The Belles of St. Trinian's

Last updated

The Belles of St Trinian's
The-Belles-of-St-Trinians.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Frank Launder
Written byFrank Launder
Sidney Gilliat
Val Valentine
Based on St Trinian's cartoons by Ronald Searle
Produced byFrank Launder
Sidney Gilliat
Starring Alastair Sim
Joyce Grenfell
George Cole
Hermione Baddeley
Cinematography Stanley Pavey
Edited by Thelma Connell
Music by Malcolm Arnold
Production
companies
London Films
Individual Pictures
Distributed by British Lion Films
Release date
  • 28 September 1954 (1954-09-28)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Belles of St Trinian's is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder, co-written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley. Inspired by British cartoonist Ronald Searle's St Trinian's School comic strips, the film focuses on students and teachers of the fictional school, dealing with attempts to shut it down while the headmistress faces financial troubles, which culminates in students thwarting a scheme involving a racehorse. [1]

Contents

The film was among the most popular British films of 1954, critics praising the comedy and several of the cast, including Sim's dual role as the headmistress, Miss Millicent Fritton, and her twin brother, Clarence Fritton. [2] The film was the first of the St. Trinian's series – three sequels were later produced: Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957); The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960); and The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery (1966).

Plot

The Sultan of Makyad enrols his daughter Fatima at St. Trinian's – a girls' school in England, run by its headmistress Millicent Fritton. She discovers that Millicent prepares her students to succeed in a merciless world by fighting authoritative figures in the police and government. Many of the girls are unruly and have criminal relations; as a result, the curriculum focuses on crime and illicit schemes, all while the students thwart efforts by the local police and the Ministry of Education (the government department now called the Department for Education) to shut the school. Millicent, however, faces problems as St. Trinian's is on the verge of bankruptcy, and seeks any means to clear the school's debt.

Millicent's twin, bookmaker Clarence Fritton, visits the school to check in on his sister and learns about Fatima. Knowing that her father owns a horse due to take part in a major race, Clarence enrols his daughter, Arabella, with instructions to befriend Fatima and extract information about the horse. At the same time, local police superintendent Kemp Bird assigns sergeant Ruby Gates, with whom he is in a relationship, to infiltrate the school as a games mistress, while the Ministry assigns Manton Bassett to send in a new inspector to St. Trinian's after two others disappeared – unaware that they now work at the school.

Clarence learns from Arabella that the Sultan's horse is likely to win. Arabella suggests to her father that her gang can incapacitate the stable boy and abduct the horse, hiding it until the race is over. At the same time, several girls report the horse's performance to Millicent, who places a wager via the spiv, 'Flash' Harry. When Fatima discovers Arabella leading sixth-form girls to kidnap the horse, she leads her fourth-form classmates to recover the animal and smuggle it back to the racecourse before the race. As the police and Ministry are embarrassed by failing to prevent trouble, the girls ensure the horse wins. As Millicent is berated by the girl's parents over the way she runs the school, Harry arrives to say the win has netted the school the money it needs to stay open, to her relief.

Cast

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

The film was based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle. He started doing sketches at the beginning of the war and continued to do them as a POW in Singapore. After the war they became very successful. By the time the film was made Searle had become tired of them. [6]

Filming

Filming took place in April–May 1954. The opening scenes of the girls returning to school were filmed at what is now the All Nations Christian College near Ware, Hertfordshire. This includes the entrance gate of Holycross Road and the outside shots of the school. [7] The bulk of the film was shot at Shepperton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Joseph Bato.

Music

The music for the film was written by the English composer Malcolm Arnold. The music was arranged as a concert suite for orchestra with piano four hands by Christopher Palmer. [8] [9] The suite was performed at the BBC Proms in 2003 and 2021. [10] [11]

Reception

Box office

The film was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1954, after Doctor in the House and Trouble in Store. [12] [13]

Critical reception

Kine Weekly said "Wacky, side-spitiing collegiate extravaganza, based on Ronald Searle’s grotesque, though wildly funny, drawings, illustrating odd, unseemly goings-on at a young ladies’ seminary. Alastair Sim fills the dual role of headmistress and her bookie brother, and his sly sense of humour holds the chapter of lunatic incidents firmly together. A first-rate supporting cast packed with experienced adults and eager youngsters, and liberal staging put the finishing fouches to another sure winner from The Happiest Days of Your Life stable. Get on to it without delay!" [14]

The New York Times wrote, "Credit Alastair Sim with doing excellently by the dual roles he essays ... Joyce Grenfell makes a properly gangling, awkward and gullible lady sleuth; George Cole does a few delightful turns as the conniving Cockney go-between and last, but not least, the Belles of St. Trinian's rate a vote of confidence for the whacky freedom of expression they exhibit. They all help make St. Trinian's a wonderfully improbable and often funny place to visit." [15]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Rollicking comedy, a big commercial hit." [16]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Most people's memory of the St Trinian's films dates from their own youth, when the wonderful indiscipline of the tearaways and the debauched indifference of the staff had them longing for their own school to be run along similar lines. In 1954 nothing had ever been seen to compare with this anarchic adaptation of Ronald Searle's cartoons, which turned traditional ideas of female gentility on their heads. Alastair Sim's Miss Fritton and George Cole's Flash Harry became icons of British comic lore, but the real star of the film is Joyce Grenfell." [17]

Censorship

The film was banned for children under 16 in South Africa. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Sim</span> Scottish actor (1900–1976)

Alastair George Bell Sim was a Scottish actor, who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty. He quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. Starting in 1935, he also appeared in more than fifty British films, including an iconic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol, released in 1951 as Scrooge in Great Britain and as A Christmas Carol in the United States. Though an accomplished dramatic actor, he is often remembered for his comically sinister performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Trinian's School</span> British gag cartoon comic strip series

St Trinian's is a British gag cartoon comic strip series, created and drawn by Ronald Searle from 1946 until 1952. The cartoons all centre on a boarding school for girls, where the teachers are sadists and the girls are juvenile delinquents. The series was Searle's most famous work and inspired a popular series of comedy films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Belles of St. Lemons</span> Comic strip characters from The Beano

The Belles of St. Lemons was a British comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 1495, although the characters themselves had first been introduced in the 1968 edition of The Beano Annual. It was drawn by Gordon Bell and ran from 1971 to 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Searle</span> English artist, cartoonist, illustrator and medal designer (1920–2011)

Ronald William Fordham Searle was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's School and for his collaboration with Geoffrey Willans on the Molesworth series.

<i>The Pure Hell of St Trinians</i> 1960 British comedy film by Frank Launder

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder and starring Cecil Parker, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell and Eric Barker. It was written by Launder, Sidney Gilliat and Val Valentine, and set in the fictional St Trinian's School. It was the third in a series of four films.

<i>Blue Murder at St Trinians</i> 1957 British film

Blue Murder at St Trinian's is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder, co-written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Lionel Jeffries and Richard Wattis; the film also includes a brief cameo of Alastair Sim, reprising his lead role in the 1954 film, The Belles of St. Trinian's. Inspired by the St Trinian's School comic strips by British cartoonist Ronald Searle, the film is the second entry in the St. Trinian's film series, with its plot seeing the students of the fictional school making plans to secure a place on a European tour, all while subsequently aiding a criminal who is secretly seeking to escape the country with stolen jewels.

Frank Launder was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat.

Henry Cuthbert Edwards aka Flash Harry is a fictional character from the St. Trinian's series of films who first appears in the 1954 The Belles of St Trinian's and who may also be a spiv. The term refers to "an ostentatious, loudly-dressed, and usually ill-mannered man". The best-known portrayer is George Cole in the 1950s–1960s films.

<i>The Happiest Days of Your Life</i> (film) 1950 British comedy film by Frank Launder

The Happiest Days of Your Life is a 1950 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder, based on the 1947 play of the same name by John Dighton. The two men also wrote the screenplay. It is one of a stable of classic British film comedies produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat for British Lion Film Corporation. The film was made on location in Liss and at Riverside Studios, London. In several respects, including some common casting, it was a precursor of the St. Trinian's films of the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>Carry On Cowboy</i> 1965 British comedy film by Gerald Thomas

Carry On Cowboy is a 1965 British comedy Western film, the eleventh in the series of 31 Carry On films (1958–1992). It was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw. Series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims all feature, and Angela Douglas makes the first of her four appearances in the series. Kenneth Williams, usually highly critical of all the Carry on films he appeared in, called the film "a success on every level" in his diary, taking pride in its humour and pathos. The film was followed by Carry On Screaming! (1966).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Ripper</span> British actor (1913– 2000)

Michael George Ripper was an English character actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damaris Hayman</span> British actress (1929–2021)

Damaris Ann Kennedy Hayman was an English actress, often cast in upper class or eccentric roles. She made numerous performance in films and television series from the 1950s onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wattis</span> English actor (1912–1975)

Richard Cameron Wattis was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s.

<i>Laughter in Paradise</i> 1951 British film by Mario Zampi

Laughter in Paradise is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Mario Zampi, starring Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, George Cole, and Guy Middleton. The film was remade as Some Will, Some Won't in 1970.

<i>St Trinians</i> (film) 2007 British comedy film

St Trinian's is a 2007 British comedy film and the sixth in a long-running series of British films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle and set in St Trinian's School. The first five films form a series, starting with The Belles of St. Trinian's in 1954, with sequels in 1957, 1960, 1966 and a reboot in 1980. The release of 2007, 27 years after the last entry, and 53 years after the first film, is a rebooting of the franchise, rather than a direct sequel, with certain plot elements borrowed from the first film.

<i>The Wildcats of St Trinians</i> 1980 British film by Frank Launder

The Wildcats of St Trinian's is the fifth British comedy film set in the fictional St Trinian's School. Directed by Frank Launder, it was released in 1980.

<i>Cottage to Let</i> 1941 British film by Anthony Asquith

Cottage to Let is a 1941 British spy thriller film directed by Anthony Asquith starring Leslie Banks, Alastair Sim and John Mills. Filmed during the Second World War and set in Scotland during the war, its plot concerns Nazi spies trying to kidnap an inventor.

<i>St Trinians 2: The Legend of Frittons Gold</i> 2009 British film

St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 British adventure comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series. It is the seventh in a long running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle, and the second film produced since the franchise was rebooted in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alastair Sim on stage and screen</span> Scottish actor

The Scottish actor Alastair Sim (1900–1976) performed in many media of light entertainment, including theatre, film and television. His career spanned from 1930 until his death. During that time he was a "memorable character player of faded Anglo-Scottish gentility, whimsically put-upon countenance, and sepulchral, sometimes minatory, laugh".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Trinnean's School</span> Progressive girls school

St Trinnean's was a progressive girls' school in Edinburgh.

References

  1. ↑ "The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 "BFI Screenonline: Belles of St Trinian's, The (1954)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  3. ↑ "Watch out - St Trinian's heading to town". 19 November 2008.
  4. ↑ "Roger Delgado". Archived from the original on 26 June 2017.
  5. ↑ "In pictures: Dame Barbara Windsor". BBC. 30 December 2015.
  6. ↑ "FEATURES The Belles Of St. Trinian's LITTLE MONSTERS ALL". The Sun-Herald . New South Wales, Australia. 14 February 1954. p. 22. Retrieved 12 August 2020– via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ Monkey, Silver. "Reelstreets – Belles of St. Trinian's, The". www.reelstreets.com.
  8. ↑ "Malcolm Arnold: The Belles of St. Trinians – Comedy Suite: Orchestra". Music Room. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  9. ↑ "Malcolm Arnold - The Complete Catalogue of Published Works" (PDF). Malcolm Arnold Society. 2004. p. 10.
  10. ↑ "Prom 38 – Great British Film Music". BBC. 2003.
  11. ↑ "20th-Century British Film Music". BBC. 2021.
  12. ↑ "JOHN WAYNE HEADS BOX-OFFICE POLL". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 31 December 1954. p. 6. Retrieved 24 April 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 259.
  14. ↑ "The Belles of St. Trinian's". Kine Weekly . 463 (2520): 31. 13 October 1955. ProQuest   2738580707 – via ProQuest.
  15. ↑ "'Belles of St. Trinian's' Opens at Plaza". The New York Times.
  16. ↑ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 282. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  17. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 84. ISBN   9780992936440.
  18. ↑ "CABLE NEWS IN BRIEF". The Advertiser . Vol. 97, no. 29, 986. Adelaide, South Australia. 22 November 1954. p. 6. Retrieved 12 August 2020– via National Library of Australia.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.