Twice Round the Daffodils

Twice Round the Daffodils is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas and starring Juliet Mills, Donald Sinden, Donald Houston, Kenneth Williams, Ronald Lewis, Andrew Ray, Joan Sims and Jill Ireland.[1] The film was adapted from the play Ring for Catty by Patrick Cargill and Jack Beale. Carry On Nurse (1959) was based on the same play.

Twice Round the Daffodils
Directed byGerald Thomas
Written byNorman Hudis
Patrick Cargill (play)
Jack Beale (play)
Produced byPeter Rogers
StarringJuliet Mills
Donald Sinden
Donald Houston
Kenneth Williams
CinematographyAlan Hume
Edited byJohn Shirley
Music byBruce Montgomery
Production
companies
Peter Rogers Productions
GWH
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release dates
  • 3 April 1962 (1962-04-03) (London)
  • 13 April 1962 (1962-04-13) (UK)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The cast and production team of Twice Round the Daffodils are similar to those of the Carry On films, but the film is not an official member of the Carry On series.

Plot

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A new group of patients arrives at a hospital to be treated for tuberculosis; more than one takes a fancy to one or other of the attractive nurses.[2]

The patients include John, a Welsh coal miner in a state of denial about his disease; Ian, a woman-chasing RAF officer; Bob, a man losing his girlfriend due to his lengthy stay in hospital; Henry, a supercilious bachelor with a devoted, letter-writing sister; George, a West Country farmer with hidden intelligence; and the young Chris, a timid and sensitive trainee chef who writes poetry and is bullied by John about his masculinity.

Cast

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Production

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The film was shot at Pinewood Studios using Heatherden Hall as the sanatorium.

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Though the Carry On parentage of Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas is amply in evidence and the lavatorial jokes generously distributed, the film is more concerned to propagate a sentimental, moist-eyed view of life in a TB ward. The inactivity enforced on the characters weighs heavily on the inventiveness of script-writer Norman Hudis and the plot is largely reduced to schoolboy practical jokes, the frustrated sex urge of Donald Sinden as a cheerful lecher and the romantic pairing-off of patients and nurses. But the moving moments are often effective and the treatment is generally so warmhearted one almost forgives the miraculously tidy ending in which all the patients are cured and discharged on the same day. The players work well together and Juliet Mills, badly miscast as a uncaring teenager in No, My Darling Daughter, matures charmingly as the efficient, selfless Catty. Given the chance and inclination, it would seem that the Rogers-Thomas team might one day achieve a really worthwhile comedy."[3]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This is a watered-down Carry On Nurse set (tastefully) in a male tuberculosis ward, with nurse Juliet Mills running the show. The Carry On producer/director team of Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas would occasionally make these forays away from their popular series, but would invariably use a similar cast. Here's Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams again, plus Donalds Sinden and Houston, chasing nurses Jill Ireland and Nanette Newman. Followed by Nurse on Wheels."[4]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Acceptable broadening, almost in Carry On style, of a modestly successful play."[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Twice Round the Daffodils". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  2. ^ Twice Round the Daffodils at BFI
  3. ^ "Twice Round the Daffodils". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 55. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 968. ISBN 9780992936440.
  5. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1058. ISBN 0586088946.
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