The Children's Hour
1961 Directed by William Wyler
Synopsis
One simple lie destroyed everything they had.
A troublemaking student at a girl's school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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IMDb description: A troublemaking student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
I thought this was a interesting, slightly underrated film – somewhat ahead of its time. The lead performances by Audrey Hepburn & Shirley MacLaine are good, a bit more so by the latter, who played the more challenging role of the sexually confused teacher convincingly enough. Great direction by William Wyler as well; I bet he had a tough task, as both director and producer, of dodging production codes for the material (even if the Hays Code was ''liberalized''). However, I can’t help but feel that the film was really contrived, particularly with Karen Balkin's (the little girl) character. It seemed like she put the whole…
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Great film that shows painfully what blackmail and rumour will do to people. It has lost none of its relevance today. Amazing performance by MacLaine and Hepburn (isn't she the most beautiful actress ever?). But God, I hated that evil little girl and wanted to beat the crap out of her!
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A first-rate of examination of human conditions, deceit and its inevitable consequences with a quite remarkable final act. Audrey Hepburn is the real stand-out here, but Shirley MacLaine does some great work also.
Based on a play, the director William Wyler does a fabulous job of separating it from other character studies, and his direction makes it something very special.
I have always loved films that leave questions open to the viewers and this is no different. There's a big scene towards the end with great implications, but it's the small amount of time that is devoted to it that makes it seem more important and even greater increase the ambiguity of the piece.
The only real negative I can find is the little brat who has far too much dialogue and screen-time for my liking.
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A very rare and overlooked film. Quite scandalous, but perhaps, that's the take I had on it when I watched it a few years ago. Audrey and Shirley did a great job in their roles.
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IMDb description: A troublemaking student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.
I thought this was a interesting, slightly underrated film – somewhat ahead of its time. The lead performances by Audrey Hepburn & Shirley MacLaine are good, a bit more so by the latter, who played the more challenging role of the sexually confused teacher convincingly enough. Great direction by William Wyler as well; I bet he had a tough task, as both director and producer, of dodging production codes for the material (even if the Hays Code was ''liberalized''). However, I can’t help but feel that the film was really contrived, particularly with Karen Balkin's (the little girl) character. It seemed like she put the whole…
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I wanted to slap the hell out of Karen Balkin. Her Mary Tilford was so vile that she gave me indigestion.
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Υστερικό και οδυνηρό με σκηνές ανθολογίας.
Και βέβαια, παιδάκι-τέρας. -
Well-acted and competently directed drama.
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Audrey Hepburn is great as usual in this but feels a little wishy washy about a serious subject
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Great film that shows painfully what blackmail and rumour will do to people. It has lost none of its relevance today. Amazing performance by MacLaine and Hepburn (isn't she the most beautiful actress ever?). But God, I hated that evil little girl and wanted to beat the crap out of her!
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The acting is alright but what keep me lukewarm about this otherwise solid film adaptation from a stage play are its too highly pitched moments of hysterical over-emotional outburts, typical of old dramas. I find that almost intolerable. The subject matter was probably daring back then and, keeping in mind when it was made, it's treated as well as one could hope for.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.