The Children's Hour (1961)

Released December 19, 1961 (USA)
Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright
Director: William Wyler

Screenwriters: John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Lilliam Hellman (play), Lillian Hellman (adaptation)

Original Music: Alex North
Production Company: United Artists
Distributor: United Artists

Nominations: 1962 Academy Awards – Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Fay Bainter), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Fernando Carrere, Edward G. Boyle), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Franz Planer), Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Dorothy Jeakins), Best Sound (Gordon Sawyer); Directors Guild of America - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (William Wyler); Golden Globes - Best Motion Picture Actress – Drama (Shirley MacLaine), Best Motion Picture Director (William Wyler), Best Supporting Actress (Fay Bainter)

Synopses:

• A private school for young girls is scandalized when one spiteful student, Mary Tilford, accuses the two young women who run the school of having a lesbian relationship.
• Best friends Karen Wright and Martha Dobie are headmistresses at a successful private school for girls in New England. Mary Tilford, a spiteful, angry child, is caught in a lie and punished. In retaliation she tells her grandmother, a matriarch in the town, that Martha was "jealous" of Karen's relationship with Dr. Joe Cardin, and tells that Martha's Aunt Lily thought those feelings were "unnatural." Grandma believes her and pulls Mary out of school. The word quickly spreads and within days Karen and Martha are faced with empty classrooms. Joe is fired from the hospital for siding with the teachers. Karen and Martha sue for slander in a case that makes national headlines.
• A troublemaking student at a girl's school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.

Click on the following links for more resources and information on the movie as well as reviews: Internet movie database (imdb), NY Times, TV Guide, Moviefone, Yahoo! Movies, Turner Classic Movies, MSN movies, Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes

The movie is based on the play "The Children's Hour" by Lillian Hellman which which can be purchased on Amazon.

Trivia:

• Audrey Hepburn's final black and white film.
• Miriam Hopkins who played Martha in the original film "These Three" (1936) played the part of Martha's Aunt Lily. Merle Oberon, who played Karen in the original film, turned down the part of Mrs. Tilford.
• Screenwriter John Michael Hayes was so faithful to Lillian Hellman's play that large chunks of the dialogue are identical to the dialogue in "These Three."
• "These Three" was the 1936 film version of "The Children's Hour," for which Lilliam Hellman herself wrote the adaptaion and screenplay despite the fact that "These Three" was a watered-down, censored version of "The Children's Hour."
• William Wyler cut several scenes hinting at Martha's homosexuality for fear of not receiving the seal of approval from the Motion Picture Production Code. At the time, any story about homosexuality was forbidden by the production code.
• The film gets its name from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
• Shirley MacLaine, in the documentary "The Celluloid Closet" (1995), said that nobody on the set of "The Children's Hour" discussed the ramifications of the issues regarding homosexuality that are implied, but never spoken about outright, in the film. She said, "none of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren't really, because we didn't do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me, I'm so polluted, I've ruined you.' She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene--and no one questioned it--what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialog, it's mind boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn't that amazing. Truly amazing."

Reel Thoughts entertainment rating: 3.5/5

Reel Thoughts award-worthy rating: 4/5