Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

alexanderdavies-99382 "The Belles of St. Trinian's" was the first of 4 comedies to feature a rather notorious school for Girls where the pupils had overtaken the school and the teachers were always outsmarted. Alastair Sim is cast as both the headmistress Miss Fritton and her dishonest brother. As with most of his films, he steals the show. However, the supporting cast are brilliant, particularly George Cole and Joyce Grenfell. The latter is a police officer who goes undercover as a teacher, so as to discover what those dastardly pupils are planning next. From the opening scene, it is clear that the establishment ceased to be a school many years earlier! The laughs are plentiful and I rate this film as the best one by a long way. Released in 1954, "The Belles of St. Trinian's" was a huge commercial success and rightly so.

glenn-aylett I watched the Belles of St Trinians for the first time in 25 years on a digital channel yesterday and for all it is dated now( well it was made 58 years ago), the film is still hilarious. Alistair Sim is brilliant as the corrupt, betting obsessed headmistress and a very young George Cole is excellent as the spiv Flash Harry. Also considering British schools were generally very strict places in the fifties, people growing up in this era must have wanted to be in a school where rules didn't exist and where the girls betted on horses and made illegal booze and goaded the teachers. A comedy gem which has plenty of hilarious moments( the hockey match, the old girls visit and the parents day) and which is made better by such a talented cast. Other St Trinians films are still watchable, although Wildcats was a not very good attempt to update the franchise for the eighties, but Belles is by far the best.

bkoganbing The Belles Of St. Trinian's are raising all kinds of mayhem once again with headmistress Alastair Sim in drag oblivious to all. It seems as though headmistress Sim and her brother the bookmaker are at odds over what to do about a racehorse.Sim the bookmaker gets his daughter who was kicked out in the previous St. Trinian's film reinstated to buddy it up with a new girl whose father is an Arab sheik. The sheik played by Eric Pohlman has a racing stable with a new 3 year old that's greased lightning on the track. Naturally inside information about the horse is of big concern to the bookmaker. As the story unfolds brother and sister are at odds over what to do with information and then with the horse itself when it's kidnapped by the St. Trinian's girls foiling a kidnapping plot engineered by the bookmaker's friends.As in the first St. Trinian's film this is an Alastair Sim show. Alec Guinness has nothing on Sim in playing a part in drag. I liked Sim in drag as the absolutely clueless headmistress who is oblivious to all around her. English Music Hall entertainer Sid James is always a treat as one of bookmaker Sims enforcers.Of course there is a horse race at the climax of the film, You could do worse than see this very funny British comedy and find out what happens.

Welly-2 Tremendous fun both as a film and as an excuse to sit back and play the 'oh, that's whassis name' game. Every star of the golden age of English films seems to be in this one and it was a joy to see them. And the greatest of them all, Richard Wattis, was as tremendous as ever. There is actually a plot that trundles along very nicely, there's also some splendid jokes and comedic moments, but the key to this films triumph is the characters within it. Alastair Sim is magnificent and somehow convinces you that a six foot, big-boned Scotsman could be the headmistress of a girl's boarding school. George Cole, Beryl Reid and Irene Handl all have their moments but, with Alastair and Richard, the star of the show is Joyce Grenfell. She is an absolute one-off and brings a smile whenever she's on the screen...her rolling-walk and plum accent done to perfection. And for those playing the , that's whassis name' game, you can even spot Arthur Mullard, Barbara Windsor and Ronald Searle if you look carefully.