The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's (1960)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Pretty Good

Absolutely Brilliant!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

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!

It has some hilarious moments - particularly the opening trial sequence and the striptease to the soliloquy from "Hamlet" - but it's on the same level as the first two films. As I said yesterday, Alastair Sim's virtual absence from "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's" was a blow to the film while his complete absence from this one is a major blow to it. Considering the importance of Miss Fritton to the first film and the fact that the school burns down, it's bizarre that she isn't even mentioned.The idea of the sixth formers being kidnapped and becoming a sheik's harem is a belter but the script isn't as well developed as it could be. Miss Harker-Packer and Alphonse O'Reilly are established as important characters but they both just disappear from the film. The fact that Miss Harker-Packer was only recently released from a mental institution could have led to some fantastic jokes but, like herself, it's more or less forgotten about. One thing about the film that bothered me was that it focused on the adults as opposed to the students. Those criticisms aside, however, there is a steady stream of good jokes throughout the film, such as Flash Harry's unique way with words.In Sim's absence, Cecil Parker - a wonderful character actor who is best known for his role as Todhunter in "The Lady Vanishes", which was also written by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat - is a very worthy substitute as Professor Canford (who is not a woman). He is hilarious in the role and has great chemistry with Joyce Grenfell as Ruby Gates, who makes her third and final appearance in the "St. Trinian's" film series. The same is true of Lloyd Lamble as Sammy Kemp-Bird, her characteristically and increasingly reluctant fiancé. As well as those already mentioned, the film has a great cast, particularly George Cole, Thorley Walters (who played a major in "Blue Murder at St. Trinian's"), Dennis Price, Sid James, Raymond Huntley, John Le Mesurier and Michael Ripper.

THE PURE HELL OF ST. TRINIAN'S is the third of the initial four films, coming hot on the wake of the very good BLUE MURDER AT ST. TRINIAN'S. This one's not as hot, as it feels like the series was winding down by now, the gags are limited and it's more like an endless parade of cameoing guest stars, including the likes of Sid James, Thorley Walters and the ubiquitous Michael Ripper.Still, for fans of both genre and era this will provide an adequate example of days-gone-by British cinema, with a slightly racier edge than normal (raising uncomfortable questions about the sexualisation of schoolgirls in the process, especially in the wake of Jimmy Savile-obsessed media coverage). It's great fun seeing all the favourite stars back once more, Joyce Grenfell is typically excellent and George Cole has a highlight with his rendition of "Knees Up Mother Brown".The plot does seem to be unfocused and all over the place after an admittedly dramatic opening, and indeed the St. Trinian's schoolgirls don't seem to feature much in the antics involving various characters finding themselves washed up on a desert island. Worth a look for nostalgia enthusiasts, then, but I preferred the next one, THE GREAT ST. TRINIAN'S TRAIN ROBBERY; also the first in colour, which seemed to revitalise everything somehow..

There's just something utterly magical about the first three St. Trinian's films. Almost every character in them is played by an actor recognisable from over fifty other British films of the time, and they frequently have the best cast lists of comic talent ever seen in a British comedy. Quite often a film with a cast this distinguished can turn out to be a grave disappointment (such a fate befell efforts like "The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins", in which most of the effort on the part of the film-makers seemed to have been in actually recruiting the actors, rather than giving them anything worthwhile to perform). However, "Pure Hell", like "Belles" and "Blue Murder" before it, has a script and a story good enough to support the weight of these amassed comedy greats, most of whom you'll probably never have heard of. They're usually actors who appeared in loads of films of the period, and you'd never have thought of making a film at the time without them, but who never became stars in their own right - chaps like Raymond Huntley and Nicholas Phipps (most memorable in "Doctor in Love" as the frankly spiffing Dr. Cardew). Those actors who, if you're a vintage comedy connoisseur like me, you'll see and then go "Ahhh, yes!"As well as an admirable leading performance from Cecil Parker (taking over from Terry-Thomas in the last film as the guesting star), we have marvellous return appearances from the likes of Joyce Grenfell as Sergeant Ruby Gates, Lloyd Lamble as the superintendent who got engaged to her 16 years ago and still hasn't tied the knot (they almost achieve it, twice, in this film), Eric Barker as the civil servant Culpepper-Brown, Michael Ripper as the philosophical lift attendant, and, of course, George Cole as the best spiv in the business, Flash Harry. Quite why I think he's so class I don't know - I mean, he quite obviously *is* top notch, but I can't put my finger on why. He's just... hurrah! It's Flash! With his cockney lingo and jaunty theme music (yes, it's here again, punctuating most of his scenes and it never gets tiresome)!We also have the likes of Thorley Walters (hurrah!), Dennis Price (double hurrah!) and John le Mesurier (HURRAH!) as various members of the civil service, and Raymond Huntley, Cyril Chamberlain, Nicholas Phipps and Sid James making random appearances (actually, the double act of Eric Barker and Thorley Walters is one of the continued highlights of this film), and even some scenes with perhaps the best comedy actress there ever was, Irene Handl (probably best known for having played Peter Sellers wife in "I'm All Right Jack). Irene always seems to play these "posh commoner" roles, with wonderful lines like "So what bit of culture are you going to have a bash at then?", effortlessly stealing most of the laughs in whatever scene she appears in.That's another reason to love the film - genuine wit. Whilst a lot of comedies of the period tended to rely on farce and gurning and people falling over, such scenes are kept to a minimum here (and, furthermore, even when they do happen they're actually amusing), with witty lines and comments being brought to the fore instead. There's far too many to choose from, but my favourite probably has to be in a scene where Cecil Parker, George Cole and Joyce Grenfell are stuck in a boat in the middle of the ocean, sipping tea like the stiff-upper-lipped British citizens that they are. "Stranded in the middle of the ocean," Parker laments mournfully, "With only enough food and water to last us for... six months; two sugars please." Lines like this are delivered in a dry throwaway manner and just tickled me all the way through.The plot in this is far more complicated than those of the other films in the series, with most of the action being focused on the civil servants and adult characters, as opposed to the schoolgirls themselves. But the rambling story, which at one point seems to have ten plot lines running and intertwining at once, takes on a wonderfully surreal quality which further adds to the majesty of it all. In one scene, Parker, Cole, Grenfell, Barker and Walters are stuck out in a desert market place sipping tea at a cafe, and Phipps and Chamberlain, British soldiers in disguise, sit down at the table next to them. Chamberlain leans back to Walters to try and give his identity.CHAMBERLAIN: "Psst. I'm a-"WALTERS: "No, sorry, I don't want any postcards thank you."...PHIPPS: "Well, what did he say?"CHAMBERLAIN: "He said he didn't want any post cards."PHIPPS: "Oh... You haven't got any have you?"Oh, and as for the schoolgirls, though they don't appear that often (and when they do it's usually the fourth formers, played by child actors), there are a few "sixth formers" dotted about - the glamorous twenty-something year old actresses dressed in uniforms and the shortest skirts you're ever likely to see. The initial courtroom scene contains a slow pan up the most gorgeous of the lot, with her... legs, and everything, and my word, by jove, indeed. Ha ha.It's a quaint British comedy and I'm feeling a trifle warm just thinking about. I should have taken the tablets.The film does at times seem to be running out of steam, but there's usually another random plot twist to pull it back into shape. Though I probably still prefer "Blue Murder" for the sheer Terry-Thomas factor, "Pure Hell" is only slightly less marvellous, and stands up as a true comedy classic in its own right. Especially for dull 50s/60s comedy fans like me.9/10