The Belles of St Trinian's is a 1954 British comedy film, directed by Frank Launder, co-written by Launder and Sidney Gilliat, and starring Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley. Inspired by British cartoonist Ronald Searle's St Trinian's School comic strips, the film focuses on the lives of the students and teachers of the fictional school, dealing with attempts to shut them down while their headmistress faces issues with financial troubles, which culminates in the students thwarting a scheme involving a racehorse. The film was among some of the most popular British films to be released in 1954, with critics praising the comedy and several of the cast members for their performances, including Sim's dual role as the headmistress Miss Millicent Fritton and her twin brother Clarence Fritton. The film was the first to be produced in the St. Trinian's film series – three sequels were later produced and released after this film: Blue Murder at St Trinian's in 1957; The Pure Hell of St Trinian's in 1960; and The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery in 1966. Plot The Sultan of Makyad enrols his daughter Fatima at St. Trinian's - a girl's school in England, run by its headmistress Millicent Fritton. Upon her arrival, she discovers that Millicent runs the school to prepare her students to succeed in a merciless world by having her students fight against authoritative figures in both the police and the government. Many of the girls are unruly and have criminal relations; as a result, the school's curriculum focuses mainly on lessons in crime and illicit schemes, all while the students thwart efforts by the local police and the Ministry of Education (a fictional British government department) to shut down the school. Millicent, however, faces problems as St. Trinian's is on the verge of bankruptcy, and seeks any means to clear the school's debt. Millicent's twin brother, bookmaker Clarence Fritton, visits the school to check in on his sister and learns about Fatima's enrolment. Knowing that her father owns a racehorse due to take part in a major horse racing event, Clarence decides to enrol his daughter Arabella at the school, with instructions to befriend Fatima and subtlety extract information from her about the horse. At the same time, local police superintendent Kemp Bird assigns female police sergeant Ruby Gates, whom he is in a relationship with, to infiltrate the school undercover as a games