Movie Review: The Children's Hour

The Children's Hour (1961).  Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) run an all girls boarding school that caters to the upper-middle class.  The two have a relatively nice life.

They are best friends.  Karen is being wooed by Dr. Joe Cardin (James Garner), which causes some concern with Martha (that she will no longer be an important part of Karen's life).  Perhaps their one major glitch is that Martha's aunt, Mrs. Lily Mortar (Miriam Hopkins), also works at the school.  It is more of a pity hire, a person who must be tolerated.  She is a former actress who would be indigent if not for this position.  She's also a tad unstable or let's just say over-dramatic.

Though Lily might be just a glitch in their life, they do have a major problem.  The major problem is problem child Mary Tilford (Karen Balkin) who ranks right up there with the girl from The Bad Seed as one of the most evil girls in film history.  Mary is constantly disciplined.  In revenge, she puts together a rumor based on two facts:  Lily (being over-dramatic) calls the friendship between Karen and Martha "unnatural" and Karen and Martha often talk with each other in their separate bedrooms.  Though the word lesbian is never spoken, you know that this is the accusation that Mary spreads.  Within hours, all the girls are pulled from the school.

This movie might appear dated, but perhaps not.  Something like this could happen in 2014 at say a religious school.

Since this is a movie that was made in 1961, I'm not sure this should be considered a spoiler, but it is revealed that Martha does have "unnatural" feelings towards Karen.  And in the end, she commits suicide.  One could say that even though this movie argues against small town morals and gossip, it also takes an anti-homosexual stance in those final scenes.  I don't know the movie statistics, but I do believe that it is standard that individuals considered to have moral/ethical short-comings are the ones more likely to die versus those who live in virtue.  On the other hand, one could argue that the meaning of those final scenes is that Martha just couldn't handle the societal condemnation and this was her attempt to free herself.  The final scene of the movie is focused on Karen as she walks away from the funeral.  She ignores the others that are there, as well, perhaps there out of their own moral shame.  I think this is the key scene to debate.  What exactly does it mean?

Do I recommend seeing this movie?  Yes.