St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold is a 2009 comedy film directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, both of whom directed the previous film in the series.^[2] It is the seventh in a long-running series of films based on the works of cartoonist Ronald Searle, and the second film produced since the franchise was rebooted in 2007.

Plot

An unknown man phones St Trinians and gets Celia (an eco) to find a ring in the school library. She's caught by the other school girls and then explains that the man proposed to give her £20,000 for the ring. The girls believe they can get more, and the Head Girl—Annabelle Fritton—asks for £100,000. The deal is cancelled for being too high. They talk with the headmistress, Miss Camilla Fritton, and she begins to tell them of Pirate Fritton, her and Annabelle's ancestor. She says he had a treasure hidden somewhere in the world. The ring is half of the answer. There were two rings made, and once fitted together they are the map to the treasure.

That night, the unknown caller turns out to be Sir Piers Pomfrey, the descendent of Lord Pomfrey, a man robbed by Pirate Archibald Fritton in 1589. Sir Piers steals the ring from Ms Fritton, and escapes. The girls then search for the second ring. They begin at the library, where one finds a card with riddles on how to get to the second ring. A 19th Century relative of Camilla and Annabelle's - a Reverend Fortnum Fritton - had found the first ring, and knew how to find the second, but made up more clues for others to find it. It is revealed that they need to dig into Fortnum Fritton's own grave, to get another card. Only half the clue is there, the rest rotted away. Annabelle is suddenly possessed by Fortnum Fritton's soul, and is brought back to the school, where the girls ask the 'spirit' for the rest of the riddle. With the complete riddle, the girls work out the clue, and head off to an all-boys school nearby (based on English boarding school, Eton) to find the next clue, whilst undercover as boys themselves. They enter the headmaster's room, where a hung painting hides the other ring.

With the second ring in their possession, the St Trinian girls set off to get the first ring, still in the hands of Sir Piers. They begin by doing research about the seemingly wonderful, faultless Sir Piers, and discover he knows Geoffrey Thwaites (played by Colin Firth). Camilla Fritton tracks down Geoffrey Thwaites, whose career had been ruined (by the events at the end of the previous film), and has become a drunk, and clearly heartbroken over Ms Fritton and the loss of his career. He tells her Sir Piers is involved in a secret society called AD1. Thwaites then joins forces with the girls, who first help him get over his drunkenness. When Thwaites is back to his old self, he reveals to Ms Camilla Fritton what AD1 actually is - a woman-hating society, existing only to keep women powerless in the world. Annabelle, Thwaites, the young twins, and also the help of ex St Trinian's student Kelly Jones (head girl from the first film) go under cover to AD1 to retrieve the first ring. The attempt fails, and the girls head back to the school. Meanwhile, Thwaites is undercover at the AD1 meeting (which is held at the notable English day school, City of London), when he is called upon by Sir Piers to give his ideas. Thwaites then rants about women and how bad they are, while wearing a camera and microphone that shows the girls at St Trinian's what he is doing. The speech is a ruse to gain Sir Piers trust, and Thwaites swaps the real ring with a fake one, later presenting it to Ms Camilla Fritton.

The rings lead the girls to the Globe Theatre in London. They first create a distraction, knowing they will be followed by AD1 minions - by doing an innocent enough Flash Mob dance at Liverpool St Station. Once escaped they get to the Globe, where they are faced with the actor and actress playing Romeo and Juliet. Romeo duels Thwaites a sword fight and Romeo gets knocked out. Then Ms Fritton knocks out Juliet. Ms Fritton and Thwaites then take up the roles of Romeo and Juliet in an attempt to distract the audience. The girls begin to get close to the treasure while Sir Piers discovers the fake ring and gets to the Globe immediately. They stand in the audience, and because they are a secret organization, must wait until the play is over. But Ms Fritton and Thwaites notice them and begin to stall as long as possible. The girls make it to a secret room and find the treasure. The treasure is Shakespeare's final play: Queen Lear. They find too that Pirate Fritton had 'retired' and decided to become a playwright, and that Shakespeare was Pirate Fritton, but not only that, it was also discovered that Shakespeare/Pirate Fritton was actually a woman. At that moment, Sir Piers enters, takes the Queen Lear script, and says he will destroy it. He always knew about Pirate Fritton being a woman and thought that it should never be known. The girls soon get the payback when they go after Sir Piers, by attacking him pirate-style (complete with cannons) on the Thames, sailing on the Galleon Golden Hind which is located on the south bank to the east of the Globe Theatre.^[3]

Cast

Production

Filming started in July 2009, at Ealing Studios and on location in various places in London, including the Globe Theatre and on (and in) the River Thames. The 'Old Boys School' was filmed at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey and the boys choir was the Guildford Cathedral Choir.^[4] On 16 August 2009 hundreds of extras, along with the main characters, filmed a mass dance scene in the style of a flash mob at London's Liverpool Street Station.

The manor house used as the girls school is Knebworth House In Hertfordshire.

Release and critical reception

It was announced at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival that St Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold was to be released on 18 December 2009.

It opened at #2 in the UK, just behind James Cameron's 3D sci-fi epic Avatar, with debut week end box office figures of £1,586,832.^[5] As of 10 February 2010, the film has grossed a total of £7,019,714 in the UK, considerably lower than the first installment's £12,280,529. It still turned out to be the fourth biggest hit of the 2009 Christmas season, bested only by Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes, and Avatar. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews, holding a 10% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The region 2 DVD of the film was released on May 24, 2010.^[6] A region 1 DVD release occurred on March 23, 2011.

St Trinian's 3

It has been confirmed that there will be a St Trinian's 3 Versus the World ^[7][8] and will be released in 2012.

References

External links

• St Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold at the Internet Movie Database
• sttrinians Net
• St Trinians Gallery Movie and Character pictures