The Belles of St Trinian's

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The Belles of St Trinian's
The-Belles-of-St-Trinians.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Frank Launder
Produced by Frank Launder
Sidney Gilliat
Written by Frank Launder
Sidney Gilliat
Val Valentine
Starring Alastair Sim
Joyce Grenfell
George Cole
Hermione Baddeley
Betty Ann Davies
Music by Malcolm Arnold
Cinematography Stanley Pavey
Edited by Thelma Connell
Distributed by British Lion Films
London Films
Release date
 28 September 1954
Running time
 86 min.
Country United Kingdom

The Belles of St Trinian's is a British comedy film set in the fictional St Trinian's school, released in 1954. [1] It and its sequels were inspired by British cartoonist Ronald Searle. [2] Directed by Frank Launder and written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, it was the first of a series of four films. [3]

Comedy is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement and most often work by exaggerating characteristics for humorous effect. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending. One of the oldest genres in film, some of the very first silent movies were comedies, as slapstick comedy often relies on visual depictions, without requiring sound. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films took another swing, as laughter could result from burlesque situations but also dialogue.

Ronald Searle British artist and satirical cartoonist

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

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

Contents

Alastair Sim stars in a dual role as the headmistress Miss Millicent Fritton and her twin brother Clarence Fritton. [4]

Alastair Sim Scottish actor

Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who began his theatrical career at the age of thirty, but quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. He also appeared in more than fifty British films, starting in 1935.

Plot

The Sultan of Makyad (Eric Pohlmann) wants to send his daughter Fatima to a school in England, and asks her governess Miss Anderson to recommend one: she recommends St Trinian's in the county of Barchester. This suits the sultan perfectly: as his racehorses are trained there, he will be able to visit Fatima and his horses at the same time.

Eric Pohlmann actor

Eric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in Britain.

At St Trinian's, Miss Holland the accountant, explains to headmistress Millicent Fritton (Alastair Sim) that they need cash, not cheques. Then Fritton's twin brother, bookmaker Clarence (Alastair Sim), arrives with his previously expelled sixth form daughter Arabella (Vivienne Martin). He gets his sister to re-enroll her so she can befriend Fatima and get information on Arab Boy, the Sultan's horse that will run in the upcoming Cheltenham Gold Cup against Blue Prince, the horse he and his associates have backed. Assistant headmistress/physics mistress Buckland (Mary Merrall) enters the office to introduce Fatima and two other new girls to Fritton, and Fatima meets Arabella.

Mary Merrall British actress

Mary Merrall, born Elsie Lloyd, was an English actress whose career of over 60 years encompassed stage, film and television work.

Fritton explains St Trinian's to the new girls: "At most schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared for a merciless world but, when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared." Fritton takes the new girls to meet the staff: Miss Brimmer (Renée Houston) arts and handicrafts mistress; Miss Wilson (Beryl Reid) maths mistress; Mlle. de St Emilion (Balbina Gutierrez) French mistress; Miss Drownder (Hermione Baddeley) geography mistress; Miss Gale (Irene Handl) English literature mistress; Miss Waters (Betty Ann Davies) the scripture and needlework mistress; and Miss Dawn (Joan Sims).

Renée Houston was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.

Beryl Reid British actress

Beryl Elizabeth Reid, was a British actress of stage and screen. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People. Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969) and No Sex Please, We're British (1973).

Hermione Baddeley English character actress of theatre, film and television

Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley was an English character actress of theatre, film and television. She typically played brash, vulgar characters, often referred to as "brassy" or "blowsy". She found her milieu in revue, in which she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with Hermione Gingold.

Barchester Police Superintendent Kemp Bird (Lloyd Lamble), in the hope of getting help to stop the crime wave that has occurred in his area since the new term started at St Trinian's, goes to London and meets the Ministry of Education official Manton Bassett (Richard Wattis). Bassett refuses to help: the two inspectors he has sent there have both disappeared. Kemp Bird arranges to send his girlfriend, Sgt. Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell), to St Trinian's, undercover, as games mistress Chloe Crawley.

Lloyd Lamble Australian actor

Lloyd Nelson Lamble was an Australian actor who worked in theatre, television, radio and film. He lived and worked for most of his life in the United Kingdom.

Richard Wattis actor

Richard Cameron Wattis was an English actor.

Joyce Grenfell British comedian, singer, actress

Joyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English comedian, singer, actress, monologist, scriptwriter and producer. For her film appearances, she was cast in such roles as the gym mistress Miss Gossage in The Happiest Days of Your Life and Ruby Gates in the St Trinian's films. At that time, it was still unusual for a woman of her high social class to be professionally engaged in show business.

When Crawley arrives, Fritton takes her around the school: she finds the fourth form girls using the science lab to make gin, which Flash Harry (George Cole) sells for them; and the sixth form girls learning about French wine regions from the geography mistress. Florrie (Jill Braidwood), the school snoop, hears Arabella tell her father about a trial run the next day and after teasing the fourth form girls about what she has heard, is forced to tell them about the trial. The next morning Arab Boy goes through the trial run timed by the trainer, by Arabella with some other sixth form girls, and by a hidden group of fourth form girls. Now both the sixth and fourth form girls need to find out the weight of that day's jockey, stable boy Albert Faning (Michael Ripper): the sixth form girls have Amanda (Belinda Lee) seduce him to get his weight, while the fourth form girls calculate it. The result is that Arab Boy is sure to win the race.

The fourth form girls ask Harry to place a bet for them on Arab Boy but, he tells them, they won't make much with the little more than £3 they have, even at the 10-1 odds. So, the girls ask Fatima if they can borrow her pocket money for the bet. Fritton is told by the bookkeeper that they have £400 in the bank and are £4000 in debt. When Fatima, accompanied by four girls, asks for the £100 that Fritton is holding for her, the girls explain that they want to place a bet on Arab Boy, who is a sure winner at 10-1 odds; Fritton doesn't give Fatima the money, but does get an idea. She summons Harry, who tells her that he places bets for the girls, and asks him to bet the school's remaining £400 on Arab Boy in order to win the £4000 needed to cover the school's debt.

Arabella tells her father the disastrous news of Arab Boy's strength and suggests they "nobble" the horse, but Clarence rejects that idea. Arabella suggests he give it some thought and, should he change his mind, come to St Trinian's the next day, ostensibly for the field hockey match. Crawley and some of the sixth form girls are setting up the net for the match, when the girls run off. Crawley chases them and finds them, with two men and Miss Drownder, having a "French lunch", as she later reports to Fritton. Fritton explains that she need not worry: the men are former ministry inspectors Eric Rowbottom-Smith (Guy Middleton), now the school's gardener, and Wilfred Woodley (Arthur Howard), the new fencing master.

Before the match starts Arabella, with some of the field hockey team members, meets with Clarence and his partner Benny (Sidney James). They opt for Arabella's plan to "borrow" the horse until the race is over, which is overheard by Florrie, who is tortured by the fourth form girls for this information. When Crawley goes back to the match, Harry goes to Fritton with a letter he has stolen, which proves that Crawley is really Sgt. Gates.

The next morning, with the stable boy's collusion, the horse theft is carried out – almost; in fact, the fourth form girls have taken him. Clarence and Benny are told by their henchman that when they went to get the horse, it was not at the stable. Fritton sees Maudie (Marigold Russell) [note 1] riding Arab Boy up the stairs, and goes to the fourth form dorm to investigate. She finds the girls, Harry, and Arab Boy and insists they get the horse out of the school before dawn, when Fatima will pretend to find and return him. She gets the girls to promise to carry out this plan. [note 2]

The next morning Florrie sees Arab Boy's head sticking out of the fourth form dorm window and tells Arabella. The sixth form girls barricade the dorm and Arabella calls Clarence with the news and suggests he come quickly with a group of henchmen to make sure they can maintain the barricade. The fourth form girls try to break through the barricade, but fail. Then the entire teaching staff tries to break through but also fail. Clarence, Benny, and some henchmen arrive, and block the staircase to the dorm.

It is parents' day at St Trinian's. Parents arrive, as does Manton Bassett, who has been sent to inspect the school. At the school entrance, Harry diverts all the parents to the Brownies' camp fire area and sends Bassett to the summerhouse to meet his missing inspectors. Florrie climbs up some vines to reach the fourth form dorm, with news of the sixth form barricade, which is being re-enforced by Fritton's men. Then the milkman arrives in a horse-drawn cart, and the fourth form girls see a way to free Arab Boy. They throw smoke bombs out of the window to cover Florrie's climb back down the vines to tell the staff to create a diversion. The staff is suddenly joined by a busload of wild former students, and overcome the blockaders, but Clarence escapes.

Meanwhile, the girls lower the horse from the second floor dorm using a sling made of bed-sheets they have tied together, hitch him to the milk cart, and take him to the racetrack. Fritton, back in her office, is being berated by some parents over the way St Trinian's is run (the goateed man is Ronald Searle with first wife Kaye Webb on far right), [note 3] when Harry bursts in with the news that Arab Boy has won the race. The sultan comes to the school to present the good conduct trophy to one of the girls, but it and, subsequently, all the other trophies on display are stolen during two blackouts. Finally, the dais collapses, save the part on which a resigned and exasperated Fritton is sitting.

Cast

Ronald Searle appeared in a cameo role as a visiting parent. [4] Roger Delgado plays the Sultan's aide. [5] It was also the first film appearance of Barbara Windsor, then a teenager. [6]

Production

The opening scenes of the girls returning to school were filmed at All Nations Christian College. This includes the entrance gate of Holycross Road and the outside shots of the school. [7]

Reception

The film was the third most popular movie at the British box office in 1954. [8]

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." [9]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Back to school for St Trinian's Belles". BBC.
  2. ↑ Macnab, Geoffrey (7 April 2011). "The great St Trinian's school reunion". The Guardian.
  3. ↑ Jones, Matt (19 April 2015). "Ronald Searle Tribute: Belles".

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St Trinian's was 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.

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References

  1. ↑ "The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)".
  2. ↑ "Trinian's cartoonist Searle dies". 11 January 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  3. ↑ "Belles Of St. Trinian's, The (1954) - Misc Notes - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  4. 1 2 "BFI Screenonline: Belles of St Trinian's, The (1954)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  5. ↑ "Roger Delgado".
  6. ↑ "In pictures: Dame Barbara Windsor". BBC. 30 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Monkey, Silver. "Reelstreets – Belles of St. Trinian's, The". www.reelstreets.com.
  8. ↑ "JOHN WAYNE HEADS BOX-OFFICE POLL". The Mercury . Hobart, Tasmania. 31 December 1954. p. 6. Retrieved 24 April 2012– via National Library of Australia.
  9. ↑ "'Belles of St. Trinian's' Opens at Plaza". movies.nytimes.com.
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