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

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Production company London Film Productions, in association with British Lion Films Distributor British Lion (UK) The Belles of St. Trinian's was a big hit when it was released in Britain in 1954, competing at the box office with another huge homegrown comedy success, Doctor in the House, starring Dirk Bogarde and Kenneth More. Both films would spawn successful series and, together with the Carry Onfilms that began four years later in 1958, constituted British cinema's three great long-running comedy series. Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol.32, no.3. p.259.

Malcolm Arnold - The Complete Catalogue of Published Works" (PDF). Malcolm Arnold Society. 2004. p.10. The comic high-points come early in the movie, with Raymond Huntley stealing the movie as a Judge distracted by the charms of a leggy Sixth-Former, while later the 'striptease' Hamlet provides the film's most memorable moment. Irene Handle is also on top form as a more than slightly batty teacher.

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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.

Sim was already established as a favourite of Launder and Gilliat, appearing in their dramas Waterloo Road and London Belongs to Me and their thriller Green for Danger, as well as their 1950s comedies The Happiest Days of Your Life and Folly to be Wise, and later Geordie, The Green Man and Left, Right and Centre. 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 ] Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p.282. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5. 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.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. The school has no fixed motto but has had several suggested ones. The school's motto is depicted in the original movies from the 1950s and 1960s as In flagrante delicto ("Caught in the Act"). This can be seen on the trophy shelf, above the stairs in The Belles of St Trinian's (1954). The lyrics of the original theme song by Sidney Gilliat (c. 1954) imply that the school's motto is "Get your blow in first" [11] ( Semper debeatis percutis ictu primo). 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. Without Sim or Grenfell, the series had to find new stars and so Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan are roped in to play the lead roles. Howerd was a comedian who appeared in a couple of Carry Onsand took the lead role in a few comedy films, but was most successful on TV in the Roman era sitcom Up Pompeii, which ranfrom 1969 to 1970.

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. This is a repeat of Alastair Sim's line as Miss Fritton in The Belles of St. Trinian'sthat "I cannot afford to have continual arson about in my school!"The Sultan of Makyad enrols his daughter Fatima at St. Trinian's – a girls' school in England, run by its headmistress Millicent Fritton. Upon her arrival, she discovers that Millicent runs the school to prepare her students to succeed in a merciless world by having her students fight against authoritative figures in both the police and the government. Many of the girls are unruly and have criminal relations; as a result, the school's curriculum focuses mainly on lessons in crime and illicit schemes, all while the students thwart efforts by the local police and the Ministry of Education (the British government department during that period; now called the Department for Education) to shut down 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.

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. Please feel free to visit my Just For Laughs list to see where I ranked The Pure Hell Of St Trinians. 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. TheSt. Trinian'sfilms were unexpectedly revived almost three decades later with Rupert Everett starring as Miss Fritton in two films, St. Trinian's in 2007, and St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold in 2009.Third, and third best, film in the St. Trinian's series. The decline in quality is gentle and, although it looks a bit tired, this one still offers a lot of entertainment largely due to some wonderful comedic performances. The action gets more frantic and less amusing as it goes along and, by the end of the whole thing, I'd pretty much lost interest in it. The cast are reasonably good. The girls are in two camps – the young thugs and the sexy `girls' (albeit it they are happily in their 20's). The support cast includes good performances from George Cole (complete with cheeky chappy music in case you didn't get it). Parker and Grenfell are OK but their stuff on the island doesn't really wash. Barker and Walters are fine, as is a cameo from Le Mesurier, but Sid James is pretty wasted. Some sources identify film director Roy Boulting's step-daughter Ingrid Boulting as one of the uncredited sixth formers, and there is an actress who does look like her. Sally Geeson is allegedly in there somewhere as well. 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. You see, in other schools girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world. But when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."