The Children's Hour (1961) on Netflix
Karen Wright and Martha Dobie run a girls' boarding school in New England. After a student they punished tells her grandmother a lie about them, the rumor reaches every parent.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.8/1021,339 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes80%
Trailer
Plot summary
Karen Wright and Martha Dobie met at college and now run their own boarding school for girls in New England, with about twenty students. Martha's aunt, Lily Mortar, an unemployed actress, lives with them and teaches elocution. Karen is engaged to Dr. Joe Cardin, whose aunt, Amelia Tilford, is an influential local figure; her granddaughter Mary attends the school. Mary bullies her classmates and blackmails Rosalie Wells over a bracelet the girl took. After Karen punishes Mary for a lie, a roommate repeats to Mary an argument she heard between Martha and Lily. Mary tells her grandmother that she saw Martha and Karen kissing, and Amelia passes the story to the other parents, who begin withdrawing their daughters.
Cast
- Debbie Moldowas Student
- Diane Mountfordas Student
- William Mimsas Mr. Burton
Show all 19 cast
- Stuart Hallas Mourner (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Children's Hour (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Hellman's play was inspired by the true story of two Scottish school teachers in 1810, Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie, whose lives were destroyed when one of their students accused them of engaging in a sexual relationship; they eventually won their suit, but that did not change the devastation.
- Because the Hays Code would never permit a film to hint at lesbianism, Samuel Goldwyn was the only producer interested in the rights; Hellman changed the lie about the two teachers being lovers into a rumor that one had slept with the other's fiancé, and the Production Code refused the play's title, which became The Lie and then These Three.
- In the 1996 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Shirley MacLaine said she and Audrey Hepburn never talked about their characters' alleged homosexuality, and claimed Wyler cut scenes hinting at Martha's love for Karen because of concerns about critical reaction.
- The Children's Hour was James Garner's first film after he sued Warner Bros. to win his release from the television series Maverick, and Wyler broke an unofficial blacklist of the actor by casting him.
SPOILER
By the time Wyler filmed the remake in 1961 the Hays Code had been liberalized enough for screenwriter John Michael Hayes to restore the original nature of the lie; aside from having Martha hang rather than shoot herself as she had in the play, he kept faith with Hellman's work.
