Tayloriona Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

staffan-61428 I saw this macabre comedy in the early 80's in Stockholm Sweden. Now we experience the revival of prof. Millar - impersonated by the very real and non-fictitious Paolo Macchiarini! But the laughter chokes on you. Thus sending an important message to present and future scientists. The film - at the time - made me sick and if I rated the film then, I would give it a "2". However, now in retrospective, I gave it a "9". Too bad Macchiarini never saw it - obviously. All the main actors performed extremely well, thus bringing to life a most - otherwise - unlikely medical treatments/surgery. The unfortunate Travis (Malcolm McDowell) affected by Millars overambitious actions illustrates the wide range of Malcolm McDowell's art of acting. Graham Crowden's impersonation of Prof. Millar is very convincing and brings forward a frightening scientist - hopefully very unusual in real life. Until Paolo Macchiarini showed up. I recommend "Britannia Hospital" to be included in the education at all medical schools on all levels all over the world. In order to bring a healthy perspective to the students.

ShadeGrenade 'If....' and 'O Lucky Man' were the extremely compelling first two instalments of the 'Mick Travis' trilogy, directed by Lindsay Anderson, and starring Malcolm McDowell as the eponymous hero. What might be loosely described as 'the final chapter' - 'Britannia Hospital' - lags behind in terms of power and pace.It is set in the hospital of the title, where staff are striking ( the patients have to eat oranges ) and refuse to let ambulances through the main gates ( unless the patients are near-death ). Protesters object to an Amin-like leader who is being treated there as a private patient. Vincent Potter ( Leonard Rossiter ) is the manager trying against all odds to organise a visit from The Queen Mother. He even bribes the shop steward with a promise of an O.B.E.! Mick Travis, newly returned from the States, is part of a television crew making a documentary about the strange goings-on at The Millar Centre. Mad-as-a-March-Hare Professor Millar ( Graham Crowden, reprising his role from 'O Lucky Man' ) is conducting Frankenstein-style medical experiments.With the Winter of Discontent ( an industrial dispute that affected the entire country for several weeks in early 1979 ) still fresh in people's memories, David Sherwin's script has a lot to say on the so-called decline of Britain. The trouble is we have heard it all before. The Boulting Brothers' 'I'm All Right Jack' also made fun of trade unions, while Robin Askwith's ( how shocking must it have been then to see him in a movie where he kept his clothes on ) militant shop steward is not far removed from the Kenneth Cope character in 'Carry On At Your Convenience' ( 1971 )Leonard Rossiter amuses as the harassed 'Potter', and Anderson's stamp is on it, but for me this is an unfortunate end to the 'Mick Travis' series. McDowell gets little to do other than prowl around hospital corridors with a mini-camera in his hand. The character looks as though he was put in as an after-thought. He deserved a much better send-off than this.Arthur Lowe is seen briefly as a rich patient who makes a stirring patriotic speech before expiring ( the actor sadly passed away for real soon afterwards ), and Alan Bates contributes a cameo ( if you can call it that ) as a corpse. Mark Hamill ( yes, old 'Luke Skywalker' himself ) plays a pot-smoking member of Travis' television team.Like 'If....', the film ends in violent fashion as the protesters and the strikers smash through the gates and invade the hospital. It had the misfortune to open in Britain around the time of the Falklands War, when the prevailing national mood was one of machismo and jingoism, and right-wing papers had a field day stirring up outrage over Anderson's so-called unpatriotic depiction of Royalty. Anderson never worked in Britain again, a fate reminiscent of that of the great Michael Powell. Not a bad film as such, but its statements are unoriginal and humour far too obscure to be really funny.

sol- After satirising Britain's education system in 'If....' and the British justice system in 'O Lucky Man!', Lindsay Anderson takes a look at the health care system in this final part of his trilogy with Malcolm McDowell. It is not as effectively dramatic as 'If....', nor is it as delightfully whimsical as 'O Lucky Man!', but even if slightly inferior, this is a good film in itself, full of fascinating ideas and colourful characters. It is quite interesting to watch throughout, although a bit excessively disgusting and over-the-top at times, and in general it is a fairly solid conclusion to perhaps the oddest trilogy that has ever been filmed.

zetes This film completes the Mick Travis trilogy, of which the first two installments are if… (1968) and O Lucky Man (1973). You could say either that Britannia Hospital has little to do with the other two films or a lot. It depends on how you look at it. The political viewpoints are similar, but the style is much different. The three movies remind me much of Tati's first three Hulot films in the way they differ between each other while having interconnected themes. This would be Anderson's Playtime, in that, much like Hulot in Playtime, Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) becomes just one of a million different characters. Calling Britannia Hospital Anderson's Playtime oversells the film, unfortunately. The film does not work quite as well as if… and O Lucky Man, both of which are masterpieces, in my estimation. Britannia Hospital feels like it ought to be a masterpiece. There are just so many flashes of genius. You see images and scenes that Federico Fellini or Luis Buñuel would have killed to come up with, and the film's liberal politics, while definitely somewhat confusing, are far more potent than anything Godard ever put forward. It also contains one moment of gorgeous eroticism, when Malcolm McDowell is changing clothes and a nurse gently cups both of his buttocks from behind. By the end, though, instead of being moved I was rather scratching my head. The film would probably benefit if I were to watch all three installments in a row, because there are apparently a lot of characters that are shared between them (I only recognized Mick Travis and Professor Millar; it's been over two years since I've seen the other films). But, then again, seeing how this film has been completely tossed aside by so many people, I'm hardly the only one who is confused. On the other hand, a film with so much ambition and power ought never to be shoved aside. Its dismissal is more than a little unjustified.