Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic British Comedies Blu-ray Collection - The Belles of St. Trinian's, School for Scoundrels, Laughter in Paradise, Hue and Cry | Perfect for Movie Nights & British Comedy Fans

Product Description Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies is the seminal 4-disc box set of classic British comedies, starring legendary comedic actor Alastair Sim, restored in HD and released for the first time ever on Blu Ray in North America. The Belles Of St. Trinian's:The schoolgirls of St. Trinian's are more interested in racing forms than books as they try to get-rich-quick. They are abetted by the headmistress' brother. In this classic comedy which spawned several sequels, both the headmistress and her brother are played by Alastair Sim. Based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle. School For Scoundrels:Based on the Stephen Potter books One Upmanship and Lifemanship, Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) tries hard to impress but always loses out to the rotter Delauney. Then he discovers the Lifeman college run by "Professor" Potter (Alastair Sim) and discovers the secrets of success. But has he the courage to put all his lessons into effect? From the director of Kind Hearts and Coronets.Laughter In Paradise:Famed practical joker Henry Russell leaves 50,000 pounds to each of his four surviving relatives. But his will has one last joke - they each have to undertake a task completely out of character within a month. As each sets out on their objective they find that quite apart from the promised riches, they are unexpectedly getting a lot out of the challenge. All except caddish Simon Russell, that is. Released in 1951, Laughter In Paradise was Britain's top-grossing film. Watch carefully and see a young Audrey Hepburn in a bit part as a cigarette girl.Hue And Cry:Teenager Joe Kirby, fantasizing he's on the track of criminals, finds to his astonishment that it has all come true. He has walked straight into the story of his comic book. Very soon he convinces himself and his adventurous cronies the comic is being used as a means of communication between a master criminal and his gang of thieves. The first of the Ealing comedies. Review Britain's holiday film gift is a funny antic as delicate as a hotfoot and as trenchant as a Mack Sennett comedy. Credit Alastair Sim with doing excellently by the dual roles he essays. As the headmistress, he is dowdy but not unaware of the machinations of his charges. And, he is convincingly harried as the bookmaker, whose 'blood runs cold' when it is noted that his daughter is a chip off the old block. Joyce Grenfell makes a properly gangling, awkward and gullible lady sleuth; George Cole does a few delightful turns as the conniving Cockney go-between and last, but not least, the Belles of St. Trinian's rate a vote of confidence for the whacky freedom of expression they exhibit. They all help make St. Trinian's a wonderfully improbable and often funny place to visit. - The New York Times Monstrously fun. This is a very funny comedy based on Ronald Searles's cartoons of a horrid girls' school known as St. Trinian's. The plot has to do with the horsenapping of a famous steed that is foiled by some of the school's pupils. Among the girls' antics is using the school's science lab to make gin, which is then sold by the crooked Flash Harry (George Cole). Alastair Sim is brilliant in two roles, playing the headmistress as well as her ne'er-do-well brother. Joyce Grenfell is also quite amusing as a police spy. - TV Guide If you're looking to acquaint yourself with the golden age of British cinema, School For Scoundrels is an excellent place to start. --The Hollywood NewsTerry-Thomas in particular is outstanding as a classic British bounder ... Sim creates another memorably eccentric authority figure, and the supporting cast includes such comedy stalwarts as John Le Mesurier, Hattie Jacques (who were married at the time) and Irene Handl. - British Film Institute Films made up of interwoven stories are notoriously difficult to do well, as it's all too easy either to lose the thread of the difficult episodes or to become impatient with the less substantial ones. That director Mario Zampi nearly brings off the trick here is almost entirely down to the fantastic performance of Alastair Sim as the henpecked thriller writer whose inheritance depends on him receiving a 28-day jail sentence. The scene in which he tries to shoplift is one of the funniest in a career overladen with choice comic moments. Sim's is exceptional. - Radio Times Producer-director Mario Zampi's delightful 1951 British comedy is a minor classic, enshrining one of Alastair Sim's most treasurable performances as a henpecked thriller writer and providing eagerly grabbed showcases for showy turns by some of Britain's finest comedy players of the era. --Derek WinnertMost Ealing films are worth watching. But Hue and Cry is truly adorable. Scripted by T.E.B. Clarke, who also wrote Passport to Pimlico and The Blue Lamp, and directed by Charles Crichton, who went on to helm The Lavender Hill Mob, it's a near-perfect synthesis of comedy, action thriller and social drama. - The Telegraph ...full of welcome surprises, topped off with a climax which sees what looks like every boy in London joining in to foil the evildoers' schemes then transforms into a chase through a dilapidated building filmed like a horror movie. A gem. --The Spinning Image