The St. Trinians Collection (Boxset) (DVD)

...boxset contains all four of the original St Trinians films made in the 50's and 60's, and is a treat for anyone who likes classic British comedies, the first three are in black & white whilst the fourth is in colour.

'''Overview'''

St Trinians is an appalling shool for girls, which the ministry of education would love to close down, but no matter how much they try, they are thwarted at every turn by unscrupulous characters ...
...as a result, all at the ministry of education are at the point of having a nervous breakdown.

Half the teachers are desperate to get out of the place, but cannot afford to because they have not been paid for months, the other half only teach inbetween prison sentences and are glad of somewhere to stay whilst they are on the outside, and the headmistresses are no better either, they are out for what they can get, and discipline within ... more

The St. Trinians collection

This boxset contains all four of the original St Trinians films made in the 50's and 60's, and is a treat for anyone who likes classic British comedies, the first three are in black & white whilst the fourth is in colour.

Overview

St Trinians is an appalling shool for girls, which the ministry of education would love to close down, but no matter how much they try, they are thwarted at every turn by unscrupulous characters who have more to gain by keeping this terrible school open, and as a result, all at the ministry of education are at the point of having a nervous breakdown.

Half the teachers are desperate to get out of the place, but cannot afford to because they have not been paid for months, the other half only teach inbetween prison sentences and are glad of somewhere to stay whilst they are on the outside, and the headmistresses are no better either, they are out for what they can get, and discipline within the school is the last thing on their minds.

The girls themselves are an undisciplined rabble who are allowed to run wild and do excactly as they want, their favourite passtimes include, gambling, smoking, drinking, making illicit booze, terrorising the neighbourhood and setting fire to the school, ably assisted by Cockney spiv Flash Harry who, after appearing from the bushes, takes their racing bets to the bookies, and sells their illicit gin for them on the black market, Flash Harry is the only adult in the school who the girls will listen to, and acting as a sort of unofficial guardian to them, he does look out for them in his own sort of way, and he does try and stop the girls from taking things too far, often without much success though.

The local police are utterly powerless to stop the local crimewave caused by the girls, and in desperation usually persuade woman police Sargeant Gates to infiltrate the school in the guise of a teacher, much against her will, to find out what is going on.

Even the army are unable to control the rabble, and ask for danger money when ordered into the school because of their high casualty rate.

The cast includes many stars of the period, including Alastair Sim, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Terry Thomas, Lionel Jeffries, Dora Bryan, Frankie Howerd, Cecil Parker, Richard Wattis, Thornley Walters, Eric Barker, Terry Scott, Reg Varney, Irene Handl, Dennis, Price, Sid James and an early appearance by Rosalind Knight as one of the girls, plus many more.

The music by Malcolm Arnold is memorable, especially the main theme to the first three films, and Flash Harry's theme, usually played as he emerges from hiding in the bushes.

All four films were Produced & Directed by Sidney Gilliat & Frank Launder, they are based on the St Trinians drawings by Ronald Searle (which appear in the title sequences), all four films have been given a Cert "U" so are suitable for all the family.

The films

I will not give away too much of the plot of the films, for the benefit of anyone that has not seen them, and the ones that have seen them will know the plots well enough anyway, The real fun of watching these films is the comedy and the performances by the excellent cast.

First of all there was the belles of St Trinians, in which Alastair Sim plays the dual role of headmistress Millicent Fritton and her crooked bookie twin brother Clarence Fritton (now regarded as one of Alastair Sim's classic performances), George Cole makes his first appearance as "Flash Harry" in this film (a role that was to inspire his later role of Arthur Daley in minder) and Joyce Grenfell is a hoot as the put upon, and frustrated Sergeant Ruby Gates who is forced to infiltrate the school, when a racehorse (Arab boy) goes missing after a trials run near the school, with Miss Fritton desperate to find Arab boy in time for the big race, as she has bet all the school funds on it.

The second film is, Blue murder at St, Trinians, in which the girls fiddle a UNESCO exam to win a trip to Rome and take along a jewel thief on the run from the police (played by Lionel Jeffries) disguised as their headmistress, and watch out for Terry Thomas who is cajoled into driving the rabble to Rome in his run down old coaches by the ministry of education. mayhem ensues as the unruly schoolgirls run amok through Rome.

The third film in the series is The Pure hell of St Trinians. in which there is a plan to kidnap the sixth form girls and put them into a middle eastern harem (by Sid James aided by Cecil Parker). but the Arabs, whilst easily beating off the incompetent British army "bath unit", had not reckoned on the rabble from St Trinians, watch out for the hilarious scenes in the ministry of education as they try and relieve their stress by dancing to an old gramophone record.

The final film is The great St Trinians train robbery, in which Frankie Howerd leads a gang of crooks in a robbery and hides the loot in the school, run by the unscrupulous headmistress Miss Spottiswood (Dora Bryan), a race then ensues as the robbers try and move the loot by train, with Flash Harry and the girls trying stop them and steal the money for themselves, whilst Miss Spottiswood tries to claim the reward for herself, watch out for Frankie Howerd trying to do a morris dance in order to divert attention whilst his cohorts try and shift the loot.

This film may be of interest to railway enthusiasts, as it shows some scenes of the southern railway branch line workings in the sixties, before the end of steam.

The Boxset

The boxset comes on two discs with two films on each, the films come in two standard DVD cases which fit into a nicely printed cardboard outer box, the picture and sound quality of all these films is very good considering the age of the films.
(Newer sets may be supplied on four disks with one film on each instead of the two as stated)

The only downside is, that there are no subtitles or special features on the discs, but that is often the case with older films.

In conclusion

The films are a bit dated now (not a bad thing on these films) but they do remind us of more innocent times gone by, when children seen behaving in this manner was still thought of as shocking.

This is a great set of films for the whole family, younger children will love them, and these films will keep them quiet for hours, and for those of you that remember them of old, they are still just as funny now as they ever were, and well worth watching again.

I for one, will never tire of watching these excellent and funny films.

At the time of writing this boxset is availlable for as little as £9.67, an absolute bargain for four classic comedies.

Highly recommended.

 

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