Soon to come out on DVD, this gentle, rather old-fashioned comedy from Canada is reminiscent of the British Ealing comedies of the 50s. It's set in a remote fishing village of French speaking Canada, where fishing no longer happens and everyone lives off welfare cheques. The possibility of a factory being built to give full employment is dependant on there being a resident doctor, something the islanders have managed without for a long time, and so the hunt is on to attract a medic from the mainland. When Dr Lewis, a metropolitan plastic surgeon with a taste for jazz and cricket, finds himself reluctantly there for a month's stint, all the stops are pulled out to make him want to stay.

Like Whisky Galore and Passport to Pimlico, it's a comical community full of eccentrics and lovable rogues up to all sorts of tricks. At first I felt it was far too whimsical for its own good, and there's no denying its sentimentality, but I gradually found myself being beguiled by its slow-burning charm, just like Dr Lewis. Some of the jokes are a bit lame (e.g. beef stroganoff, Dr Lewis's favourite dish, is relayed as beef bugger-off by the innocent islanders) but strong comic performances and a general amiable zaniness combine to make this a pleasant evening's viewing.