The Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery (1966)

Memorable, crazy movie

Beautiful, moving film.

Am I Missing Something?

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The fourth, last and weakest of the original "St. Trinian's" films, it never really takes off. It is an attempt to modernise the series which is not terribly successful. As the title would suggest, it was inspired by the Great Train Robbery in 1963, which is kind of interesting but the idea is not used well. There is some nice light satire of Labour's policies and sex scandals with the Minister for Schools Sir Horace's affair with the new headmistress Amber Spottiswood but there are no belly laughs unlike in the first three films. The train robbery plot is a parody of the Bond films but it falls flat. The attempt to modernise the films mean that it has dated far worse than the first three films, though that wouldn't be a problem if it was a better than average film. The main problem with the storyline is that focuses far too much on the adults and far too little on the students, even less than in "The Pure Hell of St. Trinians".It has a great cast including Frankie Howerd, George Cole, Richard Wattis (who was absent from the previous film), Raymond Huntley, Dora Bryan, Michael Ripper, George Benson and Colin Gordon. However, Cole is wasted in a smaller role than in the first three films and the absence of Joyce Grenfell and Lloyd Lamble is very noticeable. On the bright side, Michael Ripper - the only actor besides Cole to appear in all four films - has his biggest role in the series and he also has the best line in the film: "That headmistress is his concubine!"

The premise doesn't seem bad, that the school is relocated due to the fires and a group of thieves want to recover money hidden in the place where the new school is. However, it doesn't feel like a St. Trinian's film to me. Its the only one in color and of the characters from the other films only Harry is still there. There is no more Sargeant Gates, which would have helped. The movie goes along at a decent pace and Frankie Howerd is, of course, a good comic actor, but the film is watchable only because its part of the series not because it is such a great stand alone film. See it if you want to complete your watching of the original St. Trinian's films, but otherwise it is not essential viewing.

There were 3 films in the St.Trinians series and this, the final of the 3, is always referred to as "the weak entry" - and that's not fair. I actually don't like these silly girls waving tennis rackets & hockey sticks around and "frightening" adults in the process & George Cole (Flash Harry) irritates me in everything he's ever done; yet I still love this film, for everything BUT the ludicrous schoolgirls and Mr Cole. The plot is quite simple; a gang of bank-robbers stash the loot from a train robbery in the cellar of an abandoned house, but before they can collect it the "infamous" girls of St. Trinians are billeted there, having burned down their own building. The robbers pose as caterers on school Open Day and recover a lorry-load of cash but get disturbed by the girls and a chase then ensues involving all manner of weird and wonderful people who all want to get their hands on the reward. There's also a very funny sub-plot involving Richard Wattis as a civil servant investigating the criminal activities of ALL the staff and trying desperately to get the school closed down. Frankie Howerd is hilarious throughout as the gang leader who eventually escapes from the police disguised as a Pakistani railway worker and the scene where he 'clobbers' a Morris Dancer and has to take his place is NOT to be missed. Morris dancing is daft enough as it is but Frankie Howerd's "attempt" will have you roaring with laughter: "Just keep dancing, I'll explain everything later." Arthur Mullard is priceless as the dim-witted "heavy" of the gang, Big Jim, and the running gag involving a railway points lever is also essential viewing. I also liked Reg Varney as the 'serious' member of the gang who gets flustered to the point of homicidal rage by the stupidity of the others. The film is very well directed, beginning slowly and gradually working up to a frantic pace as the chase gets under way. If you can ignore the silly schoolgirls and George - yawn - Cole I'm sure you'll really enjoy this film.

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy this movie. After all, the previous film in this series, 'The Pure Hell Of' was a bit of a disappointment and the question was, six years later, could this movie get the series back on track?The answer is yes, 'The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery', after a slightly slow start, is a very funny movie, the funniest in the series since 'Blue Murder'. Learning from the mistakes of 'Pure Hell', this movie returns to the school-based comedy that we all know and love.It has its faults, of course. For example some of the series' most familiar faces are absent (there is no Alistair Sim or Joyce Grenfell, for example), while a sadly ill-looking Eric Barker appears only for a few seconds. But all in all, the influx of new faces (including the likes of Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan) works to the movie's advantage. Also the rail track capers that conclude the movie are very funny indeed.The less said about the awful theme song, the better I think, but any movie that contains the line 'Knock them about democratically' deserves to be remembered.