The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sidney Gilliat directs. Ken Hodges behind the camera. Malcolm Arnold scores. Geoffrey Foot cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 160 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Part of the "St Trinian's Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 3Directed by Sidney Gilliat, shot by Ken Hodges. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Original score by Malcolm Arnold. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 5Editor Geoffrey Foot shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 6Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan and George Cole carry the top of the cast.
• 7IMDB entry: tt0060476 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 27 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Ken Hodges

Original score

Malcolm Arnold

Editing

Geoffrey Foot

Runtime

93 min · 1h 33m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

U

IMDB

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

Part of

St Trinian's Collection

The escapades of manic schoolgirls at the 'prestigious' St Trinian's.

• 
  The Belles of St Trinian's

  1954
• 
  Blue Murder at St. Trinian's

  1957
• 
  The Pure Hell of St Trinian's

  1960
• 
  The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery

  1966 · this one
• 
  The Wildcats of St Trinian's

  1980

Also by

Sidney Gilliat

• 
  London Belongs to Me

  1948 · ★ 7.0
• 
  The Constant Husband

  1955 · ★ 6.9
• 
  State Secret

  1950 · ★ 6.9
• 
  Fortune Is a Woman

  1957 · ★ 6.8
• 
  The Rake's Progress

  1945 · ★ 6.8
• 
  Green for Danger

  1946 · ★ 6.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2016-03-25
  ★ 6/10

  Jolly Hockey Sticks Part 4. The fourth part of the St. Trinian's themed films is the first to be shot in colour, and also the point where someone should have realised that this series had run out of steam. Based on Ronald Searle's demonic schoolgirls, this outing cribs off of the topical Great Train Robbery of the 60s, retains George Cole as a reassuring presence, while adding Dora Bryan and Frankie Howerd for some acting solidification. It's not a bad film as such, in fact the last quarter, where a whole host of train shenanigans come into play, is great fun, it's just that it feels tired, less risky, like the makers were hedging their bets to get a box office winner (which came to fruition). Fast framing is a bit of a cheat, Howerd is wasted - or sleepwalking through the film? But Bryan is on hand for a bit of quality while the girls are all boisterous and minxy. Enjoyable enough for those so inclined, even if it's utterly forgettable come the final credits. 6/10

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2022-11-06
  ★ 6/10

  Though George Cole stayed put as the wily "Flash Harry", the stylishness and mischief of the Sim/Grenfell films has been replaced by the more crass, innuendo-laden and colour performances from Frankie Howerd and Dora Bryan. Raymond Huntley ("Sir Horace") is the government minister who decides to allocate £85,000 to locate the ailing school and to keep it up to date with the times. Thing is, it's headmistress "Amber" (Bryan) is his bit-on-the-side and she uses the cash to ensure the school becomes little better than a state of the art gambling facility that wouldn't have looked out of place in Atlantic City. Unbeknown to them all though, the old building in which their school is now housed has already been used for a nefarious purpose by some train robbers. Needless to say, they want access to their ill-gotten gains hidden under the floorboards - and when the unruly girls get wise to their plotting, shenanigans galore ensue! Bryan and Howerd both have good comedy coming and a degree of chemistry, but the latter is too domineering as an actor and as character - and as I was never really his biggest fan anyway, I found he rather robbed the thing of any subtlety or hint of comedic sophistication. If you like, "St. Trinians" is now steaming towards "Carry On" territory and leaving behind it the charming boisterousness of previous iterations. It isn't terrible and some of the humour is still quite perky, but these have run their course now, I'd say.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• BR

  British Lion Film Corporation

• BR

  Braywild

Key crew

• Production SecretaryVicki Deason
• SoundBarbara Hopkins
• EditorGeoffrey Foot
• ProducerLeslie Gilliat
• CharactersRonald Searle
• NovelRonald Searle

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• stockings
• nylons
• girls' school

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1966-03-11U