meadever It took me a while to come to this film, as it's really not well-known or extensively talked about. I love old movies, and have for years, but my first exposure to this work didn't come until college, when I saw a scene from it performed in an acting class. I found the scene mesmerising, but didn't know that the play had been turned into a movie until a few years later, when I read about it in a biography of Audrey Hepburn. I was able to find it on a streaming service and immediately settled in to watch it. My thought having finally seen it is simply this; I cannot believe how little notice this movie seems to get. It's progressive, it's affecting, it's haunting. It's everything that makes a movie memorable. Audrey Hepburn, one of the most ethereal and chic actresses in history, is totally believable as the rather dowdy, down to earth, content co-headmistress at the boarding school where the story takes place. She's truly convincing as an every-woman. Just someone who is swept up in the gossip of a small town, but who, aside from that, would have a very ordinary life. Shirley MacLaine is just as believable as Martha, the more abrasive, restless of the two friends. She is able to subtly convey emotions like jealousy and anger, emotions that are all too easy to overplay on screen and stage. Both of them play their characters so well that it makes the relationship between them seem all the more authentic. You really do start to feel that these are two women who have been friends for years and have a close and comfortable repartee with one another. Of course, let's not overlook the supporting cast. The child actresses are all wonderful, not seeming to try too hard. Karen Balkin makes Mary, the girl who starts the rumours that drive the plot, all too easy to despise. The older actresses who play Martha's aunt and Mary's grandmother, also present a wonderful portrait of women from another generation, who are dealing with the issue at hand in the only ways they know how to. But the major standout in the supporting cast is James Garner as Karen's fiancé, Joe. I've seen his emotional depth in things like "The Notebook", but this role takes it to the next level. He really commits to what he is doing, and he just breaks your heart as you see him lose his veneer of calm collectedness when he realises that there are some things he simply can't control. The camera work is simple and basic, befitting a story like this one, and it's really the performers and story that make this a classic. It's a plot that isn't afraid to deal with a taboo issue in what was, for that time, a very frank way. It's one of those films that transports you, and it takes a couple of viewings of "Irma la Douce" or "Sabrina" afterward to remind you that these were characters, not real people. To me, the best films are the ones that create the world for you and flesh it out so well that it feels real, whether that be a fantastical world, or another version of the one we know. This film is a prime example of that being done right. It is still beautiful and relevant today, and should be counted as among the best performances of all involved.

HotToastyRag It's always a shame when classic movies' breakthroughs have been so overdone that watching the original loses its meaning. I hope when you watch The Children's Hour you can appreciate how groundbreaking and scandalous it was in 1961.Based on a Lillian Hellman play (that's your cue to prepare yourself for a very heavy movie), Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine play two teachers at an all-girls school. One of the students is a terrible, pot-stirring brat, and she starts a rumor about her two teachers. She claims she saw them kissing, and the aftermath of her accusation wreaks havoc on the good friends' careers and lives.Both women give excellent, powerful performances, and there's so much to appreciate about the film. Obviously, moral discussions will abound afterwards, but what gets under my skin the most is the trouble-making child. So often, children and teenagers do damage without realizing the consequences. I hope someday young people will be less selfish and learn to see the bigger picture. Revenge, self-righteousness, and deception are terrible qualities. Hopefully The Children's Hour can teach a valuable lesson.

gavin6942 A trouble-making student at a girls' school accuses two teachers of being lesbians.Audrey Hepburn is probably best known for her lighter fare, and stuff that is typically shown in color. This is not light, and it is not in color. In fact, it deals with some rather modern themes, because it is hard to imagine William Wyler making a film about lesbians, and yet this is (sort of) what we have here.Kids are treacherous. You cannot help but believe the, but if you get a lying student, he or she can cause a lot of issues and pain. The kid here is the worst. If it were not wrong to do so, this is the sort of child you would want to slap. She is almost pure evil.

GholamSlayer It would be so much easier to write this movie off as a dated movie, that things like that wouldn't happen anymore, but there are still far too many documented cases like what happened to Shirley Maclaine's character to write this movie off in that way. Everyone's reaction came across as "the homosexuals corrupt children", that they are insidious in nature, leading back to homosexuality being a choice. The main characters fought that, if passively, in the implication that Shirley Maclaine had no choice in the matter, as to who she loved. I hold very strongly that the mentality that society pushed at that time, and some still hold onto now, leads to the outcome of the movie. All I've been trying to say is that the movie is still incredibly pertinent after over 50 years, and I would love to see a time when this movie could be written off as just an historical piece.