How The Children’s Hour by William Wyler anticipated Second-Wave feminism

By Marie Philippe, Feb 6, 2020

Two years before the publication of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, The Children’s Hour was successful in voicing women’s anger and unhappiness.

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From 1930 to 1968, the Hays Code served as basis for the moral guidelines in the American film industry. This set of rules prohibited movies from showcasing adultery, seduction or rape, actual childbirth, or sex perversion. What is underlined in this last term is that any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality is considered deviant and immoral. It is then natural to see that The Children’s Hour (or The Loudest Whisper in the UK) by William Wyler starts with a rumour, something that is hazy enough to appeal to the public at the time. Martha and Karen – two schoolteachers in Lancet, Massachusetts – are suspected of lesbianism by one of their pupils, Mary. Karen is supposed to get married to Joe, a successful doctor. When the rumour proliferates and reaches the parents’ ears, their lives begin to change drastically. Martha then admits she is in love with Karen and kills herself under pressure.

The Children’s Hour was originally a play by Lilian Hellman from 1934. It was adapted twice onscreen by William Wyler – once in 1936, and a second time in 1962. The Hays Code prevented the director from closely following the original plot of the play, leading to major changes. The final version put forward a star-studded cast including Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn. Little by little, the Code lost some of its influence and screenwriter John Michael Hayes was eventually allowed to bring back the original storyline. This change paved the way to a more sincere discourse on womanhood.

Focusing on sexism and women’s everyday life, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was the best-selling non-fiction book of 1964 in the US which served as basis to Second-wave feminism. It is a survey that deconstructs stereotypes that associated women’s happiness to household chores. This book was groundbreaking at a time when women could not express the claustrophobic aspect of staying at home and taking care of their families. It showed the pressure they had on their shoulders. This is very well translated in Martha and Karen’s depiction: they are perfect housewives, doing the dishes and serving meals for their pupils. They also are expected to pass on these values to their students, making them skilled women – for example, being able to play the piano, sew, and have a good elocution.

In 1962, film critic Bosley Crowther considered The Children’s Hour to be “too unrealistic and scandalous in a prim and priggish way” because of its “muted theme”. How did the film anticipate Friedan’s book then? Crowther and I are not using the same point of reference. Indeed, the audience is rarely involved in any form of discussion around the rumour in itself, and there is an element of truth in saying that Wyler avoided being too explicit about sexuality under the circumstances. However, if one focuses on the discourse on womanhood, what matters is not silence in itself but rather how it is disrupted. It is about giving a voice to the ones who do not have one. The end of sexuality as a “muted theme” in the second half of the film provides room for Martha and Karen to have a talk on this very topic.

Feminism and sexuality are intertwined in this film. On the latter issue, I fear the outcome is not as impressive as one could hope. Though he was considered a perfectionist, William Wyler’s last version of The Children’s Hour was not a complete success for the very reason it both subverts and glorifies the Hays Code on the matter of sexuality. It gave way to Second-wave feminist discussions but the film results in Martha’s traumatic fate. In classical drama, this would suggest cathartic undertones – and trigger the purification of the viewer’s passions. This 1962 Phaedra is condemned by her sexuality. This discourse is very questionable and less contemporary than the one on feminism, which is a good starting point to understand what it meant to be a woman in the Friedan era.

I would say sexuality serves as a triggering element for a discussion on Martha and Karen’s lives as women even if some issues sound paradoxical. Yes, Martha and Karen seem rather happy before the rumour is spread. Yes, they have a job and find fulfillment in it – even if it helps perpetuate a norm. But it all changes when Mary sees Karen cheek-kissing Martha. The boarding school for girls then looks like a stuffy, uninviting place. Though it is logical that most of the action happens behind closed doors as The Children’s Hour is originally a play, Martha and Karen seem to be incarcerated in their own workplace. It reflects the impossibility of finding only “glory in [one’s] own femininity” – Friedan was highly critical of the difficulty of accessing high education for women.

The sole masculine figure, Karen’s lover Joe, is the only one that gets to keep his job in The Children’s Hour. Joe is put on a pedestal through the use of several low-angle shots as if to say “Let’s all empathise with him, poor man”. “A woman who sings while she works is a happy woman” he says while Martha does the dishes. I bet Joe would not like to say this nowadays, especially since he is emphasising the idea that women’s happiness depended on very few, simple things. Fortunately, Martha strongly reacts to this, she even declares he has to “stop patronising” her. Though most elements tend to demonise Martha’s character because of her sexuality, she is given a voice when most women were not.

At a time when the Weinstein trial and the Sanders-Warren sexist debate are at the core of social issues, The Children’s Hour and the themes of voicing unhappiness and denouncing abuse are very significant. Even if pious morality is not regulating everyone’s lives anymore, women are still objectified and silenced. At the core of the US Democratic primary, sexism and clichés on womanhood are all over the news – take Michael Bloomberg recently. This all sounds like a sick joke. The plot needs to be written differently from now on. Though if I were to do it, I would get inspiration from The Children’s Hour and use it as a way to purify their minds (catharsis coming full circle here): please have a look at Joe, Martha and Karen, and remember that this was 1962. In 2020, give yourselves a break, or just give us a break.