The National Health (film)
Encyclopedia
The National Health is a 1973
British
comedy film
directed by Jack Gold
and starring Lynn Redgrave
, Colin Blakely
and Eleanor Bron
. It is based on the play The National Health
by Peter Nichols
, in which the staff struggle to cope in an underfunded NHS hospital
. The film satirically interweaves the story of the real hospital with a fantasy hospital which exists in a soap-opera world where all the equipment is new and patients are miraculously cured. In the real hospital, the patients die while the out-of-touch administrators focus on impressing foreign visitors.
1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Jack Gold
Jack Gold
Jack Gold is a British film and television director. He was part of the British Realist Tradition that followed Free Cinema.-Career:...
and starring Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
, Colin Blakely
Colin Blakely
Colin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
and Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron
Eleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...
. It is based on the play The National Health
The National Health
The National Health is a play by Peter Nichols. Reminiscent of the Carry On film series, this black comedy with tragic overtones focuses on the appalling conditions in an under-funded national health hospital, which are contrasted comically with a Dr...
by Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols
Peter Nichols FRSL is an English writer of stage plays, film and television.Born in Bristol, England, he was educated at Bristol Grammar School, and served his compulsory National Service as a clerk in Calcutta and later in the Combined Services Entertainments Unit in Singapore where he...
, in which the staff struggle to cope in an underfunded NHS hospital
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. The film satirically interweaves the story of the real hospital with a fantasy hospital which exists in a soap-opera world where all the equipment is new and patients are miraculously cured. In the real hospital, the patients die while the out-of-touch administrators focus on impressing foreign visitors.
Cast
- Lynn RedgraveLynn RedgraveLynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
- Nurse Sweet / Nurse Betty Martin - Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
- Edward Loach - Eleanor BronEleanor BronEleanor Bron is an English stage, film and television actress and author.-Early life and family:Bron was born in 1938 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a Jewish family of Eastern European origin...
- Sister McFee / Sister Mary MacArthur - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
- Mr. Carr / Senior Surgeon Boyd - Jim DaleJim DaleJim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
- Barnet / Dr. Neil Boyd - Sheila Scott-Wilkenson - Nurse Powell / Cleo Norton
- Neville Aurelius - Leyland / Monk
- Gillian BargeGillian BargeGillian Barge was an English stage, television and film actress.She was born in Hastings, Sussex and she started acting at the age of 17, training at the Birmingham Theatre School....
- Dr. Bird - George Browne - The Chaplain
- Patience Collier - The Lady Visitor
- Jumoke Debayo - Nurse Lake
- Robert GillespieRobert GillespieRobert Gillespie is a British actor.He was brought up in Nantes until his parents moved to Manchester, having arrived in Plymouth in 1940...
- Tyler - John HamillJohn HamillJohn Hamill is an English actor.He had previously been a bodybuilder and one of England's most popular "physique models" in the late 1960s before turning to acting, studying at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and appearing in the stage farce There's a Girl in My Soup.Hamill’s...
- Kenny - Don Hawkins - Les
- James HazeldineJames HazeldineJames Hazeldine was a British film, stage and television actor. He was born in Salford, Lancashire.James started his career in repertory theatre, firstly in weekly rep, then at the Manchester Library theatre and on to the Royal Court Theatre in London's Sloane Square, where he appeared in the...
- Student Doctor - Bob HoskinsBob HoskinsRobert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr. is an English actor known for playing Cockney rough diamonds, psychopaths and gangsters, in films such as The Long Good Friday , and Mona Lisa , and lighter roles in family films such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Hook .- Early life :Hoskins was born in Bury St...
- Foster - David HutchesonDavid Hutcheson-Selected filmography:* The Sky's the Limit * A Gentleman's Gentleman * The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp * Theatre Royal * School for Secrets * Sleeping Car to Trieste * Woman Hater...
- Mackie - Mervyn JohnsMervyn JohnsMervyn Johns was a Welsh film and television character actor. He was a mainstay of Ealing Studios.Among his dozens of film roles were Walter Craig in Dead of Night , the Church Warden in Went the Day Well? and Bob Cratchit in Scrooge...
- Rees - Bert Palmer - Flegg
- Maureen PryorMaureen PryorMaureen Pryor was an Irish-born English character actress. She appeared on stage, screen and television.-Early life:Maureen Pryor was born Maureen Pook in 1922 in Limerick, Ireland, to a Cockney father and an Irish mother...
- The Matron - Richie Stewart - Mortuary Attendant
- Clive SwiftClive SwiftClive Walter Swift is an English character comedy actor and songwriter. He is best known for his role as character Richard Bucket in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances. He is less known for his role as character Roy in the British television series The Old Guys...
- Ash - Graham Weston - Michael