The Children's Hour

Blessed be TCM! With the temperature dipping well below zero, a movie excursion was out of the question tonight, and I was treated by the fine people of Turner to a second viewing of William Wyler's excellent drama The Children's Hour (1961). Although inevitably a bit dated in its subject matter, it still holds up as a powerful drama dealing with the affects of prejudice and gossip - and featuring perhaps the best performances of Audrey Hepburn and Shirley Maclaine's careers.

Based on the play by Lillian Hellman, The Children's Hour tells the story of Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley Maclaine), two teachers who run a private girl's school. Things seem to be going reasonably well, with the school a success and Karen convincing her long-time fiancee Joe (James Garner) to finally marry her. Naturally, things are not as rosy as they seem on the surface - Martha has a resentment towards Joe and Karen's relationship, Martha's nagging aunt and occasonal teacher Mrs. Mortar (Miriam Hopkins) is aggravating her niece, and problem child Mary (Karen Balkin) is giving her teachers endless headaches with her mischievious shenanigans. Things immediately explode, however, as Mary tells her gullible grandmother (Fay Bainter) that Karen and Martha are having a love affair - a suspicion confirmed by various bits of half-heard conversation and school-girl gossip. Karen and Martha, unable to disprove the allegations, find their lives destroyed by the accusations. Eventually, Mary is forced to reveal her perfidy - but were her charges true? And either way, is it too late to reverse their affects?

For The Children's Hour to be made in 1961 Hollywood was quite daring. Indeed, it had been previously filmed by Wyler himself as These Three (1936), which turned its plot into a conventional love triangle; he must have been chomping at the bit to re-adapt the story in a more complete and honest manner. Its depiction of homosexuality is a bit dated and out-of-step with modern sensibilities, but that's not really the main point of the story.

Homosexuality was an issue that early Hollywood skirted around; on the rare occasions it was dealt with, it was treated as a form of disgusting deviancy. Laurence Olivier's attempts to seduce Tony Curtis in Spartacus (deleted from the film's original release), the coded relationshp between Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd in Ben-Hur, Judith Anderson's psychotic Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Anne Baxter and George Sanders' maliciously deviant characters in All About Eve represented Hollywood's way of addressing an issue whose acceptibility remains controversial. Noir films like Rope, Strangers on a Train, Psycho, Gilda, The Maltese Falcon and Laura made it even more overt; the homosexuals were variably unbalanced killers or deviants. The very idea of a film treating homosexuality in a sympathetic manner was unthinkable.

The Children's Hour was a remarkably brave film in this regard. Although the words homosexual or lesbian are not uttered once, the subject matter is dealt with in a straightforward and even sympathetic matter. It still retains the old patronizing standby that the social deviant must destroy themselves as punishment. However, it addresses the issue with a remarkable poignancy. Some have argued that Martha's self-disgusted speech where she admits to her homosexuality is simply pandering to an audience that in 1961 would not have been willing to accept the idea of lesbianism; conversely, however, I see it more as the very reaction of a person raised to think of homosexuality as a mortal sin, and finding it hiding inside her. She's supposed to be disgusted; the story wouldn't have nearly as much poignancy if it didn't.

However, the movie's main thrust is actually its critique of gossip and social prejudice, a topic it handles brilliantly. Mary is one of the most evil characters: she's perhaps a bit too evil to be believable, but her character type - the obnoxious, spoiled, manipulative bully - is real enough. A natural troublemaker, she exploits and manipulates everyone she comes across - her too-kind teachers, her sexually-repressed and excitable classmates, and especially her grandmother and the young kleptomanaic Rosalie (Veronica Cartwright) - like a grade-school Iago, destroying the lives of others simply to gain petty vengeance on her teachers. All it takes is the word of a malcontented child to turn the entire community against Karen and Martha. The message is timeless, and still remains relevant today, however hackneyed and overdone it may be. Prejudice, ignorance and distrust of anything different remain a driving force in society, and until they cease being such the film will remain pertinent. If the High Noon-esque to hell with all of you ending is a bit too self-righteous, well, I think the film largely earned it.

William Wyler's direction is exceptional. A second viewing reveals a stark sense of mis-en-scene. The black-and-white photography adds an atmosphere of dread and foreboding throughout, and Wyler makes exquisite use of space throughout, resulting in a claustrophobic atmosphere. As well as his spatial use, Wyler uses deep-focus to an extraordinary degree throughout. It's more noticeable in some scenes then others - when Mary listens to Martha and her aunt arguing - but its use throughout is quite striking, emphasizing the importance of characters hearing just the right piece of gossip. And the film's grisly denouement is handled in a wonderfully subtle yet absolutely devastating manner. Alex North provides a wonderfully quiet, melancholy score to sweeten the deal.

Audrey Hepburn is at her absolute best, just narrowly missing The Nun's Story as her greatest achievement. She subdues most of her usual persona and gives an intelligent, layered and complex performance. She is easily matched by Shirley Maclaine, giving an extraordinary performance as Martha; she gives a wonderful sense of wistful melancholy to a character troubled (and ultimately destroyed) by feelings she doesn't understand and can't control; her ultimate fate is horrendously tragic. James Garner is good although his role is of course secondary to the drama. Fay Bainter gives a remarkably sympathetic performance as the pathetic, confused Mrs. Tillford, portrayed as being as much a victim of her granddaughter's scheming as the protagonists. Mary Belkin and Veronica Cartwright are both believable as the primary children characters.

The Children's Hour is a remarkable film. That it still holds up 48 years later s a testament to its quality; even if individual elements seem out of date, it's still a poignant and powerful achievement.

Rating: 9/10 - Highest Recommendation