The Belles of St. Trinian's

 (UK)

By VARIETY STAFF

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British Lion/London. Director Frank Launder; Producer Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat; Screenplay Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat, Val Valentine; Camera Stanley Pavey; Editor Thelma Connell; Music Malcolm Arnold; Art Director Joseph Bato
 
Alastair Sim
Joyce Grenfell
George Cole
Hermione Baddeley
Betty Ann Davies
Renee Houston
 

Inspired by Ronald Searle's British cartoons about the little horrors of a girls' school, The Belles of St. Trinian's makes an excellent start but never lives up to the promise of the opening reel.

By way of a story, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat have concocted an involved yarn about a plot to steal the favorite horse in a big race which is foiled by the girls in the fourth form after a battle royal with the sixth form.

Unrestrained direction by Launder is matched by the lively and energetic performances by most of the cast. As both the headmistress and her bookmaker brother, Alastair Sim rarely reaches comedy heights. Joyce Grenfell, however, as a police spy posing as a games teacher, is good for plenty of laughs. Best individual contribution is by George Cole, playing a wide-shouldered wiseguy, who acts as selling agent for the homemade gin brewed in the school lab, and also as go-between for the girls and the local bookie.

(B&W) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1954. Running time: 91 MIN.