Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957)

Very Cool!!!

The Worst Film Ever

Thanks for the memories!

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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.

It's not as funny as the first film but it's still hilarious. The virtual absence of Alastair Sim - who appears in two scenes and has five lines - is certainly a blow to the film but it has a great cast including George Cole (who has a much bigger role than in the first film), Terry-Thomas (who, despite being billed first, does not appear until halfway through the film), Lionel Jeffries, Joyce Grenfell, Michael Ripper, Thorley Walters and Richard Wattis. Sadly, however, this was Sim's last involvement with the "St. Trinian's" films.In spite of Sim's limited screen time, the joke of a man in drag is continued as Jeffries' character Joe Mangan - who shares his name with my mother's first cousin, who is not a diamond thief, thankfully - disguises himself as the new headmistress Dame Maud Hackshaw. While this is obviously an old joke, it is done very well. However, it does not work as well as Sim playing Miss Fritton as I found the idea of a male actor playing a female character much more fun than a male character pretending to be a woman. I imagine that the storyline, which concerns Flash Harry trying to marry off one of the sixth formers to a European prince, was meant as a parody of the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco the previous year, particularly since one of his other potential brides is a Hollywood actress. The first film focused primarily on the fourth formers' pranks, violence, gambling and general mayhem while this one focuses on the sexual promiscuity of the sixth formers. I have to say that I found the former funnier as schoolgirls blowing up labs with nitroglycerin and attempting to decapitate people is far more unusual! Though the latter was quite daring for a family comedy film in 1957.

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 remarkable stuff. It has the normal amount of silliness, but the discriminating thing with this series is the notion of the girls school.Its absolutely amazing, what they have done with this notion. The school is a girls' school that destroys every location it visits. Lots of jokes: newspapers reports that Paris is scandalized by these girls. The idea is that half of these "girls" are adult women win miniskirts with stockings and girders. Most of the scandalous behavior (which we never see) is supposed to be sexual in nature. Oh, there's a plot about stolen jewels and a prince seeking a bride. But the story is purely there as an excuse to parade these girls around.And these are tough broads. They beat people up.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.