The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's

There is something beautifully reassuring and warm about this film. The story is almost incidental to the characters. It is packed with superb performances and is a feast of character actors. The comedy is often subtle, but beautifully presented. It ranges from slapstick to the pure surrealism. The bizarre military bath unit stationed in the desert, the ballet-dancing civil servants, the desert island cookery - all superb. The civil servant chap handing over his wallet had me in stitches too. Its innocence is wonderful, although if you look a little closer the darker side is visible, along with lots of little touches that give the whole thing surprising depth. It isn't going to suit everybody. I don't expect too many Americans or teenagers to get the point. It is however a superb piece of work.

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!

The Pure Hell Of St Trinian's (1960) -

Although it was missing Alistair Sim and Richard Wattis (Butters just wasn't the same), I actually think that this one was stronger than the previous two, but once again there's just not enough of the school girls involved or perhaps it was a lack of the younger more "crazy" girls that was really missing. They were the chaotic element that provided the best puns after all.

It's a bit repetitive for poor old Ruby too and she deserved so much better than the rogues she got caught up with and definitely didn't need that useless police officer fiancée.

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.

There were some great actors involved and they all do well with the script. I might have come up with an alternative to the "Dance" idea, but actually it did grow on me.

For a film as old as it is, it did still have a magic and, for the most part, it could be made today with very few changes.

545.66/1000.

I first saw this at the original Odeon Marble Arch nearly 60 years ago.Whilst likeable this film is not a patch on the original.It starts well with the trial scene.After that it seems to loose inspiration quickly.Maybe the lack of Alistair Son and the fact that hardly any scenes at the school feature in the film.Furthermore Irene Handels role as the headmistress ends far too early.

I just watched this on TV, and it was great to see so many well known actors looking young ! This film is very interesting as a part of our British cultural heritage, and a window on a time when Pythonesque humour was developing.

The idea of a British schoolgirl being a stripper in a club called "Mohammed's" in "Arabia" may seem awfully non-PC today, but the other characters are also caricatures of British types.

I particularly enjoyed the British Officer in the "Bath" unit and his preoccupation with Scotch. But as another reviewer has said, George Cole is outstanding.

Great fun.