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

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Webb, Kaye, ed. (1959). The St Trinian's Story. London; New York (respectively): Perpetua Books; London House & Maxwell. pp.46–48. OCLC 2898524. St. Trinian's is partly a parody and a subversion of the "school stories" genre of the 1950s, popularised by Enid Blyton. But it's also in part a satire of progressive, pupil-centred educational methods, as well as of the supposed value of a private education. New private schools would occasionally spring up in Britain, with the aim of rejecting a traditional curriculum and allowing pupils to follow their own inclinations and interests instead. 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. 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.

For those who are interested, St Trinian's School and its home in the fictional county of Barsetshire seems to be located in the Home Counties, west of London. Presumably somewhere near Berkshire, as this film makes reference to Newbury Races and the sequel, Blue Murder at St. Trinian's,has a signpost near the school showing that it's 10 miles from Wantage. The county name of Barsetshire is borrowed from the novels of Anthony Trollope.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. Six years had passed since the lastSt. Trinian'sfilm, The Pure Hell of St. Trinian'sin 1960, and of the three principal mainstays of the series, Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole, only George Cole now remains as Flash Harry, the school's former boot boy who runs the girls' bets and aids them in their various schemes. 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 ] Goodwin, Stephen (October 22, 1998). "Revealed: belles of the real St Trinians". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24 . Retrieved April 23, 2017.

The film plays on the irony of the stuffy, bowler hatted civil servants singing the Red Flag, while their humble cleaner shows her disgust at their cheering. She says they should be impartial, but she also shows sympathy for the outgoing Conservative Prime Minister, so maybe she's actually a secret Tory voter. If it's not as fun as `Belles' or `Blue Murder', `Pure Hell' does have its good points. Cecil Parker's down-at-heel headmaster is a major asset to the movie, while it's nice to see the likes of Sid James, Denis Price and Liz Frazer make an appearance. All becomes clear when Sir Horace pays a personal visit to his lover, Amber Spottiswood (Dora Bryan), who just happens to be the headmistress of St. Trinian's. With her new windfall, Amber is able to get the school up and running again in new premises. She also sets about rounding up "the best of the mistresses"from her staff.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. 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.

There were some great actors involved and they all do well with the script. I might have come up with an alternative to the "Dance" idea, but actually it did grow on me. 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.

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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. 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] 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. 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.

Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol.32, no.3. p.259. A poem in one of Searle's books called "St Trinian's Soccer Song", by D. B. Wyndham Lewis and Johnny Dankworth, states that the motto is Floreat St Trinian's ("May St Trinian's Bloom/Flourish"), [12] a reference to the motto of Eton ( Floreat Etona—"May Eton Flourish"). 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.

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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 [ edit ]