These Three (1936) & The Children's Hour (1961)

"The Children's Hour" is a remake of "These Three", but both films were directed by William Wyler. In both films, Karen Wright (Merle Oberon, Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Miriam Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine) open a school for girls in a small town. Karen gets engaged to one of the local doctors, Dr. Joe Cardin (Joel McCrea, James Garner) and trouble seems to follow the engagement. One of the school girls stirs up trouble in the form of gossip. In "These Three" the gossip is that Martha is having an affair with Karen's fiance'. In "The Children's Hour" the gossip is that Karen and Martha are having an affair. In both cases, the gossip spreads like wild fire in the small town and all three reputations, as well as the school, is destroyed.

Shirley MacClaine and Audrey Hepburn in "The Children's Hour"

If you are here, then you are a classic movie fan and probably know the deal about the censorship that forced "These Three" to change what the gossip tidbit was about. I am shocked to say that after watching both, I prefer the censored version, the original. One of the main reasons is the girl that starts the trouble, Mary Tilford, is played brilliantly by Bonita Granville. What a scheming, mean, little wretched girl. However, in the second version, the little girl is a terrible actress and looks like a cross between a lost puppy and a brat. I can't even stand watching her after having watched Bonita rock the role. It is surprising how one weak link in a cast can really do such damage to a movie.

The second reason I prefer the original is the script. In the original, they spend a good bit of time setting up the story about the girls graduating from college, neither having anything to do, so they decide to go to Karen's house that she inherited and look for jobs. It shows them deciding to fix the house and start a school. It shows the awful aunt popping in and out for handouts, which makes more sense about why the aunt is there in the first place. Then it also shows Karen meeting Mary and her Grandmother, with her Grandmother offering to send Mary there and rally some other folks around the school. That helps the audience to understand why they put up with Mary so long and also why when Mary was pulled out of school, everyone else went too. A lot of the background work in the beginning of "These Three" make it a much more even and complete movie, in my mind.

The third and final reason I will mention here about why I prefer the original is the tidbit of gossip. I agree that the movie isn't really about WHAT the gossip is, just what gossip will do to reputations and livelihoods. However, despite "The Children's Hour" being one of the first to start to deal with lesbianism, I am still offended by how it is portrayed as unnatural and an illness. I would rather see the story changed to a heterosexual relationship than to hear the awful way it is handled in this. I understand, it was more than 40 years ago and this was the best they could do then. I really do, but it really is uncomfortable to watch. I am sure it is truthful to the time as to what most thought about homosexuality so it is hard to knock their attempt - I just ... ugh.

Of course, I will say that there are some great things about the 1961 version. For starters, Audrey Hepburn portrays a woman so sweet and so obviously in love. I felt that was an improvement over the 1936 version. No offense to Oberon, but Hepburn radiates love when she looks at Garner in a way that made Oberon look like she was indifferent to McCrea. Also, hands down, Shirley MacClaine blows Miriam Hopkins version off the screen too. I always forget what a great actress MacClaine is. Lastly, one of the best things about the latter version is that it is visually stunning. The cinematography and the shots are all brilliant - much better than the the 1936 version. "The Children's Hour" really worked in some clever angles and it really paid off.

In short, both movies are worth watching, but "These Three" was definitely my preferred version. Mainly because the story feels more complete and there isn't a performance that sticks out as bad. In "The Children's Hour", while I think Hepburn and MacClaine showed more depth and emotion than the previous actresses, the chopping of the script and the absolutely horrid performance by Mary made it a little confusing and somewhat painful to watch.

Hot Princess

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in "Roman Holiday"

I am not going to do a review of "Roman Holiday" now. A friend of mine did a delightfully irreverent one here the other day. I just wanted to blog a few random thoughts, like, how amazingly tiny, but yet, still beautiful Audrey Hepburn was in this movie. I almost stared exclusively at her waist trying to imagine what it would have looked like in person, especially if the camera adds 10 pounds! I pondered which of my body parts would be smaller in diameter than her waist. I came up with fingers (maybe not the thumb though), toes and possibly my nose. I got me dear old Mom's Irish nose though, so even that body part is questionable. Seriously, she was so gorgeous, but so tiny. I don't think I would have even had the guts to hug her for fear of snapping her like a twig.

Other than her tiny waist. I will share two favorite quotes from the movie:

1. Irving (played by Eddie Albert) says, "It's always open season on princesses."
   
2. Irving (still played by Eddie Albert) says, "Joe, we can't go running around town with a hot princess!"

Lastly, a few random thoughts and tidbits.

1. Why did Irving get all the best lines?
   
2. Did the scene of the undercover agents walking in the same outfit towards the barge party remind anyone else of a scene out of "Reservoir Dogs"? If only they had slowed the speed, it would have been a perfect match. :-)
   
3. Apparently, Gregory Peck decided to do the "hand in the sleeve" trick at the Mouth of Truth statue because he had seen Red Skelton do a bit like that when someone offered to shake his hand. Peck ran it by William Wyler, the director, but they did not tell Audrey Hepburn what would happen. Her scream and surprise was a true reaction and that is what was used for the movie. I do love her reaction in this scene knowing that. I also like Peck reacting to her reaction.
   
4. I know it is a sappy movie, but I can't help but think of the romantic comedy "Only You" when I see this film. I am probably the only person on earth who bothered to watch it and will admit to it.
   
5. It is astounding that this is her first big role and she pulls it off so beautifully. Well done, Audrey.
   

And to end ... another still from the movie. One can never have enough eye candy of Audrey:

Ahhh, ché bellezza!