Leofwine_draca THE PURE HELL OF ST. TRINIAN'S is the third of the initial four films, coming hot on the wake of the very good BLUE MURDER AT ST. TRINIAN'S. This one's not as hot, as it feels like the series was winding down by now, the gags are limited and it's more like an endless parade of cameoing guest stars, including the likes of Sid James, Thorley Walters and the ubiquitous Michael Ripper.Still, for fans of both genre and era this will provide an adequate example of days-gone-by British cinema, with a slightly racier edge than normal (raising uncomfortable questions about the sexualisation of schoolgirls in the process, especially in the wake of Jimmy Savile-obsessed media coverage). It's great fun seeing all the favourite stars back once more, Joyce Grenfell is typically excellent and George Cole has a highlight with his rendition of "Knees Up Mother Brown".The plot does seem to be unfocused and all over the place after an admittedly dramatic opening, and indeed the St. Trinian's schoolgirls don't seem to feature much in the antics involving various characters finding themselves washed up on a desert island. Worth a look for nostalgia enthusiasts, then, but I preferred the next one, THE GREAT ST. TRINIAN'S TRAIN ROBBERY; also the first in colour, which seemed to revitalise everything somehow..

NJMoon Third time the charm? Well, not really. This installment in the original and classic St. Trinian's films doesn't actually take place at St. Trinian's at all! The school is a pile of embers at the top of the first reel! Gone, too, is Alistair Sim (everyone's favorite Scrooge) in the drag double role as headmistress and her brother. The up side is this allows more shenanigans from the likes of Joyce Grenfell (a personal favorite) and the supporting cast. But with school girls of St. Trins only set decoration, it's just not the same. There's a remake of the original that's also spawned two sequels (Rupert Everett subs for Sim) but these are inferior goods - stick to the glorious black and white originals!

icaredor Third, and third best, film in the St. Trinian's series. The decline in quality is gentle and, although it looks a bit tired, this one still offers a lot of entertainment largely due to some wonderful comedic performances.The movie begins with the Fourth Form (Junior) girls burning down St. Trinian's and the entire school finding itself on trial for arson. The joy of the Barchester police and at Ministry of Education turns to gloom when Professor Canford (Cecil Parker) offers to provide a new school and promises to reform the girls. Canford turns out to be the dupe in a plot to abduct the Sixth Form (Senior) girls and marry them off to the sons of an Arab sheik. Off to Arabia in pursuit go the League of Incompetents: Flash Harry, Sergeant Ruby Gates, Professor Canford; bureaucrats from the Ministry of Education; and a Bath Unit (of highly trained ablutionists, no less) of the British Army. Luckily for all of them, the Fourth Form girls are on the trail too.This film has two major shortcomings. The girls are sadly misused. There are none of the distinct girl characters that helped drive the plot along in Belles. Here, the girls are simply a horde of hair and hockey sticks. Consequently, the story rests on the adult characters with mixed results. Flash Harry gets entirely too much screen time and becomes irritating, and the romancing of Ruby Gates gets rehashed from Blue Murder. On the other hand, the alcoholic ablutionists are amusing and the Ministry bureaucrats are splendid. Indeed, Thorley Walters gives the standout performance as Butters the education official driven to neurosis by years of dealing with St. T's. When he suddenly breaks into a pastoral dance it is as hilarious as it is unexpected, as incongruous as it is apt.The second shortcoming is that the film builds to a big, slapstick finale and then inexplicably skips out on it. When the hairy hockey horde comes careening across the desert in the requisitioned military vehicles – complete with band playing the St. Trinian's fight song – one expects, nay, one feels entitled, to see them rampage through the sheik's palace, returning much of it to deserty dust and banishing the sheik and his sons to maunder the merciless dunes. Sadly, no. The first vehicle crashes through the palace gate and we fade to the epilogue left only to imagine the mayhem that may have ensued. Sigh! Despite its faults, Pure Hell contains plenty of good stuff and remains a must see for St. T fans. The acting is wonderful with major talent in roles both major (e.g., Joyce Grenfell and Cecil Parker) and minor (e.g., Dennis Price and John Le Mesurier). And needless to say (but I will, anyway), it far outshines Train Robbery and the egregious Wild Cats.

david-697 The Pure Hell Of St Trinian's, the third movie in the series, never approaches the comic heights of the first two. Part of this is down to the absence of Alistair Sim, but also it is due to a script that switches the emphasis largely away from the school and places it more on the men from the Ministry Of Education. For long stretches you can hardly spot a schoolgirl, while the movie lacks a strong comic climax.You can also see a lack of inspiration at work here, as the Grenfell-Parker `romance' is more or less a replay of (the better handled) relationship with Terry-Thomas in the previous movie, while the whole 'desert island' business seems designed to fill up the movie's running-time.If it's not as fun as `Belles' or `Blue Murder', `Pure Hell' does have its good points. Cecil Parker's down-at-heel headmaster is a major asset to the movie, while it's nice to see the likes of Sid James, Denis Price and Liz Frazer make an appearance.The comic high-points come early in the movie, with Raymond Huntley stealing the movie as a Judge distracted by the charms of a leggy Sixth-Former, while later the 'striptease' Hamlet provides the film's most memorable moment. Irene Handle is also on top form as a more than slightly batty teacher.It's not the best of the series by a long way, but forty or so years on it is still worth watching.