Blue Murder at St. Trinian's

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.

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 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.

Not the strongest film in the ‘St Trinians' series, but nevertheless enjoyable for fans of mid-50s British comedy. It tends to slapstick at times, particularly the scene where the policemen are looking for the diamond thief – a straight lift from `The Pirate of Penzance'.

The caste is the cream of British comedy at the time. Two mentions: a young George Cole, who went on to make a career of playing Cockney spivs, and Joyce Grenfell as Sgt Ruby Gates. The latter is a standout performance. Joyce Grenfell must surely be on of the finest female comedians of all time and the film is worth watching for her performance alone.

Gap-toothed bounder Terry Thomas joins in the fun for this second cinematic outing for the troublesome girls of St. Trinian's. Thomas plays supreme bounder Capt. Romney Carlton-Ricketts, owner of the (clapped out) buses hired by the infamous girl's school to transport its pupils to Rome, where the sexiest of the sixth-formers have a date with wealthy Italian Prince Bruno (Guido Lorraine), as arranged by the marriage bureau run by cheeky spiv Flash Harry (George Cole).

Also along for the trip is Sgt. Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell), working undercover to try and catch elusive diamond thief Joe Mangan (Lionel Jeffries), who has disguised himself as Dame Maud Hackshaw, the new headmistress of St. Trinian's (it wouldn't be a British comedy without cross-dressing).

It's a slow start and Thomas doesn't show up until midway, when the girls finally set off for Rome, at which point the film definitely picks up in terms of laughs and uproarious fun. After brief visits to several other countries (the most enjoyable involving the St. Trinian's school band playing a swinging tune at a Mozart festival), the unruly mob arrive in Rome, and the hunt is on for Joe's swag (now hidden inside a water polo ball), the reward for which is £10,000.

With lots of knockabout comedy performed by a great cast (Hammer regular Michael Ripper and Carry On star Terry Scott also make an appearance), plus plenty of sexy sixth-formers in stockings and suspenders (the more shapely students are all of legal age, so don't feel bad for leering), Blue Murder is another very enjoyable, very British St. Trinian's caper.