The Belles of St. Trinian's

The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) was the first of a series of films based on Ronald Searle's cartoons about an anarchic British girls' school. The cartoons had appeared in humor magazines beginning in 1941 while the cartoonist himself was still serving in World War II, and had later been published in the books Hurrah for St. Trinian's (1947), Back to the Slaughterhouse (1951), and Souls in Torment (1953). The film begins at the start of a school term at St. Trinian's where the headmistress, Miss Fritton (played by Alastair Sim in drag), oversees her wild pupils and lady schoolteachers, who enjoy more than a little alcohol and are not above placing bets with their bookie, a small-time crook called Flash Harry (George Cole). Miss Fritton's brother, Clarence (also played by Alastair Sim), arrives with his daughter Arabella (Vivienne Martin) in tow, asking for the girl to be re-enrolled in the school for another term. Clarence is also a gambler who placed a large bet on a horse named Blue Prince to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while his sister, whose school is on the verge of bankruptcy, has bet everything on another horse named Arab Boy, owned by the father of one of the pupils in the fourth form (similar to the ninth grade). Clarence and the girls in the sixth form (similar to the twelfth grade) plot to kidnap Arab Boy to ensure that Blue Prince will win the race. Also in the cast were Joyce Grenfell, Hermione Baddeley, and Beryl Reid. Producers Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder co-wrote the screenplay with Val Valentine, and Launder took on the additional duty of director for this film, which was produced by London Film Productions in association with British Lion Film Corporation. Gilliat and Launder had worked together producing, writing, and directing films since the 1930s. They had collaborated several times with Sim, who is best known to modern audiences for his portrayal of the title role in Scrooge (1951), often considered by critics as the best film adaptation of A Christmas Carol. By 1954, when he made The Belles of St. Trinian's, Alastair Sim had actively tried to change his typecasting for playing oddball characters by performing in dramas on the stage. Despite this, Gilliat and Launder approached Sim about playing Clarence, and after reading the script, he agreed to take the role. While Sim was on board, the producers were having trouble finding the right actress to play Miss Fritton after Margaret Rutherford, who excelled at playing that type of eccentric Englishwoman, was unavailable. Surprisingly, Sim proposed to Gilliat and Launder that he play both Clarence Fritton and his sister. Sim's wife, Naomi, described her impressions when she saw her husband in drag, "On his high heels he towered over me, the beautifully coiffed wig adding to his height and the necessary padding to his girth, a rather monstrous female." Newsweek praised the film when it was released in the United States at Christmastime 1954, calling Sim's "monstrous female" Miss Fritton "a sort of cross between Lady Bountiful and Lucretia Borgia - a comic gem." The New York Times' anonymous critic "A.W." called the cast "lovely monsters and their teachers [who] easily could have been begotten by Charles Addams and/or Machiavelli. Proof of this became explosively evident yesterday when these frighteningly abnormal school girls and their mistresses, headed by Alastair Sim, crashed into the Plaza [Theater]." The international success of The Belles of St. Trinian's ensured several sequels, including Blue Murder at St. Trinian's (1957), which was Sim's last appearance in the series, The Pure Hell of St. Trinian's (1960), The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) and The Wildcats of St. Trinian's (1980). The Belles of St. Trinian's became a cult classic in the United States for decades, with CBS television kicking around the idea of a series based on the film in the late 1970s. By Lorraine LoBianco SOURCES: A.W. "Belles of St. Trinian's' Opens at Plaza" The New York Times 23 Dec 54 Brooke, Michael "The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)" BFI Screen Online McFarlane, Brian and Slide, Anthony The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition Nathan, Ian "The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) Review" Empireonline.com 1 Jan 00 Shail, Robert British Film Directors: A Critical Guide Simpson, Mark Alastair Sim: The Star of Scrooge and The Belles of St. Trinian's Slide, Anthony Fifty Classic British Films, 1932-1982: A Pictorial Record "St. Trinian's Cartoonist Ronald Searle Has Died, Aged 91" The Telegraph 3 Jan 12