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Inspiration for St Trinian's Series

posted 9 years ago by Yuhangyuan
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The seeds of the St Trinian's series of films about out-of-control English schoolgirls clearly lie in this 1952 comedy. Miss Robin Hood, made just two years before the first in the St Trinian's series, The Belles of St Trinian's (1954), was written by Val Valentine who also wrote some of the scripts for St Trinian's. The scene, where Miss Honey is trying to get the head of a newspaper to rehire her favourite writer of the 'Miss Robin Hood' comic, the schoolgirls (and boys) from Miss Honey's orphanage threateningly surround the beleaguered press baron with flailing hockey sticks, tennis rackets & golf clubs, is the essence of St Trinian's mayhem!

[–] david-879 9 years ago

Though the uniformed schoolgirls may be reminiscent of St. Trinan's, the real antecedent is 1950's "The Happiest Days of Your Life". Starring Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford, you really should give it a view, if you haven't already.

[–] John-367 8 years ago

Ronald Searle's St Trinians cartoon strip started in 1946.

John Dighton's play of The Happiest Days of Your Life was first produced in the West End in 1948 but could have been written a year or two earlier.

Whether or not the St Trinian's cartoon was an influence on Dighton's play (let's not forget that boarding school comedy stories had been common for decades before then in British popular culture), the huge success of the film of THDOYL certainly inspired Lander and Gilliat to make "The Belles of St Trinians" as a sort of follow-up.