The Children's Hour

One simple lie destroyed everything they had.
25K ratings
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Format:  DVD
item number:  39YDS
on most orders of $75+
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DVD Details

  • Rated: Not Rated
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 47 minutes
  • Video: Black & White
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Released: August 12, 2014
  • Originally Released: 1961
  • Label: KL Studios Classics

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring , &
Performer: , , , , , &
Directed by
Screenplay by
Original story by
Composition by
Art Direction by
Produced by
Director of Photography:

Entertainment Reviews:

Fresh86%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 7

Upright84%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 7,207
Rating: B+ -- Though well-acted by Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, this second version of Lillian Hellman's play about the malice of lies is not as powerful as the first, in 1936, also helmed by William Wyler. Full Review
EmanuelLevy.Com
Aug 9, 2010
Rating: 3/5 -- Well-acted, albeit dated treatment of a then-taboo topic
Kalamazoo Gazette
Jun 5, 2003
Rating: 4/5 -- Closer to the play than Wyler's first effort at the story, but oddly less compelling.
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Aug 24, 2003
Rating: C+ -- Heavy-handed and can't shake its languor. Full Review
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Aug 29, 2014

Product Description:

Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) are just beginning to succeed in their struggle to make the Wright-Dobie School for Girls a going concern. Karen believes she will soon be able to marry Joe Cardin (James Garner). However, Karen has to discipline Mary Tilford (Karen Balkin). Mary always wants her own way and, worse, is a congenital liar. Mary complains to her grandmother Mrs. Tilford (Fay Bainter). To lend strength to her complaint, Mary repeats part of a conversation that she overheard, but barely understood--a conversation in which Martha's aunt Lily (Miriam Hopkins) accused Martha of having an unnatural attachment to Karen. Mrs. Tilford is horrified and spreads the word to the parents of the other girls--with disastrous results.

THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is William Wyler's second version of Lillian Hellman's controversial 1934 Broadway play. In Wyler's first version, THESE THREE, made in 1936, the lesbian theme was entirely suppressed. In contrast, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, somewhat belatedly, allowed the theme out of Hollywood's closet. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR is clearly set in the 1960s but retains many of the 1930s attitudes toward lesbianism--the result is a movie that hovers curiously between the 1930s and the 1960s.

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Product Info

  • UPC: 738329135720
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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