Blue Murder at St. Trinian's

With Miss Fritton locked away in the school basement, and the army laying siege to the school grounds (with a great deal of resistance), Flash Harry is abroad promoting the `St Trinians Marriage Bureau' to a wealthy Italian Prince. However he has to visit the Prince with the girls. He manages to cheat in a competition that allows the school to tour to Rome and they're on their way. However one of the girl's Dads is a diamond thief who tries to escape capture by dressing as their headmistress and smuggling himself out of the country, bringing the attention of the law to bear on the already suspect group.

Not one of the best of the series of movies, but still this stands up as a good British caper movie, with a strong cast of British comedians on board. The plot is thin at best and relies on the fact that no-one can tell the difference between sexes after a little bit of cross dressing…..well, I suppose Shakespeare did it all the time and it worked for him! Much of the comedy draws from slapstick or seeing girls fight, but there are some good lines and characters – Michael Ripper's working class liftman is my favourite.

George Cole plays Harry well – in fact he was born playing cockney rogues (eg Cottage to Let), kept playing them (St Trinians ) and got old playing them (Minder on TV). The wonderfully British Joyce Grenfell is good again as Gates, while the support cast is rich in talent – Terry Thomas, Lionel Jefferies, Terry Scott and Alistair Sim. The girls are a little iffy , the young ones are clearly children and play rough little warriors, however the older girls (i.e. 16-18) are played by women of early/mid twenties. They're all dressed up in uniforms with stockings and suspenders showing and using their sexuality for all they can get – not more so than the great Sabrina. However in today's climate where any hint of teenage sexuality or pedophilia sparks a media frenzy, this sits a little uncomfortably – there's certainly no way this could get made today!

Overall it's enjoyable if basic – there are better movies, but it's worth watching once.

This is the second installment in the St. Trinians set of films and it deals with the girls wanting to win a contest to go to Europe, specifically Rome, to meet a handsome bachelor prince. They creatively find a way to win the contest and they are on their way. The reason this film is not as immediate as the first is because it takes a while for them to finally make the trip. There is a story attached concerning stolen jewels also, which is germane to all this, but I didn't think it was all that interesting. However, there is better acting in this film. Terry Thomas is good and Joyce Grenfell returns as the sargeant, once again going undercover. So, not as good as "The Belles", but you'll want to see it because you want to see the films in the series.

By sheer accident I recently saw the worst of this generally well-regarded British series (the 1980 "Wildcats of St. Trinian's"), so I thought to be fair I'd check out the best. Well, this is A LOT better. This is a genuinely hilarious film, not just in the jokes but in the absurd situations. It starts with the notorious title girls' school under military occupation, resulting in heavy casualties (for the military). The older "sixth form" girls decide they want to travel to Rome to meet a wealthy Italian count so they work with the younger "fourth form" hellions to break into the Ministry of Education and rig the results of a UNESCO exam. But when no respectable tour bus company will take this collection of monsters and minxes to the continent, they hire a shady operator (famed British comedian Terry-Thomas). Their "chaperone" meanwhile is the fugitive diamond-thief father of one of the girl's who is disguised as the new headmistress (they "disappear" the real headmistress), which turns the whole thing into a hilarious comedy caper film.

It is a little disconcerting, as other reviewers have noted, that this film mixes the family-friendly scenes of the "fourth-form" ragamuffins with the scenes of the sexualized and sexually-predatory "sixth formers". But let's be honest--the first females most men sexually experienced or fantasized about were probably 16-18 years old, and those who claim to have no lingering attraction to girls that age are either lying or senile. Moreover, the "sixth formers" here are obviously played by somewhat older actresses, who are naturally pretty sexy. The most recognizable actress, for instance, is Italian sex bomb Lisa Gastoni. Now if you're sexually attracted to the "fourth formers", I'd say you have problems, but otherwise. . .

But I digress. These British comedies would get a lot more racy moving into the 70's, but they were rarely as funny as this one. This ranks with the best of the "Carry on" series (i.e. "Carry on Camping", "Carry on Spying") and should be a must-see for any British comedy fan.

This sequel is even better than the original notwithstanding the fact that Alistair Sim only makes a cameo appearance or that they use the jewels in the ball gag which was used 20years earlier in Boys Will Be Boys.A great cast including Terry Thomas and Joyce Grenfell.The water polo climax is a hoot.

This follow-up comedy to "The Belles of St. Trinian's" is not too bad, considering that most sequels aren't usually too good. It is a good thing that Terry Thomas is given "leading man" status as he was an effective lead. Alastair Sim reprised his role of Miss Fritton from the previous film and only has a few minutes of screen time. For those who know the plot, the girls of that notorious school manage to con their way into going on an exchange trip to Italy. Once there, the usual shenanigans result. Lionel Jefferies does well as the convicted father of one of the schoolgirls. George Cole and Joyce Grenfell reprise their respective roles and it's good to see them. The laughs are a bit thin but the cast make this one worth the viewing.