surprisingly well with the straitlaced Bogarde.

Film Synopsis

Newly graduated from medical school, Dr Simon Sparrow joins a medical practice but finds himself the victim of the amorous intentions of his partner's daughter.  His solution is to runaway to sea - to become a ship's doctor on a cargo ship, where his patients include the irascible Captain Hogg and a crew of sex-starved mariners.   At the next port of call, Sparrow and his new friends go ashore and soon end up in jail.  When the ship sets off once more, it has two extra passengers: Muriel, the daughter of the shipping line, and her singer friend, Hélène.  Sparrow's professional duties are once more confounded by his attraction for the fair sex...