The Children's Hour 1961

     This film is based on a stage play written by Lillian Hellman and partly based on an actual case in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1810.  Karen Wright and Martha Dobie are the owners of a boarding school, Wright and Dobie School for Girls.  Karen and Martha have known each other since college.  They have twenty students and they are finally out of the red and have $90 in the black.  Karen is engaged to Dr. Joe Cardin and they have finally set a date for their wedding.  Karen would like to have a baby after 12 months.  Karen and Martha are having a problem with Martha’s aunt Mrs. Lily Mortar.  She lives at the school and helps with the students.  They are also having a problem with Mary Tilford.  She is one of the students and she’s very impressionable.  She tells lies, she makes up pains and illnesses.  Mary lives with her wealthy aunt Mrs. Amelia Tilford and Mary's cousin is Dr. Joe Cardin.  One, day on the way home from school, Mary starts to tell her aunt some stories. 

     This is a very complex and deep movie.  When a story is told, it begins to grow and take on a life of it’s own.  It’s told to one person and it continues on until every parent of a child in the school knows about it, everyone in the town and everyone reading newspapers will know about it.  Of course, it must be true!!  How could it have grown so big and spread so far if it was a lie?  4* (I really liked this movie) 

      

108 min, Drama directed by William Wyler with Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright, Mimi Gibson, William Mims, Sally Brophy, Hope Summers.

Note:  Imdb 7.8 out of 10, 86% critic 84% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 220 reviews,

Special Note:  Filmed at Shadow Ranch, Vanowen Street, West Hills, Los Angeles, California. William Wyler had some of the scenes cut because he wanted the seal of approval from the Motion Picture Production Code.  Mary is secretly reading a book and it is Mademoiselle de Maupin by Theophile Gautier published in 1835.  It’s about a woman who sometimes dresses as a man and at other times she dresses as a woman.  She has both men and women fall in love with her.  The Children's Hour title is from a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  The Broadway production of the play opened November 20, 1934 and ran for 691 performances.  This film was re-titled The Loudest Whisper for the UK release to avoid confusion with the popular BBC program Children’s Hour on both radio and TV.