The Children’s Hour (1961) Queer Film (C)

DIRECTOR: William Wyler

When William Wyler and Sam Goldwyn adapted Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour in 1936, the lesbian storyline was transformed into a heterosexual triangle involving Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins, and Joel McCrea, with a wonderfully venomous Bonita Granville as the malicious schoolgirl who spreads the lie. Retitled These Three, the film was a considerable success—and despite the enforced heterosexuality, the queer subtext still pulsed beneath the surface. It also launched a remarkable run of classics Wyler would make under the Goldwyn banner.

Cut to 1961. Fresh from the triumph of Ben‑Hur, Wyler decided to remake the story, this time restoring Hellman’s original same‑sex theme. He cast two of Hollywood’s greatest actresses—Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine—as the schoolmistresses whose lives and careers are destroyed by a student’s vindictive rumor. MacLaine plays Martha, the character who secretly loves her friend and colleague Karen (Hepburn), a love she can neither name nor express. Karen, meanwhile, is in a stable heterosexual relationship with Joe(James Garner), which only deepens Martha’s torment.

But Wyler found himself caught between eras. In 1961, he was not prepared to make an openly gay film, yet he was no longer willing to bury the theme entirely. The result is a strange hybrid: what begins as an act of bravery ends in timidity. The film is all text and no subtext—yet still not bold enough to fully confront the emotional truth at its center. There are moments of real power, especially from MacLaine, but they are isolated flashes. The film ultimately feels like a missed opportunity, one that might have triumphed had Wyler waited another decade.

Fay Bainter, playing the grandmother whose reaction to her granddaughter’s lie sets the tragedy in motion, received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. It was her final screen role.

Cinematography: Franz Planer

STREAMING: Amazon Prime and Apple TV+

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