The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies.

Chances are if you are like many, maybe even most, American filmgoers, you tend to associate Alastair Sim with one thing and one thing only: his inimitable portrayal of one Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of Charles Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol. A few outliers might have vague memories of Sim in such underappreciated gems as Green for Danger (a film where he notably wasn’t even given above the title billing) or even his latter day stint in The Ruling Class, but quite a bit of the rest of Sim’s multi-decade long filmography just doesn’t seem to be that well known by the public at large on this side of the pond. Film Movement has now come to the rescue in that regard and assembled four charming Sim comedies that bridge the years of 1947 to 1960, and which offer a fine assortment of well written, performed and directed outings that have a few linking elements besides Sim himself, including plots sometimes centered around the quest for riches, and occasionally with some chicanery and other shenanigans involved.

Some may not immediately recognize the name Ronald Searle, but chances are many would instantly recognize Searle’s highly distinctive illustration style, one that graced the credits and key art of films like Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and (in a kinda sorta Sim connection) the 1970 musical version of Scrooge (trivia fans will no doubt know that the Sim film was marketed under that very title as well). While Searle did indeed do both the opening and closing credits sequence for The Belles of St. Trinian’s, there’s an even more fundamental connection since this was the first of several film adaptations of a popular comic strip Searle did from 1946 to 1952. In a supplement included on this disc, Steve Chibnall makes a perhaps debatable argument that Searle transferred his anger against the Japanese who had held him as a prisoner of war for three or so years to a bunch of out of control schoolgirls at the supposedly tony English boarding school of St. Trinian’s. Even if you don’t subscribe to that particular theory, the film makes clear from the first real introduction of some of the kids at the school that boys are not necessarily the only rowdy gender.

There’s some setup in this film that my hunch is some may find patently un-PC, with an apparently Arabian Sheik named the Sultan of Makyad (Eric Pohlmann) looking for an English school for his daughter Fatima (Lorna Henderson). The brief sequence featuring this conceit also includes the Sultan ogling a scantily clad American female who wanders through his office (she’s evidently researching an article on harems for The Saturday Evening Post, though why she’s in a revealing swimming suit isn’t addressed), as well as treating Fatima like kind of third rate chattel, including wanting a school that’s close to his Arabian horses, since that seems to be his real reason for wanting to visit. He even refers to the file cabinet behind him when he tells an aide to alert Fatima’s mother about Fatima attending St. Trinian’s, since the aide doesn’t instantly know who Fatima’s mother is (maybe the aide needs to do some harem research).

If you can get past some of the perhaps questionable characterizations in that particular scene, a lot of the rest of The Belles of St. Trinian’s is very funny, with a kind of farce structure that adds element to element until a cacophony of chaos breaks out in the third act. The film’s main presentational gambit is the hilarious use of Sim as both the headmistress of St. Trinian’s, Millicent Fritton, and her conniving twin brother Clarence. While some of the “old school” compositing done for the “side by side” moments with these two may strike some as quaint, the timing is exceptional and adds considerable comedic fervor to a couple of showdowns between the characters.

The basic underlying plot mechanics actually involve one of the Sultan’s prized horses, with a hugely variant number of characters working at cross purposes to win an upcoming race sweepstakes. Suffice it to say that while it’s maybe unsurprising that both Millicent and Clarence are involved in the race mayhem (for different but competing mercenary reasons), the film gets some of its most potent comedy from how much the young girls are scheming on their own. This hilarious but probably undeniably provocative (at least to more straitlaced Brits) depiction of supposedly “sweet” young English lasses keeps The Belles of St. Trinian’s just slightly off kilter a lot of the time, which I personally found delightful.

The film is just stuffed with great character bits throughout, including Joyce Grenfell as an undercover cop posing as a teacher at St. Trinian’s, and a really funny, mostly mute performance by Betty Ann Davies, looking for all the world like Carolyn Jones playing Morticia Addams, as Miss Waters, the “scripture and needlework” teacher. The film does a nice balancing act between arch verbal banter and more slapstick physical comedy elements, and Sim is wonderful in both roles.

The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Belles of St. Trinian's is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. As has been the case with several Film Movement releases I've reviewed, the insert booklet offers only a generic "new digital restoration" in terms of providing any technical information on the transfer. All of the releases in this set bear a StudioCanal logo, and I'm assuming this was probably culled from the same master as the UK Blu-ray release StudioCanal put out in 2014, which would suggest something that may not be strictly "new". That said, this is a nicely organic looking presentation that preserves a nicely resolved grain field and which offers generally consistent contrast, black levels and gray scale. Some of the composite work as well as opticals like dissolves can look a little roughhewn in spots, and there are occasional relatively minor signs of age related wear and tear that have made it through whatever restoration gauntlet this was put through, but this is certainly the nicest I've personally seen this film look.

The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Belles of St. Trinian's features an LPCM 2.0 mono mix that belies its age courtesy of a bit of boxiness at times, but which generally sounds quite robust and full bodied. The chaotic screams of the girls as they're all in a bus heading toward school sound bright but not brittle, and the film's dialogue, occasional goofy sound effects, and Malcolm Arnold's score all sound generally fine, with no major signs of age related wear and tear. Unfortunately, this release does not offer optional subtitles for those who might benefit from them.

The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Interview with Geoff Brown (1080p; 18:27) features the film historian giving some background on the production and players.


• Interview with Melanie Williams (1080p; 12:50) features the thoughts of this professor, who is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, UEA.


• Interview with Merlith Mckendrick (1080p; 5:01) offers some charming reminiscences from Alastair Sim's daughter, who thought as a little girl people stared at her father because he was bald.


• Interview with Steve Chibnall (1080p; 11:52) offers more assessment from this Professor of British Cinema at De Montfort University.


• The Girls of St. Trinian's (1080p; 16:49) is a really sweet set of interviews with some of the now relatively elderly women who played the young girls in the film.

Additionally, the insert booklet that comes with Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies includes an essay about all four films in the set. As with many Film Movement releases, there's the About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which provides some text and a trailer.

The Belles of St. Trinian's Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Belles at St. Trinian's gave birth to a rather popular British film franchise, and it's not hard to see why. This film may remind those on this side of the pond of later American efforts like The Trouble with Angels, but the students in this film, while female, are just this side of Lord of the Flies at times. Sim is hilarious in his dual role, and the film offers some really wry humor. Technical merits are generally solid, and the supplemental package extremely enjoyable. Highly recommended.