Last night we watched the old Alastair Sim movie, The Belles of St Trinian's. St Trinian's is a school for young ladies located in Barsetshire - one of the students is named Crawley. But one could hardly get farther in spirit from Trollope's beloved but fictional county than St Trinians. The school motto is flagrante delicto.
There are five St Trinian's movies, based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle. Four of the films were done in the 50s and 60s. The first two star the inimitable Alastair Sim but all include Joyce Grenfell and George Cole (Flash Harry), two superb supporting characters.
I know this because I checked the Internet Movie Database where I learned that a new Trinian's movie was made in 2007 with Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Stephen Fry, Nathanial Parker, and others. I'm on the lookout for that. Alas, it has not yet been released in the US.
In the movie we watched last night, the first of the series, filmed in 1954, the plot revolves around a prize-winning Arabian horse that the father of one of the girls is running in a race nearby. The headmistress has put all of the school funds on him, but her brother's money is on another horse.
The sixth form, led by Miss Flitton's niece, Arabella, is out to steal the Arabian horse so that her father's horse (Miss Flitton's brother's horse) will win. But before they can steal it, the Arabian horse goes missing, soon to be found in the fourth form dormitory. They have preemptively stolen the horse to protect it. The sixth form promptly barricades the hall to prevent the horse from leaving the building. Meanwhile the local Barsetshire constabulary has sent an undercover officer to look into things, Miss Ruby Gates, played by Joyce Grenfell with great aplomb.
And so it goes. Don't miss this exemplary demonstration of British wit and charm.