The Children’s Hour

film by Wyler [1961]

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June 17, 2026

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The 1961 film The Children's Hour, directed by William Wyler, is a drama based on Lillian Hellman's 1934 play of the same name. The story centers on a malicious schoolgirl who falsely accuses two female teachers at her New England boarding school of being lesbians. This accusation, despite being exposed as a lie by the fiancé of one of the teachers, leads to the school's closure and the ruin of the teachers' reputations and personal lives. The film explores the tragic consequences of gossip and prejudice.123

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William Wyler
Films of the 1960s of William Wyler
…take another shot at Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, keeping that title for his remake and restoring the elements of Hellman’s plot that the threat of censorship had forced him to alter in These Three. The Children’s Hour (1961) starred Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as the teachers accused by a student…
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…take another shot at Hellman’s The Children’s Hour, keeping that title for his remake and restoring the elements of Hellman’s plot that the threat of censorship had forced him to alter in These Three. The Children’s Hour (1961) starred Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as the teachers accused by a student…
Read More