The Children's Hour

1961

Action / Drama / Romance

22
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 84% · 9 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.8/10 10 20263 20.3K

suicide falsely accused female friendship girls' boarding school based on play or musical teacher

Plot summary

An unruly student at a private all-girls boarding school scandalously accuses the two women who run it of having a romantic relationship.

Director

William Wyler Photo
William Wyler

Top cast

Hope Summers Photo
Hope Summers as Agatha
Paul Bradley Photo
Paul Bradley as Parent at Piano Recital
William Mims Photo
William Mims as Mr. Burton
William H. O'Brien Photo
William H. O'Brien as Funeral Assistant
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
810.45 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 48 min
Seeds 7
1.64 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 48 min
Seeds 21

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by bondgirl6781 8 / 10

The Crucible Lillian Hellman Style

Lilliam Hellman was a modern female writers and ahead of all of the female writer of her time (except for my fave Zora Neale Hurston). The film "The Children's Hour" based on Hellman's play tells the story of two young women whose lives and reputations are destroyed after a horrible little girl tells everyone that the two young women are lesbians. In a time period from which the play was set does not use the words "lesbian" or "homosexual" and are substituted with "unnatural." Homosexuality in the play/film was treated the same way as it was back then: a tragic and horrible disease punishable by death for certain. It is a painful film to watch. Audrey Hepburn is lovely as always as Karen and she was also one of the few actresses who was not afraid to take on a role that was avaunt garde. She has tender and sweet moments with James Gardner, who is also wonderful as Dr. Joe Cardin, Karen's fiancée. And then there is my favorite: Shirley MacClaine who steals scenes with such agony as Martha, a young woman who realizes that she is in fact different and is a lesbian, but lives in a time and place that would not never allow her to be free to express her feelings. In a touching and agonizing scene, Martha reveals her true feelings for Karen. MacClaine breaks your heart and many can relate to her. She wins us over and breaks our hearts. Other supporting actors included are Fay Bainter as Mrs. Tilford, the rich and powerful woman who is made the pawn of spreading the lies told by her granddaughter; the wonderful Miriam Hopkins is Martha's judgmental and hypocritical Aunt Lilly Mortar; Veronica Cartwright is sweet and innocent as the young girl tortured into confirming the lie. And of course, the little girl we all love to hate: Mary played by Karen Balkin. Mary is a nasty little girl and throughout the film all you want to do is strangle her. Why the character of Mary Tilford didn't make the AFI list of 100 Greatest Villains I will never know because here is an "innocent" child telling a horrible lie without realizing the consequences of her actions. "The Children's Hour" is a very hard film to watch at times, but one of the most important films pivotal to the 1960s.
Reviewed by HotToastyRag 8 / 10

Great acting and story

It's always a shame when classic movies' breakthroughs have been so overdone that watching the original loses its meaning. I hope when you watch The Children's Hour you can appreciate how groundbreaking and scandalous it was in 1961.Based on a Lillian Hellman play (that's your cue to prepare yourself for a very heavy movie), Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine play two teachers at an all-girls school. One of the students is a terrible, pot-stirring brat, and she starts a rumor about her two teachers. She claims she saw them kissing, and the aftermath of her accusation wreaks havoc on the good friends' careers and lives. In the original film, the evil-minded child says she saw one woman's fiancé go into the bedroom of the other woman. That was all that could get past the censors in 1936. Audrey Hepburn does have a fiancé, James Garner, but there are no sparks flying between him and Shirley MacLaine. In fact, when you watch the movie for a second time, you can really see the animosity and resentment Shirley feels towards him.The acting in this movie is fantastic. Fay Bainter's supporting role as the little girl's grandmother is the best of her career. Given very little dialogue, her face speaks volumes during every scene. Miriam Hopkins, another old timer, gets to play Shirley's self-centered aunt - and in a cute casting choice, she played Shirley's role in the original version. This is one of the last movie you'll get to see James Garner do any real acting, before he got typecast as "the scrounger". Shirley really steals the show, though. She knows when to take the backseat, and she knows when it's her turn to shine; when she does, she sends goosebumps up your arms. The Academy made her wait until 1983 to receive an award. Here at the Hot Toasty Rags, we were very happy to award her in 1961 for The Children's Hour.This is a tough movie to watch, so only rent it when you're in the mood for something heavy. Obviously, moral discussions will abound afterwards, but what gets under my skin the most is the trouble-making child. So often, children and teenagers do damage without realizing the consequences. I hope someday young people will be less selfish and learn to see the bigger picture. Revenge, self-righteousness, and deception are terrible qualities. Hopefully The Children's Hour can teach a valuable lesson.
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