Movie review - Doctor#3 - "Doctor at Large" (1957) ***

Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) heads out into the world - it starts with him working at a hospital, and I thought the whole movie was going to be set there, but when he loses out on a job about a third of the way through he heads off and and has several adventures throughout England: a locum in a country town, a rich person's practice in Harley St, way out in the sticks. Several actors from the first film reappear: James Robertson Justice (who doesn't seem to recognise Sparrow), Geoffrey Keen, Donald Sinden (fellow doctor), Muriel Pavlow (love interest in first who disappeared in second and reappears here as platonic friend turned love interest - although Bogarde holds her hand a lot).

The first third features a very pretty Shirley Eaton as a nurse keen on getting a doctor husband and Sparrow seems interested in her, making him more heterosexual than the previous two films. Later on he even kisses a seductive patient - although there aren't any real romantic scenes with Pavlow. At the end he just announces he's going to marry her without even asking.

The fact the story goes all over the shop means this lacks a unifying theme of the first one (Doctor at Sea didn't have one either but at least it was mostly set on the one location i.e. the ship). Also the camaraderie between Sinden, Pavlow and Bogarde isn't as strong as the one between the four friends in the first. Still, it has a cheery good nature, Bogarde's character really grows and matures in this one (there's really nowhere else for his character to go after he stands up to James Robertson Justice at the end) there's lots of chat about the National Health Service. Pleasant enough.