Review of The Children's Hour (1961) by Melissa G — 17 Oct 2010
BITCH!
You'll hear a lot of that coming from me if you catch me watching this movie about homophobia and intolerance indused by nothing more than gossip and lies told by a little girl.
Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine star in The Children's Hour. Adapted from the playwrite, this movie is about 2 long time friends who run a very small school for girls inside their house. One little troublemaker gossips to her grandmother about the nature of the two woman's friendship, then BOOM! Everything goes to hell, even though Audrey is planning on getting married to her fiance, played by James Garner. This xenophobic story really gets under your skin the more you watch it. Audrey Hepburn always had the nack to star in intruiging and revolutionary movies, and a movie about lesbianism is just the thing that makes this movie so good for it's time.
This movie relies more on it's story than the overall direction. Though it's faithful adaptation is a lot better to see than it's 1936 version. Some very nice music to set the dramatic mood. But I do like the little things that seperates it from the play, like the long walk Audrey Hepburn takes near the end of the movie that you wouldn't see on stage really sets the mood for it's climax.
This is the kind of film that really gets The Michael's pimp hand excited, mostly because of Karen Balkin playing the little bitch Mary. Though a bit slow paced, this is a powerful drama about emotions and the destructive power of lies. If you're an Audrey Hepburn fan like moi, then you'll be in for a treat.
This review of The Children's Hour (1961) was written by Melissa G on 17 Oct 2010.
The Children's Hour has generally received positive reviews.
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