These Three

Playwright Lillian Hellman was given the chance to adapt her acclaimed play The Children’s Hour – about two female boarding school teachers whose lives are ruined when a vindictive student lies that the two women share a sexual relationship – into her first film collaboration with director William Wyler. However, due to the strict enforcement of the Hays code, Hellman had to change the nature of the lie from homosexuality to a heterosexual love triangle. Nevertheless, that doesn’t diminish the dramatic power of the story and its very timely theme of how lies can manifest out of control, especially when told by someone as wicked as Mary Tilford, one of the most venomous young characters in film history.