Movie – Children's hour

Movie – Children's hour

Score : 9/10  

Year :1961

Director:  William Wyler

Country: USA

Language: English. (French)

Duration: 1h43

Writers: Lillian Hellman (play & adaptation) ; John Michael Hayes (screenplay) 

A young girl launches a rumor regarding her teachers which creates havoc in their lives and showcases societal prejudice and which had to be changed for a first adaptation in 1936, and which had been also directed by William Wyler, under the title ''these three''. 

Three decades later, the original plot from the play remained intact and the result is this very well made drama.
It also dared to show how children can also be cruel and disturbed - somewhat rare in older movies, and refreshingly so just after american 1950's ''dream family'' portrayals... 

The cinematography shines during a few outdoor scenes, whilst indoors the best part goes to the lighting and decoration. 

Throughout this drama, the acting is superb, especially from Audrey Hepburn (which should've made more such dramas!), Shirley Maclaine and James Garner who share first billing. 

Among the girls, Karen Balkin and Veronica Cartwright portrayed their respective characters very nicely and believably. (Veronica pursed her 6 decades carrer, appearing in over 100 roles, but Karen Balkin had only 3 other roles before she stopped acting). 

It is my impression that there were 2 main musical themes for each of the two main actresses (Audrey & Shirley) ; as the movie progresses and especially at the end, these themes blended somewhat at the same time as the plot thickened. 

The costuming was overall good, but as many b&w movies, the presence of fur worn by a rich woman was a bit gross to view.

There were, however, a few glaring goofs which cannot be explained - aside for directorial error, reducing my overall appreciation of the ''children's hour'' ; it is, nonetheless, a very good movie one should watch for its societal commentas. 

Wyler's strength has always been the exploration of human behavior, as I have seen in several other movies by him, such as Jezebel. 

I like the open-ended ending of this movie, which allows dialogue. 

PS : to avoid spoiling, I won't immediately add a couple keywords which pertain to the main plot. They shall be added later on...

PS-2 : I borrowed the dvd at the media library and decided to watch it for International Women's day (2016) as it is a women's movie, with very few male characters (James Garner is the most prominent, and the others barely appear on the screen).