The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's

1960 "Those girls of St. Trinian's are fighting back with barely concealed weapons... but justice isn't blind..."
6| 1h34m| en
Details

The fourth form monsters' latest trick is their best ever – they have burned down St Trinian’s school! As the girls stand trial, the police breathe a sigh of relief, but miraculously the judge's infatuation with a student means the school is freed. For the authorities, it means a new reign of terror as the girls of St Trinian’s regroup with gleeful anticipation.

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Reviews

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
JohnHowardReid Alastair Sim is sadly missed from this St. Trinian's episode, and what is even worse, his replacement, Cecil Parker (as a Professor Canford), gives us a performance that is considerably below his best work. His heart was obviously not in it! Fortunately, there are at least three bright scenes, but generally speaking, Frank Launder's direction is as flat-footed as his script (on which he collaborated with Sidney Gilliat and Val Valentine). The movie's credits tell us that this script was "suggested by the cartoons of Ronald Searle." I know for a fact that Mr. Searle was not at all happy with this ascription and seriously considered taking the movie-makers to court, but was dissuaded by the fact that such a measure would give the movie even more publicity. And as we all know, publicity is publicity, and in the movie business it doesn't really matter if it's good or bad!
Tweekums This, the third 'St. Trinian's' film, opens with the school being burnt to the ground; this leads to all the pupils being put on trial. It looks as though they will be split up and sent to various approved schools until Professor Canford a man with progressive views on education suggests that not only can he keep them together, he can also turn them into civilised girls. Thus St. Trinian's reopens near to its old site. They haven't been back long when Canford suggests taking the Sixth Form girls on a tour of the Greek Islands. The new headmistress isn't so sure but eventually they depart but their ship doesn't head to the Mediterranean; instead it sails round Africa to Arabia where the girls are taken into the harem of a local emir who intends to marry them off to his sons. Luckily Superintendent Samuel Kemp-Bird was suspicious and had Sgt Ruby Gates stowaway aboard the ship to see what was going on. When news gets back to England the nearest regiment are contacted to rescue the girls and two civil servants are sent to assist… of course nothing goes according to plan but never fear the fourth form will save the day!Things got off to a fine start with the girls burning the school down then ending up on trial but once Professor Canford was introduced it became clear that his character, along with Flash Harry and Sgt Gates where going to be the protagonists rather than any of the girls. Indeed none of the girls are proper characters; the fourth form are just there to be wild and the sixth formers, who are thankfully clearly in their twenties, are there to look sexy in skimpy gym kits (or less)! There are some nicely surreal moments such as the civil servants who deal with stress by dancing and the regiment which is a 'mobile bath unit'. The end came as a bit of a disappointment; when the fourth form turned up I was expecting to climactic mayhem but instead they just turn up and we are told that the sixth form has been rescued. Overall I'd say this is worth watching if you enjoyed the earlier two films but it certainly isn't a classic.
NJMoon Third time the charm? Well, not really. This installment in the original and classic St. Trinian's films doesn't actually take place at St. Trinian's at all! The school is a pile of embers at the top of the first reel! Gone, too, is Alistair Sim (everyone's favorite Scrooge) in the drag double role as headmistress and her brother. The up side is this allows more shenanigans from the likes of Joyce Grenfell (a personal favorite) and the supporting cast. But with school girls of St. Trins only set decoration, it's just not the same. There's a remake of the original that's also spawned two sequels (Rupert Everett subs for Sim) but these are inferior goods - stick to the glorious black and white originals!
bob the moo When the school is burnt to the ground, all the girls find themselves in the dock. However the judge decides mercy and takes up the offer of one Professor Canford to open a new school with a backer and try to change the girls. The backer, Alphonse O'Reilly, takes the whole school on a trip to Europe, but Flash Harry finds that the ship is actually on it's way to Africa, where Alphonse plans to sell the older girls into harems!This entry in the series starts really well. Not only does it have what I consider to be a great line (`there's always trouble when there's arson around') but the courtroom stuff is very funny. The rest of the film from there starts to tail off, the continuation of the film sees the old characters come back in (mostly) are this is good. However once the action moves to Africa etc it all becomes a little silly but doesn't manage to be fun for it.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.Overall this is worth seeing if you like the series (although it fades throughout the 90 minutes), but there are better films in the series if you're just coming in now.

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