The Pure Hell Of St Trinian's, the third movie in the series, never approaches the comic heights of the first two. Part of this is down to the absence of Alistair Sim, but also it is due to a script that switches the emphasis largely away from the school and places it more on the men from the Ministry Of Education. For long stretches you can hardly spot a schoolgirl, while the movie lacks a strong comic climax.
You can also see a lack of inspiration at work here, as the Grenfell-Parker `romance' is more or less a replay of (the better handled) relationship with Terry-Thomas in the previous movie, while the whole 'desert island' business seems designed to fill up the movie's running-time.
If it's not as fun as `Belles' or `Blue Murder', `Pure Hell' does have its good points. Cecil Parker's down-at-heel headmaster is a major asset to the movie, while it's nice to see the likes of Sid James, Denis Price and Liz Frazer make an appearance.
The comic high-points come early in the movie, with Raymond Huntley stealing the movie as a Judge distracted by the charms of a leggy Sixth-Former, while later the 'striptease' Hamlet provides the film's most memorable moment. Irene Handle is also on top form as a more than slightly batty teacher.
It's not the best of the series by a long way, but forty or so years on it is still worth watching.
