Sunday, October 1, 2023

ALASTAIR SIM'S SCHOOL FOR LAUGHTER -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle




Originally posted on 4/21/20

 

Film Movement Classics' four-disc Blu-ray collection ALASTAIR SIM'S SCHOOL FOR LAUGHTER is a delightful sampler of British film star Alastair Sim's best comedy films of the 40s and 50s, all beautifully restored (especially for fans of fine black and white photography) and augmented with a number of bonus features. Here are our impressions of each film.


THE BELLES OF ST. TRINIAN'S (1954)

If you thought Hayley Mills' mischievous Catholic schoolgirl in THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS was something, wait'll you get a load of THE BELLES OF ST. TRINIAN'S (1954). These girls and their crooked moneymaking schemes would be the admiration of both Sgt. Bilko and all of McHale's Navy.

Popular British comedy actor Alastair Sim scores a homerun here in the dual role of St. Trinian's harried headmistress Millicent Fritton, who struggles to turn a blind eye to the goings on in her severely cash-strapped institution, and her conniving brother Clarence, a bookmaker with a special interest in horse racing.


The plot, about a visiting Sultan and his prize racehorse Arab Boy upon whom the girls are planning to make a potentially lucrative wager if they can scrape together enough money (a scheme in which Miss Fritton will also become involved), provides an excuse for scene after frenetic scene of wildly inappropriate behavior by this bunch of very dirty-faced angels.

Not only do they make their own moonshine gin in chemistry class, which is bottled and sold by their weaselly bookie Flash Harry (George Cole), and cheat at intermural field hockey games by knocking the referees and opposing coaches cold with mallets, but they're not above actually kidnapping Arab Boy and keeping him under wraps at the school in order to foil Clarence's own kidnapping scheme.  

As Miss Fritton states, "At most schools, girls are sent out quite unprepared for a merciless world but, when our girls leave here, it is the merciless world which has to be prepared."

Each of these girls is like a cross between Wednesday and Pugsley Addams, who should've been sent to St. Trinian's in ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES instead of that happy-shiny summer camp. Here, they'd have barely seemed out of place.

We can't help rooting for these female refugees from "Lord of the Flies" even at the expense of the good girls in the school, bless them, whose efforts to maintain a sense of order and decency are utterly doomed. (Hammer horror fans will be pleased to spot a very young Andree Melly of THE BRIDES OF DRACULA as one of the bad girls.)

Created by cartoonist Ronald Searle in a series of popular cartoons which in turn spawned this film series, THE BELLES OF ST. TRINIAN'S are so brazenly and unabashedly warped that their exploits seem to appeal to our most basic desire for chaos and nonconformity.  And for fans of the very dry, very droll Alastair Sim, his amusing dual role here (helped by some nifty split-screen effects) will have an irresistible appeal all its own.


SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS (1960)

This time, achingly droll British comedy star Alastair Sim plays more background character than lead as headmaster of the SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS (1960), the main focus being on his clumsy, mild-mannered, and socially inept (but very willing) student Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael).

Henry's a nice enough young chap but totally out of his league when his attempts to woo pretty young acquaintance April (Janette Scott, HOW WENT THE DAY?, DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS) are thwarted by snide upper-class cad Delauney, played to perfection by Terry-Thomas at the top of his game, who steps all over Henry's romantic aspirations with a curdled grace and sadistic glee.


With other aspects of his life proving too much to handle, including an inherited family business he's unable to manage, Henry makes his way to a dumpy old mansion on the outskirts of a small English village, where cynical old Mr. Potter (Sims) and his staff teach their pupils all about one-upmanship, i.e. how to always get the upper hand over one's fellow man.

Thus, the first half of the film is a brutally cringeworthy account of Henry's staggering ineptitude that's keenly funny in an almost unpleasant way. Carmichael's easy likable as Henry, with Scott a winsome object of his affections, but it's Terry-Thomas who provides the most joy as we watch his Delauney effortlessly steamroll over Henry's every feeble effort to impress while laciviously moving in on the lovely April.

This includes dinner in an expensive restaurant--Delauney manages to sit between Henry and April while mocking Henry's attempts to order from the complicated menu--and a disastrous tennis match in which Delauney breezes to victory with insufferable ease.

A particularly funny scene occurs when Henry tries to purchase a fancy auto to compete with Delauney's expensive sports car and ends up being taken to the cleaners by a couple of smooth con artists. The sputtering, smoke-churning monstrosity that he ends up with is unlike anything I've seen on four wheels. 

Naturally, after all of this build-up, we view Henry's successful graduation from Mr. Potter's "Lifemanship" course and subsequent declaration of war against Delauney with a great deal of satisfaction. 

It's gratifying to watch Henry's devious plans to humiliate his foe and win April's heart come to fruition--but at what cost? Will Henry stop being the lovable fellow we've come to admire and become a lecherous cad like Delauney?

With a very capable cast (look for Jeremy Lloyd, the tall man who dances with Ringo in A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, in a bit part as a student) bringing this sharply-written story to life, SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS is one of the most giddily enjoyable and well-rendered of the classic British comedies.


LAUGHTER IN PARADISE (1951)

Sometimes the premise of a comedy sounds so enticing that you can't wait to see how it's actually carried out. For me, that was the case with LAUGHTER IN PARADISE (1951), in which a notorious practical joker dies and his will stipulates that all beneficiaries must perform certain tasks before they can receive their inheritance.

Naturally, all of them are in need of the money and willing to do whatever is required of them, no matter how outlandish. Which of course is the built-in appeal of this pleasantly appealing comedy whose various interrelated subplots consist of either light farce or more substantial personal drama.


That most unlikely of comedy stars, the terminally droll Alastair Sim, embodies the former as Deniston Russell, a mild-mannered gent who secretly writes the most lurid best-selling pulp novels under various pen names while living in fear that his bride-to-be, a straight-edge military woman with a humorless father, will find out.

His task in pursuit of the inheritance is to commit a crime like one depicted in his novels and spend at least 28 days in lock-up. Thus, his scenes are a series of amusing attempts to get arrested without having to do anything really harmful or destructive. He even goes to a police station trying to solicit their advice for the most genteel ways of breaking the law.

Other humorous subplots involve a milquetoast bank worker (George Cole) tasked with robbing his tyrannical boss at gunpoint, and an irresponsible cad (Guy Middleton) who must marry the first single woman he speaks to after leaving the reading of the will.

In the more heartfelt segment of the story, a wealthy woman (Fay Compton) who is cruel and thoughtless to her servants must hire on as a servant herself for one month to a similarly callous rich old eccentric.  As one might guess, she will soon learn what it's like to be browbeaten and emotionally abused by a "superior."

As with so many of these classic British comedies, the technical aspects are neatly done in eye-pleasing black and white and with modest production values. Sharp-eyed viewers will spot such familiar faces in the supporting cast as a young Sebastian Cabot and an even younger Audrey Hepburn.  BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE OLD DARK HOUSE fans will enjoy seeing an older Ernest Thesiger as the reader of the will.

While this premise may have resulted in raucous mayhem in other hands, LAUGHTER IN PARADISE treats it with a sublety and restraint that invites the viewer to simply settle in and watch things unfold without being wracked with guffaws and belly laughs. Which, every once in a while, is a markedly pleasant way to enjoy a comedy. 


HUE AND CRY (1946)

Ostensibly a comedy--known, in fact, as the first from Britain's venerable Ealing Studios--1946's HUE AND CRY is actually more of a rousing boys' adventure yarn in which a group of rowdy city boys (and one plucky girl) take on one of England's most insidious smuggling gangs.

Harry Fowler plays Joe Kirby, a typical teen boy whose love for the "kids' papers", or comic-book type serial stories printed in the newspapers, leads him to the shocking discovery that local criminals are using the periodical to transmit information on upcoming robberies to various members of their gang.


Trying to inform the police of this phenomenon only gets him in hot water, so Joe must organize his friends and undertake an investigation that will lead them into plenty of hair-raising situations that will pit them directly against the ruthless bad guys. 

The pace never lets up in this surprisingly gritty tale which boasts a superb cast, crisp black and white photography, and sharp direction that often has the look and feel of a Hitchcock thriller.

Unlike most boys' adventure films, this one places its young characters into some truly perilous scrapes, sometimes in opposition to the police themselves, with the kids making a harrowing escape through the sewer system or going into actual physical battle with burly baddies.

Some of the few purely comedic scenes are those involving Alastair Sim as the unsuspecting writer of the comics (his work is later altered before publication by the gang's beautiful moll who works for the printer).

Sim, probably the biggest name in the picture, has a surprisingly minor role here although his fans will enjoy his cowardly eccentric who writes lurid crime stories in a creepy old apartment building with only a cat as his companion.

The kids themselves are refreshingly realistic, not above getting into fistfights with each other but pulling together in times of danger. Their exploits in pursuit of the smugglers lead to an action-filled finale fit for an adult crime thriller, which, along with its more lighthearted aspects, makes HUE AND CRY a wholly satisfying entertainment.



Buy it from Film Movement Classics


Blu-ray Features

The Belles of St. Trinian's:
Interview with Geoff Brown
Interview with Melanie Williams
Interview with Alistair Sim’s Daughter - Meredith McKendrick
Interview with Steve Chibnall
The Girls of St Trinian’s


School for Scoundrels:
School for Scoundrels Trailer
Interview with Peter Bradshaw
Interview with Graham McCann
Interview with Chris Potter


Hue and Cry:
Interview with Steve Chibnall
Location Featurette

Booklet with notes, written by film scholar Ronald Bergan

Sound: Mono
Discs: 4




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