The St Trinian’s franchise made a triumphant return to the screen in 2007 and then 2009 with a further instalment in development at the moment, proving the perennial appeal of the dastardly schoolgirls who "grab the nearest weapon, never mind which one" (to quote the lyrics of the school song). Originating from Ronald Searle’s cartoons, the girls of England’s most notorious public school made their screen debut back in 1954 in 'The Belles of St Trinian’s', recently released on re-mastered DVD and blu-ray by Studio Canal to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
Of course, one might argue that the most memorable female image emanating from both this St Trinian’s film and all its subsequent sequels is that of the sexy schoolgirl, busting out all over, suspenders visible beneath her outgrown tunic and yes, this stereotype is certainly present and correct in the first film. One might also observe that the most memorable female character in the film, the beleaguered headmistress Miss Fritton, is actually played by a man, the incomparable Alastair Sim at his lugubrious best (the same role being rebooted by Rupert Everett in the more recent films). So maybe this isn’t the place to go looking for funny women after all?
On the contrary. The sexy schoolgirls are there but they’re never mere sex objects. They understand and use their wiles for manipulative purposes, often to highly comic effect. And then there are the younger schoolgirls, the fourth-formers, as near to the spirit of Searle’s original savagery as the censor would allow. They make grown men flee in fear, seem immune to educational or even police control and manage to devise and run criminal schemes of mind-blowing intricacy and inventiveness with just a bit of help from their spivvy facilitator Flash Harry (George Cole in the originals, Russell Brand now). In the stuffy sexual milieu of the 1950s, they must have been a refreshing if not revolutionary refusal of the conventional ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’ version of little girls.
One of the great glories of this film series, along with other comedies of the period, is the opportunity the films provide for great British character performers to do their stuff. In 'Belles' we have, in addition to the aforementioned Sim and Cole, Richard Wattis and Sid James (and in later films, the likes of Terry Thomas, Lionel Jeffries, Dennis Price, Frankie Howerd, and many more). But, crucially, we also have a host of terrific character actresses including – in 'Belles' – Renee Houston as Miss Brimmer the boho art teacher with a paintbrush stuck in her hair, Beryl Reid as the monolced maths mistress Miss Wilson, concentrating on perfecting her golf swing and who "hasn’t got a single jolly qualification", Hermione Baddeley as Miss Drownder the drunken geography teacher, and Irene Handl as Miss Gale the cockney English teacher, and Joan Sims as the glamourpuss Miss Dawn, more interested in male pin-ups than her pedagogic duties. What a staff room!
And then, perhaps best of all, there’s Joyce Grenfell’s beautifully played Police Sargent Ruby Gates, a stalwart of all the original St Trinian’s films, eternally hopeful that her Superintendent fiancé would finally make an honest woman of her once she’d completed an undercover tour of duty at the school from hell. Just the way Grenfell has Ruby Gates loping down a corridor offers a masterclass in comic performance: totally hilarious without having to say a word. For that reason alone, 'The Belles of St Trinian’s' would be worth watching. Factor in all its other attendant joys, from Sim’s bridling schoolmistress to Cole’s perpendicular spiv AND a host of very funny women, and it’s a must-see.
Melanie Williams
Pictured: Alastair Sim as Miss Fritton, the Belles of St Trinian's
