#karen balkin

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The Children's Hour (1961) William Wyler

July 2nd 2024

[hazelwords]

Audrey Hepburn Summer!

Tonight’s watch: The Children’s Hour (1961) (Photos and trivia from IMDB)

This film adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play was an intense watch, as you see the way a lie from a vindictive, cruel child destroys the life of two people (more if you include all of the supporting characters). The tragedy is how much the accusation of being lesbian hits home for one of the women. While I knew that it would end tragically (the trailer sort of gives it away), I was still devastated.

The acting is incredible - everyone knocks it out of the park. Even the children: Karen Balkin was terrifying as Mary, the child who perfected the art of bullying and terrorizing other girls before turning to target her teachers. 

On set, the children enjoyed hanging around Shirley MacLaine, thinking her “cool” and “generous”, according to Veronica Cartwright, who played Rosalie. Cartwright won the role after keeping calm during the audition when director William Wyler fired a gun. (She remembers thinking how it wasn’t a wartime film.)

While talking about this film for the documentary, The Celluloid Closet (1995), MacLaine said, “none of us were really aware. We might have been forerunners, but we weren't really, because we didn't do the picture right. We were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing. These days, there would be a tremendous outcry, as well there should be. Why would Martha break down and say, 'Oh my god, what's wrong with me, I'm so polluted, I've ruined you.' She would fight! She would fight for her budding preference. And when you look at it, to have Martha play that scene - and no one questioned it - what that meant, or what the alternatives could have been underneath the dialog, it's mind boggling. The profundity of this subject was not in the lexicon of our rehearsal period. Audrey and I never talked about this. Isn't that amazing. Truly amazing."

At least this movie was able to keep the lesbian plot; the last film adaptation of this play, retitled These Three (1936), changed the lie to be about a heterosexual love affair. Even so, Wyler had to cut scenes that hinted more strongly at a character’s sexuality to get the movie past the censors.

I was able to get a DVD of this movie from the library, but you can also find it on Pluto TV, Roku, Tubi, and Amazon.

[audreyhepburninblackandwhite]

Audrey Hepburn and Karen Balkin in The Children's Hour (1961)

[ronnydeschepper]

Vijftig jaar geleden: première van "The children's hour"

Op 19 december 1961 ging “The children’s hour” van William Wyler in première. De film werd uitgebracht als The Loudest Whisper in het Verenigd Koninkrijk. Continue reading Untitled

[doyke]

you guys are gonna kill me for this but if i were to rank performances i would say fay bainter, shirley, karen balkin, miriam hopkins, bathrobe chord, girl who played rosalie/audrey/james garner (three way tie), judge in the courtroom scene, man falling asleep during the piano recital, head doctor at joe's hospital, silver candlestick

[itsmyfriendisaac]

The Children’s Hour: at a private school for girls, one bad apple starts rumors that the two owners, Karen & Martha, are more than just friends! Their student body dwindles & they confront the slanderer with a lawsuit, but Martha begins to doubt if her own feelings for Karen have been platonic.

[genevieveetguy]

- We can't go on like this. Everything I say is made to mean something else. - I guess every word has a new meaning. Child, love, friend, woman. There aren't many safe words anymore. Even 'marriage' doesn't have the same meaning anymore. - It does to me, and it should to you, if... - If what?

The Children's Hour, William Wyler (1961)

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

The Children’s Hour (William Wyler, 1961)

[mrfahrenheit92]

[gatutor]

Karen Balkin-Miriam Hopkins-Audrey Hepburn “La calumnia” (The children´s hour) 1961, de William Wyler.

[ladybegood]

Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn, and Karen Balkin in The Children’s Hour (1961)

[killer-klowns]

La Rumeur / Un médecin quitte le logement de sa fiancée enseignante en faisant tourner deux fois sa voiture autour d’une jardinière.

[womeninmovieswearinghats]

Fay Bainter and Karen Balkin in The Children’s Hour (1961)

Direction: William Wyler

Costumes: Dorothy Jeakins

[byneddiedingo]

Audrey Hepburn, James Garner, and Shirley MacLaine in The Children's Hour (William Wyler, 1961) Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright, Mimi Gibson, Debbie Moldow, Diane Mountford, William Mims, Sally Brophy, Hope Summers. Screenplay: John Michael Hayes, Lillian Hellman, based on a play by Hellman. Cinematography: Franz Planer. Art direction: Fernando Carrere. Film editing: Robert Swink. Music: Alex North. Time has not been kind to Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour, either the play or the second film adaptation. It had been filmed once before, also under the direction of William Wyler, as These Three, in 1936, only two years after it had become a Broadway sensation. At that time, the central accusation that the two schoolmistresses, Karen and Martha, were lesbians had to be changed to a heterosexual moral transgression -- that both were lovers of the same man, Dr. Joe Cardin. Despite this bowdlerization, there are many who think that the earlier movie is the better one, largely because it puts the emphasis on what Hellman said was the play's theme: "the power of a lie." In our contemporary climate, the idea that Karen and Martha might be lovers has much less power to shock, so that to our eyes, the furor that arises from a child's confused and devious accusation seems excessive. But perhaps more to the point is an artistic one: In today's LGBT community the idea that a work of fiction dealing with non-heterosexual relationships has to end in the death of one or more of its supposed transgressors has been labeled a "kill the queers syndrome." Even more recent films such as Boys Don't Cry (Kimberly Peirce, 1999) and Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005), though praised for dealing candidly with transgender characters and gay relationships, have been faulted for too easily resolving their plots by having their central characters murdered by bigots. The Children's Hour falls more blatantly into this trap with Martha's suicide, which seems not to come out of anything integral to the character but instead out of the need for a dramatic conclusion to the play and film. It's a film with good performances, though its actors sometimes have to struggle against their star personae. James Garner was so familiar as a smart aleck on the TV series Maverick that he feels a little miscast as Dr. Cardin, Karen's fiancé, who is unable to convince her that he may indeed have believed in the rumor about her relationship with Martha. Audrey Hepburn, too, carries the aura of winsome romantic comedy heroine into her performance as Karen, but is more successful at overcoming the image. Of the three leads, Shirley MacLaine is the most successful, since she doesn't have to deal with a too-precisely established screen persona, and she brings real depth to Martha's conflicts, including her simmering resentment of Karen's supposed abandonment of their plans in order to marry Joe, and her anguished recognition of her possibly repressed lesbianism. But the real standouts in the cast are the supporting players, Miriam Hopkins (who had played Martha in These Three) as the flibbertigibbet Aunt Lily and Fay Bainter, Oscar-nominated for her role as Amelia Tilford, whose credulity when her niece tells her the lie about Karen and Martha brings about the crisis. Wyler's direction is, as always, precise and professional, and the art direction of Fernando Carrere and the cinematography of Franz Planer make the primary setting, the girls school, follow the film's changes in mood, from innocent to grim.

[lesbiancolumbo]

Putting this one on the baggage carousel for when you feel like airing out the old inbox. Consider, if you will, an Old Hollywood cast list for Pale Fire. Submitted for your approval, my contemporary cast list:

Jared Harris - John Shade

Alfred Molina - Charles Kinbote (but only because PSH is unavailable)

Isabella Rossellini - Sybil Shade

Anaïs Reboux - Hazel Shade

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos or Catherine Breillat (but only because Krzysztof Kieślowski is unavailable)

but now that we’ve got that out of the way.

pale fire is something i’m admittedly not an expert on. it took me forever to read and i am still kinda parsing through what the fuck i read, and that was months ago. but! submitted for YOUR approval, old hollywood pale fire.

Trevor Howard - John Shade

Claude Rains - Charles Kinbote

(I am almost mad that he died soon after PF was published because I think he would be brilliant? Like, he could 100% pull Kinbote off.)

Ingrid Bergman - Sybil Shade (i cheated here, but when you’re right you’re right)

Karen Balkin - Hazel Shade (but like, when she’s age appropriate)

directed by Frank Borzage or Fritz Lang

[lastset99]

Where Is She Today? Age Height & Instagram

Where Is She Today? Age Height & Instagram

Actress Karen Balkin doesn’t have a dedicated Wikipedia biography, but here’s everything you can know about her. Karen Balkin is an American actress best known for her roles in The Children’s Hour, Our Time and Hennessey. Although she has had a decent career and acting accolades, she has not had a recorded performance since 1974. In fact, her last film came in 1974 when she appeared in Our Time…