Doctor in Distress (film)

Doctor in Distress
Directed by	Ralph Thomas
Written by	Nicholas Phipps; Richard Gordon
Starring	Dirk Bogarde; James Robertson Justice; Samantha Eggar
Distributed by	The Rank Organisation
Release date(s)	30 July 1963
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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Doctor in Distress is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Dirk Bogarde, James Robertson Justice, and Samantha Eggar. It was the fifth film in the Doctor Series. After a one-film absence, it marked the final return to the role of Simon Sparrow by Dirk Bogarde, and the return to the series (although in a different role) of Donald Houston.

[edit] Plot

Simon Sparrow, now a senior doctor at St Swithins, falls in love with Delia, a model and aspiring actress. They eventually move in together, but then she goes to Italy to try out for a film.

Meanwhile, Spratt injures his back in a fall. Placed under the care of physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he is initially hostile, but soon succumbs to her charms. He turns to his friend Simon for advice. Simon sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight. Spratt has Iris followed, and, when his private investigator turns up at St Swithins as a patient, follows her himself (terrorising a nervous train passenger in the process). He proposes to her, but is eventually rejected in favour of another of her patients, retired army Major Tommy Ffrench.

Delia returns in England, having somehow acquired an expensive Italian car (a Maserati Sebring) and expensive clothes, though she did not land a part in the film. It is implied that she and Simon get together again.

[edit] Cast

Dirk Bogarde as Dr. Simon Sparrow
James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt
Samantha Eggar as Delia Mallory
Barbara Murray as Iris Marchant
Mylène Demongeot as Sonia, a foreign masseuse who sublets Delia's flat and briefly becomes Simon's girlfriend, and Helga, her sister
Donald Houston as Major Tommy French
Jessie Evans as Mrs. Parry
Ann Lynn as Mrs. Whittaker
Leo McKern as Harry
Dennis Price as Dr. Blacker
Rodney Cardiff as Dr. Stewart
Fenella Fielding as Train Passenger
Jill Adams as Genevieve
Paul Whitsun-Jones as Grimes
Michael Flanders as Bradby
Amanda Barrie as Rona
Reginald Beckwith as Meyer
Bill Kerr as Australian Sailor
Michael Goldie as Physical Training Instructor
Ronnie Stevens as Hotel Manager
Peter Butterworth as Ambulance Driver
Derek Fowlds as Gillibrand
Timothy Bateson as Mr. Holly
Joe Robinson as Sonja's Boyfriend
Ronnie Barker as Man at Railway Station Ticket Counter
John Bluthal as Railway Porter
Marianne Stone as Cafe Waitress
Denise Coffey as Food seller at Railway Station
Richard Briers, Christopher Beeny, Johnny Briggs and Rene Setan as Medical Students (uncredited)
Jeanette Landis as Rosie
Margaret Boyd as Lady Willoughby
Frank Finlay as Corsetiere
David Weston as Dr Bell