These Three ( The Children's Hour ) ( These 3 )

These Three (DVD) (*)

$27.99

Original Title: The Children's Hour
Alternate Title: These 3
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Oscar Academy Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
93 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1936 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
William Wyler

Written By:
Lillian Hellman

Actors:
Miriam Hopkins ..... Martha Dobie
Merle Oberon ..... Karen Wright
Joel McCrea ..... Dr. Joseph 'Joe' Cardin
Catherine Doucet ..... Mrs. Lily Mortar
Alma Kruger ..... Mrs. Amelia Tilford
Bonita Granville ..... Mary Tilford
Marcia Mae Jones ..... Rosalie Wells
Carmencita Johnson ..... Evelyn
Mary Anne Durkin ..... Joyce Walton
Margaret Hamilton ..... Agatha--Maid
Walter Brennan ..... Taxi Driver
Joan Barclay ..... Schoolgirl (uncredited)
Al Bridge ..... Mrs. Walton's Chauffeur (uncredited)
Tommy Bupp ..... Boy on Merry-Go-Round (uncredited)
Marie Louise Cooper ..... Helen Burton (uncredited)
Payne B. Johnson ..... Boy (uncredited)
Jerry Larkin ..... Minor Role (uncredited)
Frank McGlynn Sr. ..... Judge (uncredited)
Greta Meyer ..... Viennese Waitress (uncredited)
Russ Powell ..... Viennese Diner (uncredited)
Anya Taranda ..... Undetermined Minor Role (uncredited)
Lottie Williams ..... Concerned Townswoman (uncredited)

Synopsis:

Based on the 1934 play by Lillian Hellman, The Children's Hour is set at an exclusive girl's school managed by best friends Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. When student Karen Balkin is punished for one of her many misdeeds, the mean-spirited youngster rushes to her wealthy aunt Fay Bainter, and, randomly choosing a phrase she has undoubtedly read in some magazine, accuses Hepburn and MacLaine of having an 'unnatural relationship.' As Balkin's lies grow in viciousness, the student's parents withdraw their children from the school. Hepburn and MacLaine sue Bainter for libel, only to lose their case when MacLaine's aunt Miriam Hopkins refuses to testify as a character witness. The trial takes its toll on the relationship between Hepburn and her boyfriend James Garner. When Bainter discovers that her niece has been lying, she tries to make amends, but it is too late. Director William Wyler had also helmed the first film version of Children's Hour, 1936's These Three, which due to censorship restrictions of the time did without the lesbian angle (the little girl's accusations involved a supposed romantic triangle between the two ladies and a male friend). Miriam Hopkins, who plays a supporting role in The Children's Hour, originally essayed the Shirley MacLaine role in These Three.

Despite its dilapidated condition, best friends and recent college graduates Martha Dobie and Karen Wright decide to open a girl's boarding school at an abandoned farmhouse in Lancet, Massachussetts, the farmhouse bequeathed to Karen. They are assisted in fixing the house up by a local doctor, Joe Cardin, who quickly falls for Karen, and she for him. Karen and Joe soon become engaged. The women are assisted in getting the school off the ground by local dowager, Amelia Tilford, who is looking for a new school to which to send her granddaughter, Mary. Mrs. Tilford's endorsement carries much weight in the community. They are also given the unwanted assistance - for a fee - of Martha's pretentious, self-serving and bossy Aunt Lily Mortar, a stage actress, her services as an elocution teacher. Beyond Mrs. Mortar, problems arise at the school when trouble-making student Mary, who feels persecuted by her teachers, decides to exact revenge. She tells her grandmother of impropriety between Joe and Martha late one evening in Martha's bedroom. Mary's story includes some half truths and exaggerated truths, the truths which makes the crux of her story more plausible. One of those half truths, which Mary does not fully realize, is that Martha secretly does love Joe. The reputation and livelihood of Martha, Karen and Joe hang in the balance of Mary's lies.

Karen and Martha, college roommates, graduate and face the future with no place and no money. Karen, however, has inherited a farmhouse from her grandmother, and gets the idea that she and Martha can turn it into a school for girls. They travel to the farmhouse, which turns out to be quite rundown, and all hope seems lost, until they meet Dr. Joe Cardin, who tells them not to give up, to take out a loan, fix up the farmhouse, and it will work out. All seems to go according to plan, until one student devises a scheme for revenge for being punished by the teachers. Unlike Lillian Hellman's 'The Children's Hour', this film has a mostly happy ending and leaves out all references to lesbianism, making it a love triangle instead of a love chain.

This product was added to our catalog on Saturday 26 March, 2011.

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