School for Scoundrels

[Genevieve's Mechanic]

I loved the used car salesmen it still rings true.

Peter Jones was on a recent edition of just a minute on radio 4 here in GB.



Being a petrol head I would love to know the true Identity of the Swiftmobile possibly a bentley of about 1928?. And the "bellini"? maybe an aston martin???with the added fin.

It always irks me that they dont get a listing.

the same applies for check point ,and the green helmet

[Rennie]

Was 'School For Scoundrels', the film which had a early scene on purporting to be at YEOVIL railway station? (which it wasn't!)

[Freddy]

Hi Rennie,
Hertford East Stn. Was that the Yeovil station?

regards

Freddy

[Rennie]

Thks Freddy. So presumably the scene was in this film. Certainly not any of the four (at that time) Yeovil stations, all of which were suffixed with the location of the station within, or out of Yeovil.

[Freddy]

I wish I could be more help Rennie, I am assuming that Hertford East was used for both scenes though Elstree and Borehamwood Stations are the nearest to the studio as well as the hotel. Look at

http://www.hertford.net/history/histrail.asp

the station looks familiar, though with no video I can't be sure.

regards

Freddy

[alan gowdy]

Swiftmobile was a Bentley - it was auctioned a while back, minus the film bits - and the sports car was an Aston Martin. The car salesmen scenes are simply sublime.

[aaron]

(Alexis @ Feb 24 2006, 03:50 PM)

Good looker, but mediocre acting skills. I know she was in a few other films in 50s/60s but I don't recall her.0Sir Gregory Upshott's bit of fluff was very demure as well, but I've never seen her in anything else.



Incidentally, I'm thinking of buying the Green Man DVD with School for Scoundrels on it, which I've never seen - is School for Scoundrels good?

Good??? Alistair Sim, Terry Thomas, Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Peter Jones. John Le Messurier Irene Handl and the delightful Janette Scott.....all in one film... It's an absolute masterpiece.

[spinalman]

(Alexis @ Feb 24 2006, 03:50 PM)

Good looker, but mediocre acting skills. I know she was in a few other films in 50s/60s but I don't recall her. Sir Gregory Upshott's bit of fluff was very demure as well, but I've never seen her in anything else.



Incidentally, I'm thinking of buying the Green Man DVD with School for Scoundrels on it, which I've never seen - is School for Scoundrels good?

I'll say!... Ian Carmichael is very.... Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas is almost in his definitive role, and Alistair Sim is as deft and light of touch as usual. It is a good combination DVD IMHO.

[Jim]

(spinalman @ Feb 24 2006, 04:21 PM)

I'll say!... Ian Carmichael is very.... Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas is almost in his definitive role, and Alistair Sim is as deft and light of touch as usual. It is a good combination DVD IMHO.

Absolutely right! Terry Thomas; Ian Carmichael and the rest - brilliant! There is nothing to replace these priceless characters today.

[alan gowdy]

(aaron @ Feb 24 2006, 03:59 PM)

Good??? Alistair Sim, Terry Thomas, Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Peter Jones. John Le Messurier Irene Handl and the delightful Janette Scott.....all in one film... It's an absolute masterpiece.

One of my all-time favourites.

[Alexis]

I have now watched School for Scoundrels and was sorely disappointed.

Simply didn't laugh once. It was a pleasure to watch Terry Thomas and Alastair Sim, of course, but the whole storyline was very contrived and stilted and Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott were both feeble. I know humour is a matter of taste, but I thought this suffered in comparison to the Green Man, St Trinians films etc.

[spinalman]

(Alexis @ Mar 13 2006, 01:43 PM)

I have now watched School for Scoundrels and was sorely disappointed.

Simply didn't laugh once. It was a pleasure to watch Terry Thomas and Alastair Sim, of course, but the whole storyline was very contrived and stilted and Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott were both feeble. I know humour is a matter of taste, but I thought this suffered in comparison to the Green Man, St Trinians films etc.

That's a shame Alexis...it's always a disappointment to recommend a film and then find their perception is very different. I put School for Scoundrels in the same bag as "Happiest days of our Lives" and St. Trinians - gentle comedy without too much scrutiny of the plot. Ian Carmichael seemed to play it as a charicature of his many other roles.

[Steve Crook]

(Alexis @ Mar 13 2006, 01:43 PM)

I have now watched School for Scoundrels and was sorely disappointed.

Simply didn't laugh once. It was a pleasure to watch Terry Thomas and Alastair Sim, of course, but the whole storyline was very contrived and stilted and Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott were both feeble. I know humour is a matter of taste, but I thought this suffered in comparison to the Green Man, St Trinians films etc.

Ah well, that's you off my Christmas present list then.



Never mind. Taste, especially in humour, is a very personal thing and we're all entitled to our own.



Steve

[aaron]

(Alexis @ Mar 13 2006, 01:43 PM)

I have now watched School for Scoundrels and was sorely disappointed.

Simply didn't laugh once. It was a pleasure to watch Terry Thomas and Alastair Sim, of course, but the whole storyline was very contrived and stilted and Ian Carmichael and Janette Scott were both feeble. I know humour is a matter of taste, but I thought this suffered in comparison to the Green Man, St Trinians films etc.

Surprising but hey, absolutely no accounting for taste..

[alan gowdy]

(aaron @ Mar 13 2006, 04:00 PM)

Surprising but hey, absolutely no accounting for taste....

It's good that we all like different things - there's another thread that seeks to elicit our views on the best of the "Confessions" series with Robin Askwith. I'm afraid I found the two or three that I sat through to be pretty mediocre in every way that matters and making comparisons between them to be not worth the effort.

[Nick Dando]

I have just discovered some details about the Bellini, as driven by Terry-Thomas. I was looking through some old copies of Classic and Sportscar magazine (September 1996) and came across this.



"Aston Menáge Ã* trois



An Aston Martin DB3S team car gunned by Moss, Collins, Brooks and Salvadori, subsequently driven into the Solent by a suicidal love-sick mechanic and later co-starring with Terry-Thomas in the legendary film School for Scoundrels? That's just one of the fascinating histories discovered by Aston historian Chris Nixon and related in Palawan Press' latest masterwork, DB3S.

The car in question is DB3S/5, which started life as a road car for David Brown with an experimental glassfibre body. After a disastrous '54 Le Mans it was given the aluminium body of 3S/2, to begin an active racing life as a factory team car.

After successful outings with Roy Salvadori, the car eventually came into the hands of privateer Dennis Barthel, in 1957. He had the car prepared by Rob Walker's Pippbrook Garage where it was fettled by Alan Overton. Unfortunately the caddish DB3S owner took up with the young mechanic's fiancée and the "seeds of tragedy were sown".

Barthel allowed Overton to drive the Aston at the Gosport Speed Trials and although the mechanic set fastest time in his class he didn't live to collect his trophy on that fated April bank holiday. Overton never lifted off the throttle beyond the finishing post and ended his life by driving straight into the sea.

The car was rebuilt with a new body; re-registered PAP 625, it was christened the Bellini to co-star with Terry-Thomas and Ian Carmichael in the comedy School for Scoundrels.

The car, with its distinctive front end, was styled by Carrozzeria Touring and passed through the hands of several historic racing enthusiasts before being acquired by the late Bill Lake. Lake had it meticulously restored to its original factory team car style and tracked down its old works registration 9046 H. The present owner, Erich Traber, is a regular Mille Miglia entrant following in the tracks of Peter Collins."



The Palawan book is very rare and extremely expensive (£375 in cloth, £900 in leather when published at 1996 prices) and the cheapest is on ABE at £400.



Nick

[Ady]

Hey ! Thanks for that, Nick. I've often wondered what base vehicle it was - didn't realise that it was an actual (not just for film special) car.

Thanks again.



Ady.

[DB7]

[alan gowdy]

The Austin Healey that the Ian Carmichael character cons the car dealers into selling to him is still registered and in use. I'm still looking for the location by the gasometers where Terry-Thomas reverses his 'Bellini' into a wall and dents its tail. I suspect it was the gasworks near to Elstree railway station. Must get up there sometime and check it out.

[ChristineCB]

Oh, the joys of ignorance.



I just saw a trailer for the American SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS. I don't know how much lower my expectations can be, but this trailer did it.