Spotlight on St Trinians 7

Launder & Gilliat – Feminist Icons?

Launder and Gilliat were the two men behind the first St Trinians films. Both wrote and produced ‘Belles’, and Launder directed it. The prolific pair had a long and successful career in films – as screenwriters, producers and directors in various combinations. There are far too many films to list here. But have a look at some of their work in the 1940s and 1950s:

·        Millions Like Us (1943)

·        Two Thousand Women (1944)

·        The Happiest Days of your Life (1950)

·        The Belles of St Trinians (1954)

‘Millions Like Us’ concentrated on the war effort of the women in the factories. The men are incidental. ‘2000 Women’ follows a group of female prisoners of war using a stellar female cast and hardly any men that you’ve ever heard of. ‘Happiest Days…’ shows a solid female teaching staff who have more sense and resourcefulness than their male counterparts. Then along comes ‘Belles’ where the male lead plays a female character and the entire population of a girls' school sticks two fingers up to authority and expectations.

Would a modern film studio come up with a new story idea that is so female orientated, I wonder?

Given the period, this is all quite remarkable. Despite war efforts, women were still ‘the weaker sex’ and were expected to retreat back into the home in 1945 and be good wives and mothers.  Launder and Gilliat often reminded the world that this ‘weaker sex’ thing was poppycock.  Thanks, lads.

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Spotlight on St Trinians 6

Britain in the Time of St Trinians 2

‘Blue Murder at St Trinians’ was released in December 1957.  Harold Macmillan was the Prime Minister, representing the Conservative Party.  Looking at lists of notable events in this particular month, the first televised Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day is the most eye-catching.

Scrolling back, this was a year for technological advances.  Jodrell Bank Observatory became operational and the television programme ‘The Sky at Night’ was broadcast for the first time. The first Premium Bonds were also drawn by ‘ERNIE’. No doubt much was learned from the fire that broke out at Windscale nuclear plant.

Elsewhere, it was a year of embryonic development. This was the year when Lennon met McCartney and when the Wolfenden Report was published, recommending legalisation of homosexuality.

Things were happening that, though it was not immediately apparent, would lead to major changes further down the line. We were at last starting to look beyond little Britain…and to reflect that, St Trinians school went to Rome!

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Spotlight on St Trinians 5

The Great St Trinian's Mystery...

In the book of letters between Joyce Grenfell and her friend Virginia Graham (‘Joyce & Ginnie’), there is something rather odd. On 12 September 1949, Joyce is recorded as writing:

“…I spent the afternoon packing in order to come down here [Hindhead] for filming St Trinian’s.”

As the letter goes on, it becomes clear that she is talking about the filming of “The Happiest Days of Your Life”. The notes, written by Janie Hampton, state that “Happiest Days…” was the first of the five St Trinian’s films directed by Frank Launder.

This is all very confusing. If you were to include this film then the total would be six. But I would not include “Happiest Days” in the St Trinian’s list. Neither of the schools that this film is about is called St Trinian’s. The children are not the stars and they are far too well behaved. It is the headteachers and the teachers that the farce revolves around.

The mystery is why did Joyce refer to it as one? Is this down to the editor of her letters getting confused and making a slip? Or did Joyce really write this and did Launder and Gilliat see “Happiest Days…” as their St Trinian’s launchpad?

At any rate, although I would never include it as part of the series, it’s a fantastic film and essential background viewing to see an embryonic “Chloe Crawley” making herself at home in a gymslip.

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Spotlight on St Trinians 4

Classic British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce Grenfell.

My intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way. How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along the way.

Britain in the Time of St Trinians 1

‘The Belles of St Trinians’ was released in September 1954. Winston Churchill was Prime Minister again, representing the Conservative Party. But change was in the air. Coincidentally, in the same month as the film was released, Britain’s first purpose-built comprehensive school was opened. Modernist architecture fans will be interested to know that the Smithsons’ Hunstanton School also opened at this time.

In the same month, The Wolfenden Committee sat for the first time, looking at the issues of homosexuality and prostitution. It was a long road, but legalisation of homosexuality over a decade later had its roots here.

However, earlier on in 1954, while the film was in production notable events included the final end of rationing and the Donald McGill trial (July). Donald McGill is the man behind those iconic saucy seaside postcards. They are Carry On films in one innuendo-laden cartoon. We all love them now but back then, McGill was actually accused of pedalling obscene publications, tried and fined £50. Many postcards were sadly destroyed. Both of these events serve to illustrate what a different place 1954 was. Despite the baby steps towards a more liberal society, Britain was a place where you still couldn’t just go to the shops and buy whatever you wanted. A place where certain members of society thought us lower echelons would be corrupted by seeing postcards like the one below.

Yet people went to the pictures and watched a cross-dressing man run a girl’s school full of delinquents while illegally gambling on the horses….

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Spotlight on St Trinians 3

Only Connect

In the last blog post I talked about the St Trinians films being the link between the Ealing comedies and Carry On.  Here’s my notes on which actors appeared in St Trinians who had also appeared in the Ealing films; or who went on to appear in a Carry On film.  In the list of Carry On films, unless it is blindingly obvious, I have noted just one of their appearances, there may have been others.

The big question is…was anyone in all three???

Belles

Ealing films:

Alastair Sim (Hue and Cry)

Hermione Baddeley (Passport to Pimlico)
Sid James (Lavender Hill Mob)

Richard Wattis (Uncredited in Lavender Hill Mob and Kind Hearts & Coronets)

Carry On films:

Joan Sims

Sid James

Irene Handl (Nurse)

Renee Houston (Convenience)

Richard Wattis (Spying)

Shirley Eaton (Sergeant)

Dilys Laye (Cruising)

Barbara Windsor

Blue Murder

Ealing films:

Cyril Chamberlain (Lavender Hill Mob)

Judith Furse (Man in the White Suit)

Carry On films:

Terry Scott

Cyril Chamberlain (Cruising)

Judith Furse (Regardless)

Rosalind Knight (Teacher)

Eric Barker (Spying)

Pure Hell:

Ealing films:

Cecil Parker (The Ladykillers)

Dennis Price (Kind Hearts & Coronets)

Raymond Huntley (Passport to Pimlico)

George Benson (The Man in the White Suit)

Carry On films:

Liz Fraser

Warren Mitchell (Cleo)

Edina Ronay (Cowboy)

Sally Douglas (Screaming)

The Connection Kings and Queen?

Sid James, Cyril Chamberlain and Judith Furze – they had credited appearances in all 3 genres!

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Spotlight on St Trinians 2

Classic British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce Grenfell.

My intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way. How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four St Trinians films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along the way.

The Link Between Ealing and Carry On
Coming just after the heyday of the Ealing Comedies and before the Carry On series, the early St Trinians films are a mixture of both. From the Ealing genre, they take a poke at the sheer daftness of the British Establishment. In films like ‘Passport to Pimlico’ and ‘Whisky Galore’, petty bureaucracy causes havoc; while in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ a commoner picks off a line of Dukes in order to claim the title for himself. In many of these films, you are encouraged to want the little man to triumph. What a disappointing ending to ‘The Lavender Hill Mob’, when we realise that the game’s up for Alec Guinness. In the St Trinians films, it is time for the little girl to triumph. Young girls have always been the underdog in traditional British society until very recent times. Here, they eschew prescribed, boring education for an early plunge into economic shortcuts. They outwit the law and the Ministry of Education. They are wicked beyond redemption but we so want them to succeed.

Dennis Price and Eric Barker in St Trinians...after Ealing, before Carry On. Thorley Walters on the left.

Unlike the Boulting Brothers’ films from the contemporary period, there is no underlying message though, this is all for fun. Like Carry On films, which launched a year after the second St Trinians film.  I believe that Carry On does owe a little to the St Trinians series. Not least sharing several cast members (I will explain more in my next post). Where St Trinians became a kind of brand name for a series…Carry On soon followed. I may be proved wrong, but I believe that St Trinians was the first film series with a name repetition in this manner. The difference is of course that each Carry On was a totally different story with the same actors playing different characters (though you could argue that Sid was always playing Sid!). But there is a direct line between the two – a series of brand name films populated by familiar faces playing memorable characters. ‘Flash Harry’ became almost as much a part of our national psyche as Matron (especially when he transformed into Arthur Daley…)

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Spotlight on St Trinians 1

I put this blog to bed at the end of last year, but now I have decided to give it a prod with a sharp stick and bring it out of hibernation. But rather than each post focus on a different film, I am about to shine a spotlight onto a cinematic series. Some inspiration for this comes from my blogging friend Graeme, who runs the hugely popular Carry on Blogging site – I urge you to visit it here: http://carryonfan.blogspot.co.uk/

Classic British cinema has long been the inspiration for my writing. Two of my short story collections have focussed on the audience for a specific film (‘A Canterbury Tale’ and ‘I Know Where I’m Going’). Another collection was peopled by a range of characters all affected in some way by the work of Joyce Grenfell.

My intention is that my next short story collection will be connected to Launder and Gilliat’s earlier St Trinians films. These are much loved and also, I think, quite important in their own little way. This time, I also hope to take a step closer to the films in the stories that I write. Rather than focussing on the audience, I’d like the films and their stars to take a bow in some way. How I will do this, I’m not quite sure yet. This proposal is more challenging to me as a writer and involves research into the making of the films, those involved in this and the contemporary scene.

So from this point onwards, The History Usherette will shine her torch on four films in a series of posts, perhaps lasting for a year. I’ll share all my discoveries on here and hopefully bring us all a bit of classic film joy along the way.

The Films:

·        The Belles of St Trinians (1954)

·        Blue Murder at St Trinians (1957)

·        The Pure Hell of St Trinians (1960)

·        The Great St Trinians Train Robbery (1966)

There will probably be less emphasis on the fourth one. A further Launder and Gilliat St Trinians film was made in 1980, but this falls out of the Usherette’s time frame. And as is the case with the Train Robbery film, many original cast members were missing and it just isn’t the same.  It is generally agreed that as the series progressed, the quality dropped. Star ratings for the Train Robbery film are never generous.

As anyone who knows the Usherette is aware…if Ruby Gates isn’t in it, then, well…what’s the point?

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