Review: The Children’s Hour


Hateful little monster Karen Balkin spreads a rumour that teachers Shirley MacLaine (well-cast) and Audrey Hepburn, who live together and run a boarding school that Balkin attends, are in fact lovers (Oooh!). James Garner is the man Hepburn is currently seeing, who wants to marry her, but she seems somewhat hesitant. Meanwhile, MacLaine’s meddling Aunt Miriam Hopkins might have inadvertently started the rumour when some of the students hear her arguing with MacLaine and saying that she is supremely jealous of any man Hepburn dates and will never be happy. Y’know, Balkin might be a little turd, but gee, this all sounds like it might have the faintest whiff of truth to it, doesn’t it? Fay Bainter is Balkin’s gullible and ignorant rich grandmother who gets involved in the mess, and Veronica Cartwright plays a young kleptomaniac Balkin attempts to blackmail.



Quite well-made 1962 William Wyler (“Wuthering Heights”, “The Little Foxes”, “The Best Years of Our Lives”) version of the Lillian Hellman (“The Little Foxes”) play of the same name (and it also serves as a remake of “These  Three”, from the same director back in 1936, in which Hopkins also appeared in one of the lead roles) isn’t as offensive or dated as you might expect given its vintage (or the vintage of its inspiration, for that matter). It’s also rather interesting to see Hepburn (really very good, if a bit miscast) and Garner (charming as ever) in something like this, they’re usually seen in much more lightweight fare. Balkin is extraordinary and Bainter really does wonders in a somewhat poorly written role. A young Cartwright is also quite amusing in a smallish (but important) part. A bit over-the-top at times (chiefly whenever Hopkins is on screen in a superfluous role), but I think even the supposedly downbeat, homophobic ending is a little more open to interpretation than many give it credit for. At least, I saw more in it than I was expecting, which is how I felt about the whole film.



Scripted by John Michael Hayes (“Rear Window”, “The Carpetbaggers”, “The Trouble With Harry”), from Hellman’s play, I was expecting to really hate this one and was surprisingly moved by it. Definitely a curio, but worthy of more praise than that if you ask me and not quite as dated as you might expect.



Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more