Review of “The Children's Hour”

Warning: This review contains several spoilers for the film.

William Wyler's 1961 film version of Lillian Hellman's brilliant play The Children's Hour is a stark rendition of an age-old tale. It is a story that even Wyler felt the need to tell twice — once in 1936, as These Three, and then again 25 years later, under its original title. It is a story of innuendo, rumor, power, jealousy, blackmail, secrets, cardigans (I'll return to that later) and lesbians. Of course, the L-word is never mentioned.

It was 1961, after all, and America had not yet been introduced to power dykes or lipstick lesbians.

Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) are co-heads of a private school for girls. Martha resembles a favorite P.E. teacher, complete with an easy-to-manage hairdo, sensible shoes and her constant companion, the cardigan. Karen is stunning. Audrey Hepburn's neck alone is worth watching; her hair is swept in an Oscar-worthy up-do, and her clothing is decidedly more form-fitting. Get the picture? Even those with only a gaydar learner's permit can see where this is going.

Martha and Karen's school is thriving, and the women often trade glances of deep affection and satisfaction. Trouble, however, wastes no time insinuating itself into their bliss. The first sign of discord is Martha's thinly veiled hostility toward Karen's fiancé, Dr. Joe Cardin (played by an earnest James Garner). Then we meet the quintessential incarnation of puerile evilness, Mary Tilford (Karen Balkin). Mary is a spoiled bully of a student who, in her quest for revenge, lust for power and sociopathic addiction to lying, sets in motion the central events of the film.

After suffering a well-deserved punishment from our heroines, Mary snakes her way back into her grandmother's (who happens to be a major benefactor of the school) good graces by whispering something in her ear about her two teachers. But even at this point, the viewer is not privy to the secret that dare not speak its name.

It turns out that Mary saw something innocent and heard something out of context. She weaves them together for destruction, and destroy she does. Martha and Karen are single; Karen seems reluctant to set a wedding date; Martha and Karen are devoted to each other; and then there is Martha's jealousy of Joe. The obvious conclusion, based on the word of a conniving, malevolent child, becomes gospel. The local population judges and condemns the two women for behavior described as “unnatural.” The accusation sticks, and a rumor masquerades as truth.

The film is shot in black and white, which accentuates the emotions portrayed. There are no big sets, product placement (unless you count cardigans) or special effects. MacLaine and Hepburn do not deliver Academy Award-winning acting, but the groundbreaking nature of the film is undeniable. The lesbian stereotyping is irrefutable, as is the reluctance on the part of all the characters to utter the unmentionable moniker of “lesbian.” Personal Best, Desert Hearts and sweeps week lesbian kisses were not even a glimmer in some starving producer's eye when Wyler made this movie. This was the era of Kennedy's Camelot. This was brave.

Shirley MacLaine's Martha is tragic almost from the beginning. Her devotion to Karen is absolute, and her subsequent anguish is heartbreaking. Falling in love with one's best friend and the ensuing discovery of the true nature of that love is a story we lesbians like to hear and tell over and over again. That repulsive little girl's lie — not to mention her melodramatic, bulging eyeballs — revealed a truth, albeit an unwelcome one. Toward the end of the film, an emotionally annihilated Martha confesses to Karen, “She found the lie with the ounce of truth.”

Establishing a trend that continues in Hollywood to this day, the lesbian meets a tragic end. In the vernacular of the 1960s, The Children's Hour is a veritable pu pu platter of themes, which are blended and dissected with varying degrees of success. The film remains significant today for its mainstream exposition of lesbian love along with the horror of prejudice, intimidation and shame.

Bottom line: Grab a cardigan and watch this movie. Make a mai tai — you will need it.