1950 Directed by Frank Launder
Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.
Alastair Sim Margaret Rutherford Guy Middleton Joyce Grenfell Edward Rigby Muriel Aked John Bentley Bernadette O'Farrell Richard Wattis Gladys Henson John Turnbull Percy Walsh Arthur Howard Myrette Morven Russell Waters Laurence Naismith Patricia Owens Kenneth Downey Stringer Davis Angela Glynne Harold Goodwin Margaret Anderson Patience Rentoul Lilian Stanley Stanley Lemin Olwen Brookes Alan Broadhurst Vivien Wood Nan Munro Show All…
The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstruous Regiment of Women
As a result of a Whitehall cock-up an all-girl's school is mistakenly billeted with an all-boy's school. Matters are further complicated with the simultaneous arrival of a group of the girl's parents and the governors of a school with whom the headmaster is attempting to secure a position.
This might look like a dry run for Launder and Gilliat's St. Trinians movies which, while they were more successful and of course ribald, fall short of this masterpiece of British comedy.
It goes without saying that the cast is is superb and Margaret Rutherford as the Headmistress of the interlopers is great, but even her performance pales in comparison…
This English classic couldn't miss with Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford in the same movie (he's the head of a boys' school who has to accomodate her school and staff during wartime alongside their own). There's also the delightfully dotty Joyce Grenfell (Miss Gossage, 'call me sausage').
The Happiest Days ... falls back on slapstick farce and, rather like the St Trinian's series, sends up the whole boarding school culture with glee. It all gets incredibly silly and, as such, is a genuinely hilarious and harmless hour and a half of entertainment.
Based on the play of the same name by John Dighton, this British comedy is about a girls’ school which is billeted to a boys’ school by mistake and trouble erupts.
In the middle of World War II, the all-girls St. Swithins school is exiled from London to dodge the Blitz. Due to an organisational mistake, the female students and staff are repositioned to the Nutborne Boys School, whose headmaster, Wetherby Pond (Alastair Sim), is shocked.
He and St. Swithins headmistress Muriel Whitchurch (Margaret Rutherford) approve to keep their mixed-sex estate confidential to evade worrying the parents, but they struggle to two-time visiting examiners.
Alastair Sim gives one of the best performances of his career playing the role of the…
It's always odd to go back to a film I'd known so well in the past but hadn't seen in at least ten or fifteen years, to discover if it still stands up. There are far greater films I've watched in the intervening years that I can now barely remember the outline of, but with such a film as this can still remember every single scene and line. Still although not quite as good as I remember (nostalgia is never what it used to be) the film is still immense, innocent fun, especially as it's the one and only chance to see those two greats of British comedy Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford lock horns, they're so delectable together that…
Old school before it was cool.
Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford are a great match in this proto-Trinian's Brit-comedy, and it features Richard Wattis, a personal favorite character actor. Though I'm more of a St. Custard's fan, this was a perfectly delightful diversion.
This is all about Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Luckily, they are both fantastic!
Rating: 73%
Enjoyability Rating: 8/10
Much akin to the original St. Trinian's movies, Alastair Simm and Margaret Rutherford shine in this instant classic British comedy.
Ultimately lacking in laughs but the long set up throughout is worth it for the ten minutes of mild humoured pay-off at the end.
And watching Alastair Sim in absolutely anything is a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. He's just a joy.
Another one ticked off the list.
Watched because it was about to disappear off iPlayer. The ending is a little weak and it rather under-uses its central premise (an all-girls and an all-boys school forced to share premises by mistake), but it's a wonderful comic showcase for both Margaret Rutherford and Alastair Sim and the script is surprisingly risque, even for 1950. The main thing it's missing is the kids' perspective, which is baffling.
Good slapstick comedy from a time when we Brits knew how to make funny films
‘We’re waiting for an explanation Mr Pond!’
‘Can’t you see I’m trying to think of one?’
Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford clash, and try to coexist, with each other as an all-girls school is evacuated to an all-boys school and it’s all a great deal of fun. The comic timing is spot on and the highlight is a chaotic final act which involves pupils and teachers dashing around the school as Sim tries to show a group of visiting governors that it’s business as usual at his boys school, while Rutherford simultaneously shows a group of parents around the new girls school.
A great British classic comedy in the mould of the Ealing Comedies and the St Trinians films. Indeed you can see how films like this later influenced the early Carry On movies. But this is a cut above because of the fantastic lead actors in Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford (often forgotten British treasures). It's basically a farce centred around the restrained attitudes to sex and gender politics and one or two aspects may seem out of place to a modern audience. But that aside this is still gloriously funny and portrays a nostalgic picture of post war rural England.
Based on the play of the same name by John Dighton, this British comedy is about a girls’ school which is billeted to a boys’ school by mistake and trouble erupts.
In the middle of World War II, the all-girls St. Swithins school is exiled from London to dodge the Blitz. Due to an organisational mistake, the female students and staff are repositioned to the Nutborne Boys School, whose headmaster, Wetherby Pond (Alastair Sim), is shocked.
He and St. Swithins headmistress Muriel Whitchurch (Margaret Rutherford) approve to keep their mixed-sex estate confidential to evade worrying the parents, but they struggle to two-time visiting examiners.
Alastair Sim gives one of the best performances of his career playing the role of the…
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