Monty Python's Flying Circus invented the "broken camera" ending for their cult comedy classic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."
Or did they?
Not quite, because several years earlier, the great Jerry Lewis did it first in his unforgettable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde take-off, "The Nutty Professor."
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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.
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
Currently watching: TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU (1970) with Hayley Mills and Oliver Reed.
Former child star Hayley Mills was well into adulthood when she starred as school teacher Jenny Bunn, just arrived in town and moving into a boarding house owned by a bickering couple, local political candidate Dick Thompson (John Bird) and his domineering, unhappy wife Martha (Sheila Hancock).
Jenny's roommate, a free-spirited young girl named Anna (Geraldine Sherman), introduces her to a friend, confirmed bachelor and insatiable ladies' man Patrick Standish (Oliver Reed), who takes an instant fancy to Jenny.
Patrick's a fast worker and in no time has Jenny in his apartment to see how far he can go and how fast. Jenny throws a huge roadblock in his path--namely, the fact that she's a virgin (which shocks him) and doesn't want to have sex until it's with someone she loves and who loves her in return.
This, of course, is the spark that ignites the perpetually aroused and resolutely single-minded Patrick's manic attempts to get the reluctant Jenny into bed with him for literally the rest of the film.
So adamant is Jenny's refusal to give in that Hayley and Oliver's scenes together, she standoffish and he bearishly insistent, have an uncomfortable edge to them, as though we can feel her nervous claustrophobia in his overbearing presence.
This is acerbated by the fact that Oliver Reed was simply a big, overbearing actor, one who was so well cast in the lead role in CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF that we almost expect him to turn into a raging, snarling lycanthrope every time his wishes and desires are thwarted.
Which doesn't happen, thank goodness, although he is, at the very least, a really big pest, a matter that's only aggravated by his mutually sex-obsessed friend Julian (Noel Harrison). Julian is Dick's campaign advisor when not spending his time as an idle playboy in a huge mansion (one that's about to be torn down to make way for a new roadway, which is why he wants Dick elected).
Julian's ultra-casual view of sex makes him a bad influence on Patrick, as does Julian's ultra-amorous spokesmodel girlfriend Wendy (Aimi MacDonald), who oozes pheromones and throws herself at men like a linebacker.
Adding fuel to this slow-burning pyre of social anxiety is Julian's other bachelor friend Graham, a romantically needy shlub who takes an unrequited fancy to Jenny. Graham is played by Ronald Lacey (CRUCIBLE OF TERROR, "The Avengers: The Joker") , best known as Gestapo bad guy Toht in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but who in this case is a rather meek and sympathetic little fellow.
With all of these characters repeatedly gathered together at cross purposes and in the most unromantic and emotionally inhospitable social situations one might imagine, TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU is the sort of film that calls itself a comedy but is more like a human demolition derby that we watch in constant apprehension of what will transpire next.
That all this manages to remain rather pleasantly entertaining is a credit to original novel author Kingsley Amis and to Jonathan Miller, a prolific television writer/producer (BBC's "Alice In Wonderland") making his sole feature film as director.
Miller gives the whole affair enough of a light, casual touch to keep it palatable even though he lacks the sharp visual and verbal wit of a Mike Nichols or Elaine May. He's helped in no small part by a musical score by Stanley Myers (THE DEER HUNTER) which is surprisingly rich and vibrant for a film of this kind and also includes some very catchy pop songs.
Hayley, of course, is a delight throughout, and we can understand why Patrick, the urbanely sleazy Julian, and the rest all end up with their sights on her. What finally happens when she can't put them all off anymore is what makes the slow but reasonably involving TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU worth staying with till the end.
