St. Trinians - The Pure Hell Of St. Trinians [DVD] [1960]

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This anarchic portrayal of school life inevitably made the films tremendously popular with British schoolchildren in the 1950s, as a fantasy version of the kind of school where the pupils are really the ones in charge, something that children in the stricter post-war years could only dream about. The Happiest Days of Your Life was headlined by the formidable pairing of Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford, as the head teachers of the two respective schools. Without the presence of the indomitable Rutherford, The Belles of St. Trinian's finds perhaps the only other comedy star who could compete with Alastair Sim on screen - another Alastair Sim.

Malcolm Arnold's comic sensibilities serve him particularly well in The Belles of St. Trinian's.His main theme is a rambunctious version of the school song, raggedly played as if it's being bashed out by the school orchestra. Flash Harry also gets his own theme, a high speed comical march, to complement his shifty shuffle. Many viewers seem to regard this as the last of the original St. Trinian's films, but there was in fact one more film in the series. Frank Launder would unexpectedly return to the world ofSt. Trinian's one last time 14 years later with The Wildcats of St. Trinian's in 1980. The gauge 0 model train manufacturer ACE Trains produce an "unorthodox" model of a British Schools Class steam locomotive (which were named after British schools), numbered 1922 and named "St Trinneans" (sic). This model is bright pink and has a pair of uniformed schoolgirls as driver and fireman. [14]

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Prominent among the older girls is Georgina, played by James Mason's daughter Portland Mason, in her penultimate film before she retired from acting. Portland, apparently named after Portland Hoffa and not the city in Oregon, was about 17 at the time the film was made. Some sources identify film director Roy Boulting's step-daughter Ingrid Boulting as one of the uncredited sixth formers, and there is an actress who does look like her. Sally Geeson is allegedly in there somewhere as well. Harry is a cheap spiv with a pencil moustache, who is usually seen wearing a trench coat and trilby hat. The shoulders on the coat are so wide that he almost looks as if he's left the coat hanger inside it, while the hat is invariably pulled down over his eyes to disguise his face, making it comically obvious that he's up to no good. Harry seems to be permanently skulking somewhere in the school grounds and can usually be summoned with a strong whistle. When he finds out that a policewoman has been sent to the school undercover he is indignant: "It's a blooming nerve! Ain't been no murders 'ere. Not so far." During his BBC interview [8] Searle agreed that the cruelty depicted at St Trinian's derived partly from his captivity during World War II but stressed that he included it only because the ignoble aspect to warfare in general had become more widely known. Barchester and Barset were used as names for the fictional towns near which St Trinian's School was supposedly located in the original films. In Blue Murder at St Trinian's, a signpost was marked as 2 miles to Barset, 8 miles to Wantage, indicating a location in what was Berkshire at the time of filming (transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974}.

Please feel free to visit my Just For Laughs list to see where I ranked The Pure Hell Of St Trinians.

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For the 2007 film, see St Trinian's (film). For the actual progressive school, see St Trinnean's School. Cover of a modern re-issue of St Trinian's drawings It's a quaint British comedy and I'm feeling a trifle warm just thinking about. I should have taken the tablets. The Terror of St Trinians or Angela's Prince Charming (1952; text by Timothy Shy, pen-name for D. B. Wyndham Lewis) Screenplay Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat, Val Valentine Producers Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat Cinematography Stanley Pavey Art director Joseph Bato Editor Thelma Connell Music Malcolm Arnold Costume designer Anna Duse

The comic high-points come early in the movie, with Raymond Huntley stealing the movie as a Judge distracted by the charms of a leggy Sixth-Former, while later the 'striptease' Hamlet provides the film's most memorable moment. Irene Handle is also on top form as a more than slightly batty teacher. This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. ( December 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)

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Third, and third best, film in the St. Trinian's series. The decline in quality is gentle and, although it looks a bit tired, this one still offers a lot of entertainment largely due to some wonderful comedic performances.

According to Mark Simpson in his book Alastair Sim: The Real Belle of St. Trinian's, Alastair Sim was originally offered only the part of Miss Fritton's brother Clarence. But when Launder and Gilliat were unable to find an actress to play the role of the headmistress, he suggested he could play both roles. These kind of escapades seem more like the sort of thing that children in the audience might have envied or aspired to in 1966; running around, riding bikes, driving steam trains, biffing baddies on the head and thwarting a gang of crooks. It's all harmless high jinx, more like Mallory Towers than St. Trinian's, even if some of the girls just wanted the money for themselves. The Belles of St. Trinian's borrows several of the stars and supporting players from The Happiest Days of Your Life, including Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, Richard Wattis, George Cole and Guy Middleton. While the St. Trinian's film is broader and not as well plotted as The Happiest Days of Your Life, it does benefit greatly from recycling that film's cast of character actors. Ronald Searle appeared in a cameo role as a visiting parent. [2] Roger Delgado plays the Sultan's aide. [4] It was also the first film appearance of Barbara Windsor, then a teenager. [5] Production [ edit ] In the films the school became embroiled in various shady enterprises, thanks mainly to Flash, and, as a result, was always threatened with closure by the Ministry. (In the last of the original four, this became the "Ministry of Schools", possibly because of fears of a libel action from a real Minister of Education.) The first four films form a chronological quartet, and were produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. They had earlier produced The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), a stylistically similar school comedy, starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Richard Wattis, Guy Middleton, and Bernadette O'Farrell, all of whom later appeared in the St Trinian's series, often playing similar characters.

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It's a bit repetitive for poor old Ruby too and she deserved so much better than the rogues she got caught up with and definitely didn't need that useless police officer fiancée. It has some hilarious moments - particularly the opening trial sequence and the striptease to the soliloquy from "Hamlet" - but it's on the same level as the first two films. As I said yesterday, Alastair Sim's virtual absence from "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's" was a blow to the film while his complete absence from this one is a major blow to it. Considering the importance of Miss Fritton to the first film and the fact that the school burns down, it's bizarre that she isn't even mentioned. Thanks to the magic of special effects, Sim is able to play two roles, share scenes and take part in conversations with himself. This is a simple concept, but one that was more difficult to achieve in 1954 than in the era of computer effects. But it's one of the most pleasing uses of special effects, expanding the star's acting performance and showing us something that would be impossible in real life.