The "doctor" series of the 50s and 60s had surprising durability - even though this was number six in the series and had Leslie Phillips rather than Dirk Bogarde, it still made the top 15 money makers in Britain of 1966.
The film marks a break from tradition in that the leading man, Phillips, is a comic character - there's no straight man at the center, like Bogarde or Michael Craig. I think this was a mistake because the piece has no center. Phillips should be a supporting character - an aging lecherous doctor, would be better off as a sidekick. John Fraser, as Philips' brother, a fellow doctor, should have been pushed to the center - though Fraser is a little funny looking with those eyebrows that seem to be painted on.
There are some really stunning women including Shirley Ann Field as a nurse (her role is disappointingly small - she's introduced, then given a fiancee and that's it) and Elizabeth Ercy as a physio who wears a swimsuit. The music got on my nerves.
Phillips' pursuit of Ercy isn't very entertaining or fun - it's creepy. The film is on surer ground when it concentrates on James Robertson Justice rampaging around the place and his romance with Joan Sims. The scene where all the doctors and nurses get high on gas was genuinely funny as was the whingeing patient and Justice and Sims.
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