NURSE ON WHEELS—light, fitfully amusing British comedy from 1963, directed by Gerald Thomas. He was the driver behind dozens of the popular ‘Carry On’ larks that made U.K. audiences happy for three decades. Not part of the series, this stand alone job does have some crew and several players from the mob, but is mainly a vehicle (the wheels part) for Juliet Mills, as the bicycle borne caregiver of the title.

Esma Cannon, 1905-1972

‘Joanna Jones’ (Mills, 21) is hired as a District Nurse (filming was done in the Buckinghamshire village of Little Missenden) and the featherweight story has her keeping her spirits up as she undergoes trials and tribulations being accepted by the locals, who naturally are a quirky lot. Chuckles and smiles are provided by the gallery of genial supporting players, with Esma Cannon getting the most out of her role as Joanna’s daft mother. Like her younger sister Hayley, Juliet Mills is charming.

If anything works against the little item, it’s overuse of the theme music from Eric Rogers: he came up with a bouncy main theme with a kind of jazzy 40s sound, but ‘whimsical’ variations of it are used to the point of distraction.

Scripted by Norman Hudis, from “Nurse is My Neighbor” a novel by John Burke, who published it under one of eleven pseudonyms he used. With Ronald Lewis, Joan Sims, Noel Purcell, Norman Rossington, Raymond Huntley, Athene Seyler, Jim Dale. 86 minutes.

bouncy score has a 40s sound repetitige