Blue Murder at St. Trinian's

This follow-up comedy to "The Belles of St. Trinian's" is not too bad, considering that most sequels aren't usually too good. It is a good thing that Terry Thomas is given "leading man" status as he was an effective lead. Alastair Sim reprised his role of Miss Fritton from the previous film and only has a few minutes of screen time. For those who know the plot, the girls of that notorious school manage to con their way into going on an exchange trip to Italy. Once there, the usual shenanigans result. Lionel Jefferies does well as the convicted father of one of the schoolgirls. George Cole and Joyce Grenfell reprise their respective roles and it's good to see them. The laughs are a bit thin but the cast make this one worth the viewing.

Italian Prince Bruno is looking for a wife. Unscrupulous matchmaker Flash Harry offers him the girls of St Trinian's. Headmistress Amelia Fritton and the teachers are all gone. The girls have gone wild. The government sends in the Army to no avail. Harry has a scheme to get the girls on a trip to Italy.

This is the second St Trinian's movie. It needs more time for the girls. It also needs to highlight a core group of three or four girls. It's supposed to be their movie and it doesn't hurt to show off these beautiful babes. Hopefully, they can act. The movie spends way too much time with all these old men. As for the army, I don't see the government sending in the army for a bunch of girls. I actually like the Keystone Cops better. They are more in line with a slapstick screwball comedy. I wouldn't mind a movie with the St Trinian's girls versus the Keystone Cops. Of course, the cops can't follow them out of the country. They would hand off the troublesome group to their European counterpart. As it stands, it has its moments of fun, but there could be more fun.

With Miss Fritton locked away in the school basement, and the army laying siege to the school grounds (with a great deal of resistance), Flash Harry is abroad promoting the `St Trinians Marriage Bureau' to a wealthy Italian Prince. However he has to visit the Prince with the girls. He manages to cheat in a competition that allows the school to tour to Rome and they're on their way. However one of the girl's Dads is a diamond thief who tries to escape capture by dressing as their headmistress and smuggling himself out of the country, bringing the attention of the law to bear on the already suspect group.

Not one of the best of the series of movies, but still this stands up as a good British caper movie, with a strong cast of British comedians on board. The plot is thin at best and relies on the fact that no-one can tell the difference between sexes after a little bit of cross dressing…..well, I suppose Shakespeare did it all the time and it worked for him! Much of the comedy draws from slapstick or seeing girls fight, but there are some good lines and characters – Michael Ripper's working class liftman is my favourite.

George Cole plays Harry well – in fact he was born playing cockney rogues (eg Cottage to Let), kept playing them (St Trinians ) and got old playing them (Minder on TV). The wonderfully British Joyce Grenfell is good again as Gates, while the support cast is rich in talent – Terry Thomas, Lionel Jefferies, Terry Scott and Alistair Sim. The girls are a little iffy , the young ones are clearly children and play rough little warriors, however the older girls (i.e. 16-18) are played by women of early/mid twenties. They're all dressed up in uniforms with stockings and suspenders showing and using their sexuality for all they can get – not more so than the great Sabrina. However in today's climate where any hint of teenage sexuality or pedophilia sparks a media frenzy, this sits a little uncomfortably – there's certainly no way this could get made today!

Overall it's enjoyable if basic – there are better movies, but it's worth watching once.

This sequel is even better than the original notwithstanding the fact that Alistair Sim only makes a cameo appearance or that they use the jewels in the ball gag which was used 20years earlier in Boys Will Be Boys.A great cast including Terry Thomas and Joyce Grenfell.The water polo climax is a hoot.

Gap-toothed bounder Terry Thomas joins in the fun for this second cinematic outing for the troublesome girls of St. Trinian's. Thomas plays supreme bounder Capt. Romney Carlton-Ricketts, owner of the (clapped out) buses hired by the infamous girl's school to transport its pupils to Rome, where the sexiest of the sixth-formers have a date with wealthy Italian Prince Bruno (Guido Lorraine), as arranged by the marriage bureau run by cheeky spiv Flash Harry (George Cole).

Also along for the trip is Sgt. Ruby Gates (Joyce Grenfell), working undercover to try and catch elusive diamond thief Joe Mangan (Lionel Jeffries), who has disguised himself as Dame Maud Hackshaw, the new headmistress of St. Trinian's (it wouldn't be a British comedy without cross-dressing).

It's a slow start and Thomas doesn't show up until midway, when the girls finally set off for Rome, at which point the film definitely picks up in terms of laughs and uproarious fun. After brief visits to several other countries (the most enjoyable involving the St. Trinian's school band playing a swinging tune at a Mozart festival), the unruly mob arrive in Rome, and the hunt is on for Joe's swag (now hidden inside a water polo ball), the reward for which is £10,000.

With lots of knockabout comedy performed by a great cast (Hammer regular Michael Ripper and Carry On star Terry Scott also make an appearance), plus plenty of sexy sixth-formers in stockings and suspenders (the more shapely students are all of legal age, so don't feel bad for leering), Blue Murder is another very enjoyable, very British St. Trinian's caper.