The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)
Directed by Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder

Comedy / Crime

Film Review

Abstract picture representing The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)
The St Trinian's saga had all but run its course with The Pure Hell of St Trinian's (1960), the third in a series of films written and directed by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, but, like a sick patient that refuses to die, it staggered on, plodding through two more embarrassing episodes, finally expiring in The Wildcats of St Trinian's (1980).  The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966) may have performed quite well at the British box office but an enduring classic it certainly is not, and it's hard to comprehend how a film that boasts such an abundance of comedic talent (the cast includes such luminries as Frankie Howerd, Dora Bryan, George Cole and Terry Scott) could be so dull and humourless.  Lacking the star alumni of the original St Trinian's films - Alastair Sim and Joyce Grenfell - there isn't much to sustain this flimsy fourth outing for the school from hell.  The writers were obviously far too busy with the plot and satirising  the Labour government's faith in comprehensive education to bother with a piffling detail like gags.  The end result is nothing more than a mechanical heist movie lazily grafted onto the tired girls' school formula.  What few attempts at humour there are are more likely to make you cringe than laugh.  The Pakistani porter asides during an overly protracted and tedious railway chase have to be among the most embarrassing moments in British cinema - oh my goodness, yes indeed.  Crass and wholly unimaginative, The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery marked a new low for the Gilliat-Launder partnership.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Next Sidney Gilliat film:
Millions Like Us (1943)

Film Synopsis

A gang of train robbers conceal their ill-gotten gains under the floorboards of an abandoned country house, planning to recover their £2.5 million haul once the hue and cry has died down.  In the meantime, the house is bought by St Trinian's School for Girls with a grant provided by a generous Labour government.  At the request of the gang leader, one of the crooks enrols his two daughters at the school to find the easiest way to recover the loot.  An imminent Parents' Day will provide the perfect distraction - or so it appears.  Unfortunately, the school's headmistress, Amber Spottiswood, her resident turf accountant, Flash Harry, and just about everyone in the school realises what is afoot and, in a frantic attempt to claim the reward money set out to foil the train robbers' scheme...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.


Film Credits

  • Director: Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder
  • Script: Ronald Searle, Frank Launder (story), Sidney Gilliat (story), Leslie Gilliat (story), Ivor Herbert
  • Cinematographer: Ken Hodges
  • Music: Malcolm Arnold
  • Cast: Frankie Howerd (Alphonse of Monte Carlo), Dora Bryan (Amber Spottiswood), George Cole ('Flash' Harry), Reg Varney (Gilbert), Raymond Huntley (Sir Horace), Richard Wattis (Manton Bassett), Portland Mason (Georgina), Terry Scott (Policeman), Eric Barker (Culpepper Brown), Godfrey Winn (Truelove), Colin Gordon (Noakes), Desmond Walter-Ellis (Leonard Edwards), Arthur Mullard (Big Jim), Norman Mitchell (William (Willy the Jelly-Man)), Cyril Chamberlain (Maxie), Larry Martyn (Chips), Leon Thau (Pakistani Porter), Maureen Crombie (Marcia Askett), Barbara Couper (Mabel Radnage), Elspeth Duxbury (Veronica Bledlow)
  • Country: UK
  • Language: English
  • Support: Color
  • Runtime: 93 min

The best of Indian cinema
sb-img-22
Forget Bollywood, the best of India's cinema is to be found elsewhere, most notably in the extraordinary work of Satyajit Ray.
The history of French cinema
sb-img-8
From its birth in 1895, cinema has been an essential part of French culture. Now it is one of the most dynamic, versatile and important of the arts in France.
The very best American film comedies
sb-img-18
American film comedy had its heyday in the 1920s and '30s, but it remains an important genre and has given American cinema some of its enduring classics.
Continental Films, quality cinema under the Nazi Occupation
sb-img-5
At the time of the Nazi Occupation of France during WWII, the German-run company Continental produced some of the finest films made in France in the 1940s.
The best French Films of the 1910s
sb-img-2
In the 1910s, French cinema led the way with a new industry which actively encouraged innovation. From the serials of Louis Feuillade to the first auteur pieces of Abel Gance, this decade is rich in cinematic marvels.
 

Other things to look at


Copyright © filmsdefrance.com 1998-2024
All rights reserved



All content on this page is protected by copyright