Product Details

• Actors: Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Betty Ann Davies
• Directors: Frank Launder
• Writers: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat, Ronald Searle, Val Valentine
• Producers: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat
• Format: Black & White, EP, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Republic Pictures
• VHS Release Date: February 3, 1997
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303234399
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,355 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An innovative British comedy, May 29, 2003

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Belles of St Trinian's [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Alastair Sim reprises, after a fashion, his barmy schoolmaster role from the 1950 film, "The Happiest Days Of Your Life," only this time he's playing Margaret Rutheford's character, performing in drag as Miss Fritton, a dotty headmistress whose belief in a liberal, unstructured education has led to complete lawlessness and havoc at her private girl's school. Sim also plays Miss Fritton's twin brother, a crooked bookie who locks horns with his sister over a rigged horse racing scam. The joy of this movie comes from the anarchic behavior of the ill-mannered, blithely menacing students, who are surly, dishevelled and perhaps a bit worldly beyond their years. (The film was based on a series of drawings by cartoonist Ronald Searle, sort of a "Pippi Longstocking" meets "Lord Of The Flies" scenario...) There are also several choice character roles: Sims' gender-bending aside, there is a magnificent performance by George Cole, as "Flash Harry", a fast-talking but quite loveable con artist who helps sell the bootleg liquor the Fourth Form girls make in chemistry class, and Joyce Grenfell as a horsey, inept policewoman who is sent in undercover to find out just what's going on at St. Trinian's. As with many postwar British comedies, the underlying theme is of a crass new age threatening to overtake the decorum of the old, established order, as typified by the hypocrisies of the adults in the film (Sim and the slovenly, venal school staff) and the more likeable slickness and unapologetic hucksterism of the Flash Harry character. The depictation of the chaotic, unruly, cigarette smoking girls -- American style juvenile delinquents! Egad! -- is also pretty funny. The film runs at a brisk, slapstick pace, and the humor is often rather obvious and unsubtle, but when it hits the mark, it's a delight.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, November 12, 2002

By 

Mark Newbold (Pittsburg, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Belles of St. Trinians [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Before the Goon show and Monty Python there was the Trinian series. Examples of innovative British comedy. Some of the later Trinian films are real stinkers. This is the original and it is simply one of the funniest films ever made-period. If you watch this and the 1951 version of "A Christmas Carol" and do not come away convinced that Alastair Sim was one of the great actors of all time, there's no hope for you.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny Movie, December 29, 2004

By 

Jim O'Brien "JamesMark" (Franklin, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Belles of St. Trinians [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"The Belles of St. Trinians" is a movie that is worth your while to dig up and watch. It's been about 50 years since it was made, and it's still funny. The humor (one should know) comes from gags about alcoholic beverages, gambling, dishonesty, and well, more dishonesty ... all involving a private girls school in England.

The girls are sharp operators ... clever little imps with an infectious enthusiasum for playing pranks. Even the head mistress of the school is fair game.

This lady, Millicent Fritton, is played by the very excellent (and very male) British actor Alastair Sim. He does double duty by also playing "Millie's" evil brother Clarence. He (Alistair Sim) does a great job playing Millie ... carrying it off with quite a flair ... as "she" outwits not only her brother, the ministry of education, the police, and the school's instructors, but even the girls themselves.

The gist of the story is this: The girls have bet all their money on a horse (a sure winner) in an upcoming race. Millie gets wind of "the investment" and, in an attempt to save the school from foreclosure, bets all of the school funds on the same horse. Clarence (Millie's brother) has a substantial sum of money bet on a different horse, and, to ensure its winning, decides to kidnap (horse-nap?) the girls' horse ... forcing the girls to spring into action ... to avert the potential disaster.

The little actresses who play the girls are ... wonderful. They inject the most fun into the movie. George Cole performed with Alistair Sim in "A Christmas Carol" four years earlier. He was a little green in that movie, but here, as "Flash Harry", he is ... perfect ... a joy everytime he's in a scene. In fact, there are good comedic performances turned in by the entire cast. Hermione Baddeley is here, but she is almost unrecognizable as Miss Drownder the school's English grammar instructor.

There are some memorable lines:

Millicent: (To the incoming students) You see, in other schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared into a merciless world ... but ... when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared.

Millicent: (Sampling a chemistry class, um, experiment) It's got something ... I don't know quite what ... but send a few bottles up to my room.

Harry: She's right ... we don't want our good name dragged through the mud.

Millie: The old girls!! And all in primed condition.

The Sultan: ... to begin by presenting this cup for good conduct, which I understand has not been presented since 1927.


But this movie is an enjoyable farce ... and a romp for us viewers ... where the comedy comes at us without much of a lull ... just a fun movie to watch ... but one that might perhaps require a little explaining to children who join in to view it.