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

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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 pupils, though, have ideas of their own. The fourth form girls want to make sure that Arab Boy takes part in the race, while their counterparts in the sixth form are equally determined to make sure that it doesn't. They kidnap the horse and attempt to hide it in the school, as their money is on a rival. For a film as old as it is, it did still have a magic and, for the most part, it could be made today with very few changes.

Sim successfully differentiates his two characters in The Belles of St. Trinian's, although it's not that hard when one is wearing a dress, and the shady Clarence is simply the warm up act for his star turn as Miss Fritton. 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. 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.Production company London Film Productions, in association with British Lion Films Distributor British Lion (UK) In the case of St. Trinian's, those interests include crime, cheating, gambling and making illicit booze. St. Trinian's then is depicted initially in the films as a sort of progressive school gone to seed. As Miss Fritton says in the film, St. Trinians is "Perhaps just a teeny-weeny bit unorthodox, but then that's better than being old-fashioned, isn't it?" The concept was very clever and although I still enjoyed it, I would have liked to have seen more jokes and perhaps, as with the last film, another 15-20 minutes to help the pace and give room for extra pranks and plots. Malcolm Arnold - The Complete Catalogue of Published Works" (PDF). Malcolm Arnold Society. 2004. p.10. The Pure Hell of St. Trinian'sbegins with a joke recycled from the first film. As the school burns to the ground, the narrator tells us:

The Belles of St. Trinian's, Blue Murder at St. Trinian'sand The Pure Hell of St. Trinian'sall have similar themes, interests and styles, as well as using a shared set of actors and characters, and sometimes even the same jokes. Launder does a near-perfect job of bringing the girls onto the silver screen. The film's tempo keeps to a fast trot and sometimes breaks into a gallop. His comedic timing is excellent. When the Civil Servants dance, he keeps his distance and films them in full, adding to the funniness of the sketch. But if somebody is whispering, he goes for a close-up, and you feel like you're sharing the joke - once again adding power to the humour. That Malcolm Arnold had a playful side and a sense of humour wasn't a great surprise, given that his works included "A Grand Overture for Orchestra, Organ, Rifles, Three Hoovers and an Electric Floor Polisher", a parody of a grand 19th century overture, written for the Hoffnung Music Festival. 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.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.

I can't claim to be an expert on THE ST TRINIAN series . I have some vague notion that it's about some hellcat girl pupils which in today's political climate would probably never been considered as a film series 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." The film was among some of the most popular British films to be released in 1954, with critics praising the comedy and several of the cast members for their performances, including Sim's dual role as the headmistress Miss Millicent Fritton and her twin brother Clarence Fritton. [2] The film was the first to be produced in the St. Trinian's film series – three sequels were later produced and released after this film: Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957); The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960); and The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966). The musical score for the St Trinian films was written by Malcolm Arnold and included the school song, with words accredited to Sidney Gilliat (1954). [13] In the 2007 film, a new school song, written by Girls Aloud, was called "Defenders of Anarchy". The school also has a fight song. One development is that many of the St. Trinian's sixth form girls are now played by actresses of the right sort of age. This may be why the film is much more chaste in its depiction of the older girls than in the last couple of films.The only local businesses that seem to benefit from the presence of the school are the bookmakers and the pawnbrokers. The latter is where the school trophies inevitably end up, whenever Miss Fritton is in need of funds. Which she usually is, as a school as unorthodox as St. Trinian's is constantly short of cash. Malcolm Arnold: The Belles of St. Trinians – Comedy Suite: Orchestra". Music Room . Retrieved 10 October 2021. 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. In the 1950s they began to specialise in making comedy films, and these were the boom years for British film comedy. The Belles of St. Trinian's was produced by Launder and Gilliat, directed by Launder and co-written by both, together with a regular collaborator screenwriter Val Valentine. This creative team would remain in place for the next two films in the series. Frankie Howerd plays the lead crook, Alfred Askett, whose front operation is as a fancy male hairdresser, "Alphonse of Monte Carlo". Howerd's character has a little fake quiff that he removes when the customers have gone, which must be some sort of in-joke, as it means that the famously badly wigged Howerd is wearing another wig on top of his actual one.