Nurse on Wheels

In the style of the carry on films with producer and music from the above, and full of so many of the best famous names in British film comedy ! It may not be one of the greatest films, but with the cast and the music it's still a class example British film comedy of the 1960's.

Juliet Mills was rewarded for her charming performance as a nurse in 'Twice Round the Daffodils' with the title role in this breezy little comedy in black & white.

A strong female supporting cast includes Esma Cannon as Mills's feather-brained mother ("How your mind wanders. I wonder who you get it from!"), Joan Sims in a refreshingly 'normal' role, with a name - Deborah Walcott - to match, and Athene Seyler in her final big screen appearance.

Among the men Jim Dale plays the first of two expectant fathers in a row for director Gerald Thomas, and Ronald Lewis (who's Land Rover carries a tax disc bearing an April 63 expiry date) is unfortunately a boor as Mills's supposed love interest (which makes it a pleasure to see him scared witless by her driving in a white-knuckle drive through the fictional village of Blandley which is probably the film's comic highlight).

Underneath the opening credits of this gentle, old-fashioned (even when it was made) corny comedy, we see Juliet Mills riding her bike through a provincial town. She looks very nervous; probably because she knew there'd only be one take, and that there were no safety measures. The producers of this British relic (I don't mean Ms Mills) were known for their cheese-paring parsimony. It shows in the lighting set-ups and the straightforward, episodic storytelling. That's not to say that Gerald Thomas didn't know how to tell a story. He had plenty of practice. He also knew that the host of tried and true character actors who populate this mild comedy, were prone to hamming outrageously if given the chance; he gave them the chance and they don't disappoint - with the exception of Mr Huntley and Ms Seyler, who are restrained. The handsome (and, film-wise, under-used, for health reasons, I understand) Ronald Lewis stars as the nurse's love interest; and Ms Mills, in her professional English way is a very charming nurse. I thought it very light when I first saw it at the Regal cinema, in Putney, in South London. Even then I was surprised it scraped in as a main feature. I expect it had some pretty strong support - a western perhaps, in colour. Nowadays Nurse on Wheels seems almost amateurish; but if you like those thesps of yore, check it out. They're the main attraction.

Nurse Joanna Jones finally passes her driving test and thus is eligible to take the job as District Nurse in a small country village. When she manages to get to her new location with her dotty mother in tow, she finds that she has got to fill the very large shoes of her predecessor Nurse Merrick. Settling into her job, Jones gets to know the eccentric set of patients she has to deal with – not to mention the attractive Dr Golfrey and the embittered local vicar.

Modern packaging and marketing of this film would have you believe that it is part of the Carry On series but even a viewing of the first 15 minutes will tell you that, other than Joan Sims, this has very little in common with Carry On Nurse (which was of the similar period). Instead of the freewheeling irreverence of that series this is much more structured and actually a mix of a light humour with a reasonable story. This is not to say that it is brilliant of course, because it is a fairly unremarkable affair although it is enjoyable if you meet it on its own terms. The humour is consistently gentle but does coax out some laughs while producing an amusing tone throughout, it isn't hilarious of course but I quite liked it and did find it a bit more refined than the other Nurse film (although it does have some similar joking, including a "bottom" joke at the end that is reminiscent of Nurse's famous daffodil conclusion).

The cast are quite pleasing and they seem to take to the relaxed tone of the material easier than the rather forced "wackiness" of the Carry On films. Mills is pretty and pitches it well in the lead role, but many of her scenes are stolen from her by Cannon's wonderfully comic dotty mother. Support features some good turns from Sims, Dale and a few others but I must admit that I wasn't overly taken by Howard as Dr Golfrey.

Overall this is an enjoyable film even if it isn't anything special and is never hilarious at any point. The cast do well with the tone of the material and the film delivers a consistent good humour within a story that is well enough structured to stand up better than some of the Carry On films that did feel a bit like a collection of sketches at times.

NURSE ON WHEELS does feel very much like a non-canon CARRY ON film, a feeling exacerbated by the presence of not one, not two, but three CARRY ON big names: Gerald Thomas as director, Peter Rogers as producer, and Norman Hudis as writer. Add in the presence of a number of CARRY ON players in support and you have pretty much a CARRY ON movie in all but name.

The tag line proclaims this as "funnier than CARRY ON NURSE!" and I would have to disagree with that statement. The early black and white CARRY ONs were all very good indeed; there was no time taken to get the series up to speed, they had the formula correct from the word go and the resulting films feel fresh and sparkly even now. NURSE ON WHEELS spoils things a bit by including a large romantic sub-plot which makes this sometimes feel like a light romance from the 1940s rather than an early '60s comedy.

Still, there are plenty of reasons to tune in, not least the efforts of the solid cast. Juliet Mills is full of warmth and humour as the district nurse lead, although the fish-out-of-water type humour feels very quaint and even antiquated for a modern viewership. Ronald Lewis is stuck with the stodgy role of a farmer, although Noel Purcell shines as the eccentric general store owner. Sadly, one of the best known of the CARRY ON actors, Joan Sims, has her comic talents wasted in the part of a jealous rival. Still, Esma Cannon is delightfully eccentric, old talents like Joan Hickson and Renee Houston remain amusing, George Woodbridge is cast delightfully against type, and Jim Dale makes a mark early on in his career.