The St Trinian's films of the 50s and 60s were a quintessential English oddity. They were broad comedies based on Ronald Searle's eccentric drawings of a girl's boarding school. This school operated on a quasi-criminal basis where you rooted for the girls because they weren't so much wicked as naughty, constantly seeking to get one over on authority, bigger criminals etc. They were not great works of art, they fitted their own niche and reflected their time.
Fritton's Gold is the second movie in the revived franchise, and it does much the same thing as its predecessors - it reflects the era in which it is made through a broad comedy about slightly delinquent schoolgirls. Rupert Everett reprises headmistress Miss Fritton in the tradition started by Alistair Sim of the headmistress being played by a man in drag and, like Sim, he also plays other family members. It is also pleasing to see Colin Firth, David Tennant and Toby Jones revelling in playing such broad and very British material.
There is a tolerable plot running through this, although I felt it went on a bit too long. The girls carry much of the movie, of course, and most of the key players get their own moments. I chuckled fairly constantly through most of it, and felt that it was a satisfactory updating of the fondly-remembered originals.
It is also worth pointing out that it is relatively lowly placed in the smut and bad language stakes.
Fritton's Gold is the second movie in the revived franchise, and it does much the same thing as its predecessors - it reflects the era in which it is made through a broad comedy about slightly delinquent schoolgirls. Rupert Everett reprises headmistress Miss Fritton in the tradition started by Alistair Sim of the headmistress being played by a man in drag and, like Sim, he also plays other family members. It is also pleasing to see Colin Firth, David Tennant and Toby Jones revelling in playing such broad and very British material.
There is a tolerable plot running through this, although I felt it went on a bit too long. The girls carry much of the movie, of course, and most of the key players get their own moments. I chuckled fairly constantly through most of it, and felt that it was a satisfactory updating of the fondly-remembered originals.
It is also worth pointing out that it is relatively lowly placed in the smut and bad language stakes.