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Classic of the Week: The Children’s Hour (1961)

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The Children’s Hour is a 1961 American drama film directed by William Wyler, based on the 1934 play of the same name by Lillian Hellman. The film stars Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner and Fay Bainter. 

In the early 1960s, former college classmates Martha Dobie and Karen Wright open a private boarding school for girls. After being egaged to doctor Joe Cardin for two years, Karen finally agrees to a wedding date. Joe is related to the well known Amelia Tilford, whose granddaughter Mary is a student at the school. Mary is a spoiled, manipulative child that bullies her classmates. 

While Mary is being punished for telling a lie, one of her roommates overhears an argument between Martha and her Auny Lily. Lily accuses Martha of being jealous and having an unnatural relationship with Karen. When hearing this, Mary tells her grandmaother and Amelia spreads it around to the parents of the school. 

Karen learns of this and aproaches Amelia about Mary accusing Martha and Karen of being lovers. Mary is hindered at convincing others that she personally saw the interactions between Martha and Karen. Knowing that her roommate Rosalie has stolen items from several people, Mary forces Rosalie to back up her story. 

The two women file a suit of libel and slander against Mrs. Tilford. A few months later Martha and Karen are alone at the school, having lost all of the students and ruined their reputation after the lawsuit. Karen calls off her engagement to Joe when he asks if what was said Martha was true. When she finds out, Martha points out that other female couples have survived after being found out, because of the strength of their love, then admits that she has been in love with Karen for years. Karen says that Martha is just confused about her feelings, but Martha insists it really is love, breaking down in tears. 

When this story first came out in 1934, it was on Broadway and was controversial for its lesbian content and when the play started touring the U.S., some theater owners refused to allow it to be performed. The same thing happened when the film version came out in 1961, some movie theaters refused to show it. Despite this, both the play and film versions were critically acclaimed. 

The film deals with themes of sexuality, romance, theft, lying, spreading rumors and discipline. Lesbianism is the speculative “evil” that pervades the movie sailing between a lie and the heartbreaking truth deep within the lie. When the miserable and tortured teacher Martha Dobie (MacLaine) yells out, “I have loved you the way most people say I have!,” finally confessing her love to heterosexual Karen Wright (Hepburn), it is heartbreaking and painful to watch. She has to endure torture from the spreading of the gossip from Mary and Amelia Tilford. 

The movie draws Martha Dobie as a mistake of nature. She is talked about as being unnatural and unhealthy and sinful. She has had to pretend to be heterosexual to save herself from misery, until one student eavesdrops one night and catches an earful of a  private conversation between Martha and her Aunt Lily and the girl tells her friend and grandmother. Rather than be accepting of Matha as she really is, the parents of the students are so closed minded, religious and conservative that they believe same-sex relationships are a sin and withdraw their daughters from the school, prompting Martha and Karen to have to close down the school. 

Martha never gets to be her true self until the end of the film, but the mystery leading up to that answer is extremely well done and when you finally find out, you are schocked. This film is very dark, despite not being scary. Karen is pretty good-natured, but stern at times, Martha is hardworking and almost too nice at times. Doctor Joe Cardin is romantic and can be sweet, but can also be tough. Mary Tilford is a spoiled brat, bully and liar. She makes you want to jump into the movie and lay her across your lap and spank, whether you believe in spanking or not. She is such a bad child. She ruins the reputations of Martha, Karen and the school. She also puts both teachers out of work. 

There is nothing happy about this film, the entire picture is dark, depressing and very slow. I found myself quite bored many times throughout the movie. If I weren’t such a big fan of Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn, I would’ve turned it off. The film centers more on Martha’s secret and Mary and Amelia spreading the rumor, than Karen and her relationships with Doctor Cardin and Martha. This movie should’ve been called either Mary Spreads Gossip or Mary and Martha, as very little time is spent on the other characters. 

The acting is outstanding from the lead cast, but that didon’t make the film that much more entertaining, in fact, I found this one to be quite uninteresting and being a big Shirley and Hepburn fan like I said, I was expecting more. This is the most boring movie of them I have ever seen. But I guess there’s only so mcuh you can do with a story like this. 

The theme of same-sex love will turn religious conservatives off and may confuse younger children. Also the character Mary may freighten and/or teach children to lie, steal and bully. There’s really no violence other than a scene where Doctor Cardin spanks Mary, which was a common disciplining method back then and frequently seen in movies and on television, but it may make some people uncomfortable. There’s no foul language, drinking, smoking, or sex. There are a few kisses in the film, but they are brief. There is also a suicide scene and though it is not shown on screen, it is implied and will either confuse or distress kids. Movies don’t get much darker, duller or disheartening than this one. 11+ 2/5

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Shirley (2020)

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Shirley is a 2020 American biographical drama film directed by Josephine Decker based on the novel of the same name by Susan Scarf Morrell. It stars Elizabeth Moss, Michael Stuhlbarg Odessa Young and Logan Lerman. The film follows a young couple that moves in with Shirley Jackson and her Bennington College professor husaband, Stanley Hyman, hooping to start a new life. Instead they find themselves in a psycho thriller drama that inspires her next book.

You learn a lot about the life of thriller and mystery writer Shirley Jackson and her mental and physical health. She was a heavy drinker, had severe manic depression, was paranoid schizophrenic, agoraphobic, selfish and often times mean, speaking exactly what she was thinking. She was married to Stanley Hyman from 1940-1965 when she died.

Shirley (Moss) never leaves the house and studies the young wife, Rose Nemser who is living in the house and helping out around the home while going to school and looking for a job. Rose’s husband is Fred Nemser and he eventually becomes a professor at Bennington too, like Stanley. The young couple discover that Shirley is mentally ill and needs 24/7 care but Stanley refuses it telling them to just leave her alone and let her do her writing alone. Rose finds a page of Shirley’s newest novel in progress, starts to read it, discovering it’s about Fred and her,  gets upset and offended. Shirley walks in and finds her reading it and they both get angry and fight. Shirley hits Rose across the face.

Rose tells Fred about what happened and he doesn’t believe her until one evening at dinner when Shirley acts out dark and twisted scene, pointing a knife at both of them. The couple tell Stanley they can’t continue living there with Shirley in the house and they both beg him to send her to a mental institution, which he turns down, saying she is better off at home with him. Other parts of the film read and reenact scenes from Jackson’s book Hangsaman.

Elizabeth Moss is fantastic as Shirley Jackson and Michael Stuhlbarg is outstanding as Stanley Hyman. Odessa Young and Logan Lerman are very good, not great as Rose and Fred Nemser. The chronicles the life of Shirley and Stanley and the Nemsers that live with them and her latest novel.

Them film is fairly spectacular but would have be better if it had started from her childhood but it’s not a documentary. But you still get to know Shirley well as in her mental illnesses, her drinking problem and her inspirations and writing style. She may have been ill, but she was a fantastic writer and has inspired many ther writers.

This film is filled with illnesses, selfishness, drinking, smoking, fighting and sex. There is full frontal nudity in a couple of scenes as well, so no young viewers at all, only adults. The role of Shirley was one hundred percent perfect for Moss. No other person could have played her but Elizabeth. This a dark, pretty disturbing (at times) film. It shows how how mental health issues affect people and the ones around them and how a writer comes up with their stories. Some parts are a bit slow, but overall an  excellent movie. 18 & up 4.5/5

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Classic of the Week: Rear Window (1954)

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Rear Window is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr.

The film follows the story of photographer L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries (Stewart) who is confined to a wheelchair in his Chelsea apartment. His rear window looks out into the courtyard and several apartments. During a heat wave, he watches his neighbors, who are keeping their windows open to be cool. He sees many different things going on, but is convinced one of his neighbors has committed murder.

This film has been said to one of Hitchcock’s best. It starts outs slow, but does pick up. It also isn’t Hitchcock ‘s most action packed film, but it is still fairly entertaining despite being a bit slow at times. But that’s because it takes place almost entirely in Jefferies’ apartment.

This film at times is a bit boring and could some some action or more interesting scenes than just L.B. Looking out his window the whole time, but that’s what you get from a character that is supposed to be wheelchair bound. James Stewart is great as L.B. Jefferies and Grace Kelly is equally great as his girlfriend Lisa Carroll Fremont. They worked together perfectly throughout the movie.

This isn’t Hitchcock’s most exciting film and much of it far too slow. It could have use some action of some sort to make it more enjoyable, but that doesn’t make it a bad film, just not anything outstanding in my opinion, although many film critics and scholars would say differently.

There are some some good parts of this movie, like the supposed murder scene and the exuberant dancer, just the ordinary people is what is uninteresting and that they could have done without.  But being the doctor’s orders that Jeff keep his leg elevated, we’re sadly stuck in his apartment with him. Had this film had more settings, it would have been more captivating, even though film experts will probably say otherwise.

Overall the acting is fantastic, but the story lacking a bit of the excitement factor it deserves from such a great cast and director. It’s not terrible, but it’s not outstanding. Alfred. Could have done better. 18 & up 3.5/5