The Children's Hour (1961)

The Children's Hour is a story about the destructive power of gossip and innuendo. A bored young girl overhears a conversation related to two teachers at the private school she attends, she passes this information onto her grandmother, who misinterprets it and spreads it. Before long the two teachers, played by Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine are roundly believed to be lesbian lovers, endangering the formers engagement to a doctor (James Garner) and threating to shut down their school. While such allegations would in no way have been helpful to teachers in 1961, the scale of the reaction seems perhaps more appropriate to 1934, the year the Lillian Hellman play on which this is based was first staged. None the less this is a powerful film with strong performances, particularly Ms. MacLaine's, and far darker and less life affirming then is typical of the work of its director William Wyler. Tonally reminiscent of Tennessee Williams. ****
.