The Children's Hour(1961)

About a week ago, I finally got down and corrected one of anomalies on the blog. Despite of all my admiration for Audrey Hepburn, I never wrote anything about her on this blog. I finally did that last week. After watching a documentary The Audrey Hepburn Story(2000) based on her life, I decided this is the opportunity I needed to rectify my mistake and took it with both hands. However, before doing that I went through her filmography once again to check what have I seen and of the remaining movies, what do I need to see? Fortunately, everything I wanted to see was readily available and within a week I ended up watching 4 Audrey Hepburn movies - I decided to let the fifth one go. One of them was The Children's Hour(1961). If you have read my Audrey Hepburn post, I said there as well that in my opinion this is one of the most criminally overlooked movie whenever someone talks about Audrey Hepburn's career. For some reason, I had never heard anywhere of this movie before and if I did not go digging into her filmography, I probably would not have seen this movie for a long time. I can only say that I certainly am happy I did go looking out for this as this is a fine piece of cinema which deserves much more attention that it is usually given.

Based on Lillian Hellman play by the same name, directed by William Wyler and starring Audrey Hepburn along with Shirley MacLaine in the role of two close friends Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, since college who have combined their forces to run a small boarding school for girls. There are only 20 girls in their school and these two are sharing all the responsibilities at school - they are teachers, they are headmistresses, they are wardens as well as cooks too. They both have put a lot of blood and sweat into this place to make it worth any reputation and slowly but surely their hard-work looks like is paying off as they are just about starting to make their school profitable. And as it would require for two people to get this far together, they have great understanding and trust between them. Both the girls have put quite a few years of their lives in this Dream Project however, they both have reached a point where it has become necessary to take certain decisions in their personal life that they can not postpone any further. Karen has been engaged to the local doctor Joe Cardin for couple of years now and they need to get married soon, even Joe is staring to be little restless now whereas Martha really needs to find someone and settle down as soon as possible. After some deliberation, Joe and Karen decide that this indeed is high time and they should get married after the end of current school term. Martha reacts to this news rather unpleasantly as she feels that this will mean Karen ignoring the school a little and further increase in her responsibilities, even though Karen and Joe both assure her that will not be the case. However, being a good friend and inherently good person, she keeps her issues aside and is happy for her friend.

Martha also has an aunt named Lily that lives with them and gives them a helping hand in school as well. Lily actually wants to be an actress on Broadway but can't really get past odd role here and there. Now this aunt Lily is a character and is meddling and rather cunning. While arguing with Martha once, she accuses her of being jealous of Karen and having an unnatural kind of relationship with her, she even goes ahead and ascertains that it has always been the case. Unfortunately, two of the schoolgirls overhear this conversation in the other room and off course go on to tell their other room-mate at night. Now, this other girl is Mary - a natural troublemaker who both Karen and Dobie believe is bad influence on other girls and because of her attitude gets punished quite often. However, more importantly, she is granddaughter of Amelia Tilford, one of the most influential and respected families in town. She is also an aunt to Joe. Mary being punished for anything and everything she does has a kind of spite of both her teachers and wants to get rid of them or from them as soon as possible. After hearing about the conversation between Lily and Martha from her friends, she decided to use it against them to get her out of there. So one day, she quietly sneaks out of her school and goes to her grandmother. At first Amelia disregards this as ridiculous but Mary seems to be persistent and also Lily, who is been asked to leave this place as Martha has had enough of her, unknowingly acknowledges of making any such remark. This puts Amelia in very uncomfortable position and she not only decides to take Mary back home for good, she also passes on a word to the parents of other girls in school that Karen and Martha might be lovers. One by one, all the girls start leaving the school leaving Karen and Martha to wonder what exactly happened ? and what follows turns their lives upside down completely.

I am not gonna lie and say that there was any other reason I saw The Children's Hour or even went looking out for it than Audrey Hepburn. Off course, having one more recognizable name, Shirley MacLaine that is, in the mix made it even more desirable but still I probably would not have watched it had it nor been for Audrey Hepburn. So, let me start with her. It is one of those movies where her acting is of much more relevance than her looks and charms and yet again she proves that she does not need them to please the audience, she is quite capable of doing it through her acting. Working yet again with William Wyler who apparently saw an actress behind that pretty face and gave her roles like The Nun's Story(1959) and off course her breakthrough role in Roman Holiday(1953), she does a great job indeed as usually calm and pleasant but determined and straight-thinking in face of an adversity Karen. Shirley MacLaine as Dobie has more dramatic and little troubled role and I am sure that none of us has ever had any doubts of her acting prowess. It's just good to see 60's Shirley MacLaine that I was stunned by in The Apartment(1960). I should also mention James Garner as Joe and Miriam Hopkins as Lily as well. But if someone really deserves to be mentioned here, it is Karen Balkin as malicious and rather bossy among her friends Mary. Mary is just a kid and all she wants is to escape from school where she thinks her teachers are being unnecessarily hard on her. She doesn't really fathom the implications of her actions and keeps on playing the same card to keep her from being punished yet again, this time possibly by her grandmother and this storm blows completely over her head.

Now, I am not going to lie and pretend to say that The Children's Hour is a masterpiece. I wouldn't even say that it is a movie that everyone has to watch. It is a decent enough film with little different story than we usually see with two strong and commendable center performances. But, my only problem is this movie deserves a lot more recognition from everyone than it seems to get. And that is the only reason that I have spent all this time on writing this post - to do my part in helping it get that recognition. Hopefully, this will make you want to watch it and it will soon be there.

Rating(out of 5):

Profile of a Director

Master Story-teller: Billy Wilder

When I first watched Sabrina(1954) couple of years ago, I went for it just because of my undying love for Audrey Hepburn. I had no idea that Humphrey Bogart starred in it or Billy Wilder directed it. Now, over the years, even though I have seen many better movies in the careers of Hepburn, Bogart and Wilder, Sabrina will always hold a special place in my movie-watching experience just because it introduced me to two legends of cinema - Humphrey Bogart and Billy Wilder and Hepburn learning to break an egg is still one of my favorite moments. Born Samuel Wilder to a Jewish family in what is now Poland in 1906, Billy Wilder moved to Paris after the rise of Nazi Party in Germany and then relocated to Hollywood in 1933 despite not knowing any English. Nicknamed Billy apparently for his mother's fascination of Buffalo Bill, same name stuck to him as he used it as first name during his immigration formalities. By this time, his writing career has already started with few German and French movies and some of his movies like Midnight(1939) were well received as well. However, he came to limelight in Hollywood circles with an Oscar nomination for writing Ninotchka in 1939, a film directed by Ernst Lubitsch whom he considered an Idol. Billy Wilder, even though a skilled director with 8 Oscar nominations, second only to William Wyler and winning couple of them as well, was and always will be known for his writing skills, for which he had 12 nominations and won 3 Oscars. Admittedly, he only became a director to protect his scripts which he felt were misinterpreted by his directors.

After Ninotchka, even though he made commercially successful films as a writer like Ball of Fire(1941) and Hold Back The Dawn(1941) and also made his directorial debut in Hollywood in The Major and the Minor(1942), next movie that he made impact with was Double Indemnity(1944). Considered as first true film-noir which set the bar for many more to come also garnered him two more nominations for Direction and Screenplay. Personally, this movie introduced me to one of the original femme fatale - Barbara Stanwyck. He followed it up with The Lost Weekend(1945) which is also considered to be the first film to handle theme of Alcoholism which led to his first Oscar win as a Director and Screenplay which he shared with Charles Brackett, his co-writer since early days of screwball comedies. It also has two more Oscars for Best Picture and Best Actor for Ray Milland in its repertoire. Even though I haven't seen the next movie he made A Foreign Affair(1948), I surely have seen one of his most dark, cynic and acclaimed movies Sunset Blvd(1950) for which he brought silent movie star Gloria Swanson back from retirement to play reclusive silent movie star who hopes to make a comeback into the talkies. For the third time, he got double nomination for direction and screenplay and his second screenplay Oscar. I should also mention WIlliam Holden in one of his many pairings with Wilder and it will be criminal not to mention beautiful and radiant Nancy Olson as well here. Next in line was equally dark and equally brilliant Ace in the Hole(1951). Kirk Douglas steals the show as a vile, cynic journalist trying to make money out of someone else's misery. It really is very unfortunate that it is the only Kirk Douglas movie I have seen but it sure is enough to make a case for him. Billy Wilder's writing prowess is in full display here with few of the most memorable one-liners.

Most of the movies he did in 50's were comedies which started with Sabrina(1954) but not before he gave William Holden his acting Oscar for Stalag 17(1953), playing an unlikable, almost villainous character in the story of American sergeants in German prison camp trying to escape. Most notable thing about Stalag 17 for me was amount of comedic touches he could incorporate without loosing the seriousness of the subject. I have already told you about Sabrina and the reason why it will be close to my heart. He followed it with The Seven Year Itch(1955) with Marilyn Monroe in probably her most memorable role as an actress. In my honest opinion, Marilyn Monroe was a massive star but if she was anywhere close to an actress, it was in her two collaborations with Wilder, second being Some Like It Hot(1959), one of the most famous comedies of all time. After The Seven Year Itch, he also directed second Audrey Hepburn vehicle, Love in the Afternoon(1956) with Gary Cooper playing a playboy. He also directed his only non-comedic movie in the form of adaptation of Agatha Christie story in Witness for the Prosecution(1957). Even though initial comedic nature was a bit of turn off for me, last 15 minutes of it make up for it perfectly. However, what came next is a personal favorite and can also be called a highlight of his career in a sense that it earned him 3 Oscars for Best Direction, Screenplay and Picture - The Apartment(1960). A satirical comedy about a simple clerk letting the executives in his office use his apartment for one-night stands and such, an absolute gem of a movie which can make you as happy as sad. It comes with wonderful performances from everyone but especially Jack Lemmon and even though I always knew Shirley MacLaine to be a great actress, she has never been prettier than this. However, unfortunately everything goes downhill from here. I have only seen a couple of movies he did after this, but consensus is he never found the spark after The Apartment, probably because it glowed the brightest then.

Even though there are two distinct phases in his career, one earlier in his directorial career with dark and serious movies with lot of dramatic tones like Sunset Blvd, Ace in the Hole and another little later with his comedies like Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch, he is one of the very few writers to have done memorable films in multiple genres like Double Indemnity in Film-noir, Drama in The Lost Weekend, War in Stalag 17, Romance in Sabrina and comedy in The Apartment. Being Writer first and foremost, his movies always concentrated more on story and dialogue rather than any other aspects of it. However, he made them memorable with his focus on characters and tight plot lines. Even though he used somewhat conventional approach to direct his movies, he never shied away from making movies based on unconventional themes, topics that were frowned upon like alcoholism or adultery or sexual comedy. He had his way with actors as well, like directing them to 14 Oscar nominations under him or bringing veterans like Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim out of retirement.  He also never hesitated from casting an actor in a role out of their screen persona or comfort zone like Bogart doing a romantic role in Sabrina or Fred McMurry playing sort of immoral character in Double Indemnity and The Apartment. He was also skilled to bring out the best in his actors. Marilyn Monroe, as I have previously stated, is probably the best example of this.

His impressive resume and position as one of the greatest has garnered him whole bunch of awards. He also got AFI Life achievement award in 1986, Irvine G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1988 and National Medal of Honor and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993. Widely regarded as one of the most influential directors Billy Wilder has inspired a generations of directors after him. During his acceptance speech, Michael Hazanavicius also mentioned him in this year's Oscars. I will end this profile with my favorite 5 films of Billy Wilder.

1. The Apartment(1960)

2. Sunset Blvd.(1950)

3. Ace in the Hole(1951)

4. Some Like it Hot(1959)

5. The Lost Weekend(1945)

Previous Profiles:
Christopher Nolan

Sidney Lumet
Martin Scorsese  

Woody Allen