intelligent film that should be ranked up there with the greatest films of British cinema.

days at boarding school in If.... 1968 to his journey from coffee salesman to film star in O Lucky Man 1972 , Travis' adventures finally come to an end in Britannia Hospital which sees Mick as an investigative reporter investigating the bizarre activities of Professor Miller, played by the always interesting Graham Crowden, whom he had had a run in with in O Lucky Man. Checkout the Pig Man scene This is well before Seinfeld. As is usual with an Anderson film the acting, by a top notch cast, most of whom had been in the previous two, is uniformly good. It is professionally shot by Mike Fash, although his work doesn't have the same feel to it that Miroslav Ondricek brought to the proceeding instalments, and is well produced. All three films have recurring characters from each. Some of the characters from If...., that didn't turn up in O Lucky Man, returned for Britannia Hospital. The film was lambasted by the English critics on release, although Dilys Powell listed it as one of the films of the year.From its opening scene where an elderly patient is left to die on a gurney to its final revelatory scene of Miller unveiling his greatest scientific achievement, the film is choc full of surprises. One character is played by a dwarf and another by a man in drag. Yet one of the more pleasant surprises is the performance of Robin Askwith as Ben Keating, the school bully from If...., Askwith's film debut. Keating has organised a strike by the kitchen staff in retaliation for Potter ordering sixty-five ambassador class lunches from Furtnums. Askwith handles his role with skill, making Keating quite a likable character.Over the years Britannia Hospital, as with the other two, has been revaluated and is now considered another classic from the Anderson stable. I, as did Dilys Powell, could have told them this when I first saw it back in '82.

and so does the superb photography and eye-dazzling sets.

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.

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.

sampled for Snivilisation.A cult black comedy, with some quite horrific bits in, its quintessentially British, but definitely not in the vain the Full Monty or Four Wedding thank god! .

that something was rotten in the British Kingdom. The third and final chapter of the trilogy, takes place almost entirely in the Britannia Hospital, one of the oldest and most respectable English medical centers in London that celebrates its 500th anniversary and expects the Queen Mother herself to attend. But there are many troubles at the hospital that mirror the problems the whole society suffers from and may turn the celebration into a nightmare. Our old friend, Mick "Lucky Man" Travis Malcolm McDowell who had become investigative reporter arrives with his crew to cover the celebration but accidentally he becomes a witness and then an unwilling participant in the sinister human experiments that are conducted by Professor Millar. The "mad scientist" had promised to Mick in the previous movie that as a result of the experiment, he would become much better... Well, Mick is just about to find out if that is true.Very clever, very British, filled equally with dry humor and horrifying shocking sequences, "Britannia Hospital" ends the trilogy with the bang. Its final 20 minutes are the combination of the darkest surreal comedy and the serious compelling futuristic satire of the long-lasting power. As for Mick, "Britannia Hospital" left no hopes for another Mick Travis chapter ever. After all, Mick may not be a lucky man but we are the lucky viewers that have been following him on his crazy and unforgettable journey where Lindsay Anderson sent us.