Dentist in the Chair (1960) Movie Review

Dentist in the Chair (1960)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Ronnie Stevens and Bob Monkhouse in Dentist in the Chair (1960)

Pull the Other One

David Cookson (Bob Monkhouse) and Brian Dexter (Ronnie Stevens) are a couple of dental students who are often to busy trying to charm women, such as Peggy Travers (Peggy Cummins), than to spend time studying and practicing. But they find themselves in a dubious situation when they are approached by Sam Field (Kenneth Connor), a burglar, who promised his woman he would give up his career as a criminal. You see for his final job Sam was meant to rob a specific shop but ended up in the wrong shop and with a case load of dentistry equipment to flog. With David, Brian and Sam going in to partnership they try to sell the stolen merchandise around the dental school, but that means Sam has to pretend to be a dental student.

When it comes to old British comedies the most well known are probably the "Carry on" movies and then the "Doctor" movies. But in between all these are several stand-alone movies which end up feeling like they were drawing on the popularity of those other movie franchises. As such "Dentist in the Chair" feels very much like an off-shoot of the "Doctor" movies with much of the story and comedy revolving around the exploits of a couple of dental students who keep on stumbling in to trouble whilst flirting with a female friend.

As such what you get in "Dentist in the Chair" is some familiar style humour and some equally familiar actors such as Monkhouse, Cumming, Connor, Stevens and even Eric Barker. And it all works with plenty of wheeler dealing and comic reacting. Those words, "wheeler dealing and comic reacting", seemed to be the mainstay of British comedies back in the 50s, 60s and to some extent the 70s. And it is why whilst this one works thanks to Monkhouse and his friends delivering plenty of light hearted humour there is nothing which makes it stand out from the crowd.

What this all boils down to is that "Dentist in the Chair" is fun, but it is only fun in a typical old British comedy sort of way and has nothing in it which makes it stand out from other British comedies from the 50s and 60s.


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