THE BELLES OF ST TRINIANS
UK, 1954, 89 minutes, Black-and-white.
Alistair Sim, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Hermione Baddeley, Betty Ann Davies, Renee Houston, Beryl Reid, Irene Handl, Mary Merrall, Joan Sims, Lloyd Lamble, Richard Wattis, Guy Middleton, Michael Ripper, Sid James.
Directed by Frank Launder.
The cartoons by Ronald Searle were very popular during the 1950s. There was his eccentric and sketched history of William the Conqueror and England, 1066 and All That. But he also had a series of cartoons about mischievous, raucous, misbehaving schoolgirls who caused mayhem at the school of St Trinians.
There were three film versions of these cartoons, this being the first, with the rather genteel name of Belles. (The subsequent films pulled no punches in the titles: Pure Hell of St Trinians, Blue Murder at St Trinians.)
The material in this film is somewhat similar to the very entertaining comedy of 1950, The Happiest Days of Your Life, about boys and girls schools billeted together, starring Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford with Joyce Grenfell as the sports mistress.
This time Alistair Sim plays a double role. The main focus is on his Millicent Fritton, the old-style principal of the school who is not above a great deal of double-dealing, especially since the school is in debt. Alistair Sim also plays her bookmaker brother who is precocious, troublemaking daughter, is a pupil at the school.
Part of the comedy is how much dread the girls inspire in the locals, boarding up their shops, railway staff disappearing, the police shuddering.
And, the girls are distinctively raucous, some with a touch of glamour in the senior years, hockey players, flirting, especially with two education Department assistants who disappear into the school – with Richard Wattis as the head visiting and finally succumbing! But the main action takes place with the younger girls, setting up all kinds of traps for the staff, smoking and gambling…
The main plot involves racing, with a Sheikh sending his daughter to school which is near where his stables his horses. The bookmaker has the intention of nobbling the horse. In the meantime, the horse is kidnapped and held in one of the dormitories. All kinds of comedy of the horse within the school, lowered down from the window, finally getting to the racecourse and winning, to the delight of Miss Fritton and her brother having to escape (alongside with his associate, Sid James). One of the stars of the film is George Cole as Flash Harry, the go-between with the gin that the girls make in the chemistry laboratory, who is charged with putting a bet on the horse. Flash Harry was to appear in the other St Trinians films.
And, on the side of the law, Joyce Grenfell is a policewoman asked to disguise herself as the sports mistress to find out what is going on and to report to her fiance, the head of the police. She is the subject of all kinds of pratfalls, ultimately writing her report on the linoleum on one of the school floors and wrapping it up, riding a horse to inform the police!
The film was written and directed by the team of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder. Of its time, but much to amuse.
