From sociopathic killer in "The blue lamp" to charming (if rather elderly) medical student in "Doctor in the house",thus was the career path of Dirk Bogarde marked out in its early stages,leading to matinée idol roles in the late fifties,followed by big star status and finally "Grand old man" parts in prestigious small productions as his reputation as an author grew to match his reputation as an actor. Simon Sparrow is archetypal early Bogarde,a slight stutter,a raised eyebrow,a hesitant smile.....perhaps in 50 years or so they'll be saying the same about Hugh Grant....then again perhaps not.Well,its nice to know where he nicked it from. Muriel Pavlow shone briefly as a nice English gel then disappeared as Cockney and Scouse came into fashion.I can't imagine her walking the wards in "Casualty" or "Holby City" somehow but her rather saintly persona fits very comfortably in the reassuringly middle class environs of St Swithin's. Kenneth More deserves to be considered along with Sir John Mills and James Mason at the very pinnacle of British movie acting.Too often seen as a buffoon(indeed too often cast -as here-as a buffoon)his claim to serious status was recognised only after the original(the good one) TV production of "The Forsyte Saga". The incomparable James Robertson Justice was born to play Sir Lancelot Spratt,heaping good-natured scorn on everyone who crosses his path. If this had been his only screen appearance he would still be immortal. "Doctor in the house" is a seriously good comedy,one of the last from the golden age of the British cinema.The cast is a veritable "Who's who" or,sadly,now a "Who was who" of the cream of UK screen light comedians,those faces whose regular appearance at the pictures was the occasion for a sigh of pleasant anticipation and a contented wiggling of the bum in the seat.I'm sure that none of them could ask for a better epitaph.
Review of Doctor in the House
