Dentist on the Job

1961 British comedy film by C. M. Pennington-Richards

June 1961 (1961-06)

Running time

88 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

Dentist on the Job (U.S. title Get On with It!) is a 1961 British comedy film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards, and starring Bob Monkhouse, Kenneth Connor, Ronnie Stevens and Eric Barker ^[1] It is the sequel to Dentist in the Chair (1960), and was co-written by Hugh Woodhouse and Hazel Adair.

Plot

Colonel Proudfoot of Proudfoot Industries aims to entice a couple of dentists to advertise "Dreem", a revolutionary type of toothpaste, but he knows that if the dentists learn that they are part of an advertising campaign, they will be struck off. His cousin, the director of a Dental School, sees his chance to rid the field of dentistry of two newly qualified incompetents David Cookson and Brian Dexter. However, once employed by Proudfoot, they set about improving on Dreem's terrible formula, and accidentally succeed in creating a much better toothpaste. Their attempts to convince Proudfoot of its merits are foiled by Proudfoot's assistant, Macreedy.

They then read a newspaper article about the forthcoming launch of a rocket from a British base carrying a satellite which will continuously broadcast a taped message of peace from the President of the United States, and conceive a plan. They record an impromptu commercial for the new formula Dreem and, with the help of an ex-convict friend Sam Field and actress Jill Venner, manage to smuggle it aboard the rocket in place of the President's speech, guaranteeing Proudfoot years of free advertising. The resulting publicity ensures the product's success and the pair are promoted.

Cast

Bob Monkhouse as David Cookson
Kenneth Connor as Sam Field
Ronnie Stevens as Brian Dexter
Shirley Eaton as Jill Venner
Eric Barker as Colonel J.J. Proudfoot / The Dean
Reginald Beckwith as Mr. Duff
Richard Wattis as Macreedy
Charles Hawtrey as Mr. Roper
Richard Caldicot as Prison Governor
Cyril Chamberlain as Director
David Horne as Admiral Southbound
Graham Stark as sourfaced man
Charlotte Mitchell as Mrs Burke
Arthur Mullard (uncredited)
Andria Lawrence (uncredited)

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Witless farce, with seaside-postcard jokes and characters (Sour-Faced Man, Cheeky Brunette, Miss Figg, etc.) and an almost pre-adolescent prurience. A few sequences score hits at the expense of commercials and advertising, but they are obvious hits at obvious targets. The film moves at a fair pace, except when a laugh line is being heavily underlined; but its nonsense is for the most part dispiriting."^[2]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "A year after cutting his teeth on Dentist in the Chair, Bob Monkhouse returned in this disappointing sequel with a script that's so full of cavities you'll soon be wincing with pain and crying out for laughing gas. Newly qualified Monkhouse beams his way through a series of gags that could easily have been extracted from the Doctor in the House [1954] reject file."^[3]

Legacy

The censor card, studio logos, opening credits and a brief portion of the opening scene are added to the start of Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) on its special edition DVD. The clip ends with a spluttering, unseen "projectionist" realising he has played the wrong film. A "slide" then appears urging the audience to wait one moment please while the operator changes reels.^[4]

References

^ "Dentist on the Job". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
^ "Dentist on the Job". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 28 (324): 113. 1 January 1961 – via ProQuest.
^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 242. ISBN 9780992936440.
^ Bradshaw, Peter (15 October 2015). "Monty Python and the Holy Grail review – timelessly brilliant". The Guardian.