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Product Description
From acclaimed director Frank Launder,‘The Happiest Days of your life’ is a precursor to the hugely successful St, Trinian’s series, set in Nutbourn College, the most established and respectable of boy’s schools. A military mistake billets a girls’ school to share the college’s premises, to the outrage of their horrified headmaster and headmistress, played with comic mastery by Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Initially the two are hostile to one another. However, with a staff of dazed, eccentric teachers and a student body of knowing and troublesome children, they are forced to pull together as the situation stumbles from the sublime to the ridiculous! Unmissable and hilarious, this is classic British comedy at its best.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: From acclaimed director Frank Launder, The Happiest Days Of Your Life is a precursor to the hugely successful St. Trinian's series. Nutbourn College, the most established and respectable of boys' schools, is run by unyielding Headmaster Wetherby Pond [Alastair Sim.] When a military mistake billets a girls' school to share the college's premises due to wartime restrictions, he is outraged. However, he soon discovers he has met his match when he encounters the Headmistress of the girls' school in question, the formidable Muriel Whitchurch [Margaret Rutherford]. Initially the two are hostile to one another, but with a staff of dazed, eccentric teachers and a student body whose mischief knows no bounds, they are forced to pull together. Then, just when they thought the situation couldn't get any more complicated, they discover they are faced with two troublesome visits on the same day; one from a group of parents, who must believe the school is only for girls, and one from the Ministry, who must be presented with an all boys establishment! Unmissable and hilarious, this is classic British comedy at its best. ...The Happiest Days of Your Life
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
155 of 156 people found the following review helpful
By Danny Boy
Format:VHS Tape
Sometimes overlooked, this is a charming and very funny self-mocking episode of a bygone era. Set in about 1949 (the 1948 Railways Nationalisation is mentioned in a gag) this has a wealth of amusing characters, great dialogue and hilarious scenes when confusion reign. Initially the confusion is on the part of the St. Swithuns mistresses, as they arrive at what they think is a girls school; boxing gloves in the common room, and the school motto "Guard Thine Honour" puzzle and horrify them.
Alastair Sim as Wetherby Pond (what a name!) is superb as he generally politely stands up to the women.
The sadly recently deceased Bernadette O'Farrell adds the glamour element as the beautiful Miss Harper, and the failed attempts of the lovely Joyce Grenfell as Miss Gossage ("call me sausage") to woo English master Richard Wattis (a superb sardonic performance) are brilliant.
I love this film, and I must have first seen it in about 1975 when it was only 25 years old, yet even then it was a relic of a lost age.
66 of 68 people found the following review helpful
By Helen
Format:DVD
I loved this movie when as a child I first saw it. As with so many old movies, I never managed to see it again for many years. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying a lunatic farce starring Sim, Rutherford and Grenfell at their best!
During WW2, two schools are told they must share one building. Each Head assumes the other school will be of the same sex as their own, but not so. At first the Heads are horrified but eventually they have to work together when parents are due to descend to see the schools of their darlings at work, and pupils and teachers work together in hilarious scenes moving from room to room so parents can see lessons and games.
Priceless old movie, one of the very best. Would give it 6 stars if I could!
During WW2, two schools are told they must share one building. Each Head assumes the other school will be of the same sex as their own, but not so. At first the Heads are horrified but eventually they have to work together when parents are due to descend to see the schools of their darlings at work, and pupils and teachers work together in hilarious scenes moving from room to room so parents can see lessons and games.
Priceless old movie, one of the very best. Would give it 6 stars if I could!
37 of 38 people found the following review helpful
By A. C. Mason
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The first in a long line of comic UK post war gems. 'The Happiest Days of Your Life' sows the seeds of the popular St.Trinian's series of films. Great cast with gifted acting by Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Directed by Frank Launder, it is different from the later St.Trinian's films in as much as the school starts of as a respectable boys school. Due to a governmental admin mistake a girls school is 'billeted' upon them with hilarious results. The old war-time spirit takes over and they all pull together to overcome visiting parental problems. The DVD is a good quality black/white film and is very watchable. (I too wanted to give it five stars, only the 'edit' wouldn't allow that change...) Postage from UK to Australia took four days. Excellent!The Happiest Days Of Your Life [DVD] [1950]
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film transports us back to a time where innocence was valued, especially in children.
Classic performances from Sim, Rutherford and especially Joyce Grenfell as Miss Gossage.
Today such fun would be considered dull, but I enjoyed being indulged in farce and
occasional double entandre with perfect comic timing from some past masters.
When you watch films like this, you wonder why we need surround sound, Hi-def and 3d,
what we really need is well written and acted films with great character actors and actresses.
Classic performances from Sim, Rutherford and especially Joyce Grenfell as Miss Gossage.
Today such fun would be considered dull, but I enjoyed being indulged in farce and
occasional double entandre with perfect comic timing from some past masters.
When you watch films like this, you wonder why we need surround sound, Hi-def and 3d,
what we really need is well written and acted films with great character actors and actresses.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By M. Whiston
Format:DVD
This film became the highest earning British film of 1950. Margaret Rutherford & Alastair Sim are at their peak of comedic excellence adding to the mayhem which ensues after an error by the Ministery of Education mistakenly sends a girls school to share premises occupied by a boys school. This is a farce but of the highest order. Rutherford reprises her stage role as the headmistress with such belief that at times you feel scared for her protoges! Joyce Grenfell has some scene-stealing scenes as the hockey mistress which is later echoed in her role As WPC Gates in the St.Trinian franchise.
Would liked to have had the documentary about Alastair Sim included as an extra as it was on the original video.
Would liked to have had the documentary about Alastair Sim included as an extra as it was on the original video.
36 of 38 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Margaret Rutherford and Alastair Sim join forces in the only film they made together, and it is a classic
11 July 2007
Format:VHS Tape
"Gaming? Nicotine? Fisticuffs? We're moving in a descending spiral of iniquity!" So says the head of St. Swithen's upon inspecting the master's common at Nutbourne. The faculty and students of St. Swithen's have been ordered to share facilities at Nutbourne to avoid German bombs during World War II. Then there's the masters' library. "The Diary of Samuel Pepys? Abridged...well, that's something to be thankful for. What's up here? The Memoirs of Casanova? Wasn't that the book we caught Jessica James reading in the closet? Decameron Nights! Well, really! What ever else this place may or may not be, it's no place to bring carefully nurtured girls!"
Yes, a terrible mistake has been made by the Ministry of Education. Nutbourne is a school for boys. St. Swithen's is a school for girls. And what makes this one of the best post-WWII British comedies, Nutbourne's head master is Wetherby Pond...played by Alastair Sim, while St. Swithen's head mistress is Muriel Whitchurch...played by Margaret Rutherford.
"St. Swithen's?" says Pond. "You don't mean to say that yours is a school for boys and girls?" he asks one of the early girls. "Only girls" she says cheerfully. "Does this mean, sir," asks one of Nutbourne's teachers, "that we are to expect 100 young girls?" "It means that not only have the ministry made a mistake in sending a school here at all, but that it is guilty of an appalling sexual aberration!"
Margaret Rutherford's Miss Whitchurch, as positive and immovable as a battleship, intends to make the best of it, by briskly taking over Nutbourne if possible. Alastair Sim's Pond is exasperated up to his big bald head and is determined to salvage his school.... Read more ›
Yes, a terrible mistake has been made by the Ministry of Education. Nutbourne is a school for boys. St. Swithen's is a school for girls. And what makes this one of the best post-WWII British comedies, Nutbourne's head master is Wetherby Pond...played by Alastair Sim, while St. Swithen's head mistress is Muriel Whitchurch...played by Margaret Rutherford.
"St. Swithen's?" says Pond. "You don't mean to say that yours is a school for boys and girls?" he asks one of the early girls. "Only girls" she says cheerfully. "Does this mean, sir," asks one of Nutbourne's teachers, "that we are to expect 100 young girls?" "It means that not only have the ministry made a mistake in sending a school here at all, but that it is guilty of an appalling sexual aberration!"
Margaret Rutherford's Miss Whitchurch, as positive and immovable as a battleship, intends to make the best of it, by briskly taking over Nutbourne if possible. Alastair Sim's Pond is exasperated up to his big bald head and is determined to salvage his school.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Old Classic
Movies like this are a treasure. How refeshing from modern day junk. How can you not have a great movie
with Alaistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Read more
with Alaistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford. Read more
Published 3 hours ago by Boston Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Happiest Days of your Life
The film is rather theatrical in nature which is obvious when you realise that the stage production came first. The mix of Alastair Sim and Margaret Rutherford is superb. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Brian Stovold
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very funny
We like Margaret Rutherford and this film is good quality, picture and sound. The packet arrived in good time via Royal Mail.
Published 2 months ago by Mrs G Pittaway
1.0 out of 5 stars
Horribly dated
I really had hoped that this movie would stand up to modern viewing,but it doesn't. It is cliched and not that well acted - actually, its a bore. Read more
Published 2 months ago by David Pagan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Precursor to St Trinians
One of the first set in boarding school comedies and the best really. Alistair Sim is brilliant and Margaret Rutherford can never be anything but fabulous. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. Susan E. A. Andrews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Magnificent
What a divine pairing - Margaret Rutherford and Alistar Sim!!!! Whoever brought them together should be rewarded for services to mankind. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tracy Aitken
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Happiest Days of Your Life
I remember this gloriously funny film when it first came out. Anything with Margaret Rutherford or Alastair Sim is worth watching and this film has them both!
Published 4 months ago by E C SMITH
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great comedy
With Alistair Sim and Margaret Rutherford, you can't go wrong. Good old fashioned British comedy at some of its best.
Published 6 months ago by Big Al
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Happiest Days of Your Life DVD
OK but not as good as I remembered it from my youth, but then, what is? Nonetheless, a goodnatured romp in the past.
Published 6 months ago by Tim Conway
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perhaps the funniest film ever made
Non-stop comic situations, perfect casting and great direction. What more could a filmgoer ask for?
Apart from the lead roles, there are actresses like Gladys Henson and... Read more
Apart from the lead roles, there are actresses like Gladys Henson and... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Geoffrey from Somerset
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