Infame Lügen

"These Three" is an extremely effective look at the damage a lie can cause. Bonita Granville gives a tour-de-force performance as Mary Tilford, a vicious student who ruins the lives of her two schoolteachers (Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins) by telling a lie about their private lives. Based on a play by Lillian Hellman (whose original plot dealt with lesbianism, which was changed for the film version to get past the censors), "These Three" is still a very good film. Miriam Hopkins also stands out as one of the victimized teachers. All in all, one well-acted and well-directed drama.

For a film that opened in 1936, "These Three" manages to hold the attention seventy years later.

True, Lillian Helmann's heterosexual adaptation may seem a bit over-baked now; still, there are some compelling scenes which are touching.

Working with a top-notch cast and crew, Director William Wyler managed to coax some pretty heartfelt performances from his ensemble.

The whole thing looks like it may have been an extremely difficult shoot, especially for its principals. Word has it that Miriam Hopkins was very difficult to work with, and that Merle Oberon's normally meager talent was stretched beyond its capacity by the demanding director.

Yet, through probably endless retakes, the final result from the editing room is impressive. The child actors are quite good, without which the drama's effectiveness would have been considerably lessened. All the adult performers are strong, rendering commendable work.

Judging from the viewer's and critic's evaluation on IMDb, "These Three" is still very much appreciated.

Three innocent people have their lives shattered by malicious gossip.

THESE THREE is a vividly acted, excruciatingly dramatic look at how unrequited love & evil lies can undermine relationships and destroy reputations. Lillian Hellman authored the script (and altered the emotional bias) from her original play, The Children's Hour and director William Wyler created a film which never lets up in its emotional intensity. The viewer feels terribly for the three protagonists as they suffer unjustly and equally powerless to do anything about it.

Teachers Miriam Hopkins & Merle Oberon both love doctor Joel McCrea. One will win him, the other will hurt quietly. All three act at a perfect pitch, each performer complementing and supporting the other two, most especially when their characters experience the devastation created by a wicked student (played with chilling persuasion by Bonita Granville).

Two fine character actresses now in danger of being forgotten have important supporting roles. Catherine Doucet plays Hopkins' silly, vindictive aunt, a vain woman completely capable of doing the wrong thing every time. Alma Kruger plays Granville's wealthy grandmother, proud & patrician, she is seduced into doing much harm through her unwise love.

In a small role, Walter Brennan is a joy as a rustic taxi driver. Marcia Mae Jones is quite compelling as a child struggling against enormous iniquity. Marvelous Margaret Hamilton, as Kruger's no-nonsense hatchet-faced housekeeper, gets to deliver one of cinema's most satisfying face slaps.

Movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Greta Meyer as a Viennese waitress.

This version of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" is by far more satisfying than the Audrey Hepburn-Shirley MacLaine remake in the 1960s which retained the lesbianism theme while revolving around a child's lie.

Instead, this earlier William Wyler version changes the slanderous lie to a heterosexual one--and none of the power is lost in the telling of a tale about a manipulative young girl's lie that destroys the lives of three innocent people.

The acting is all on an extraordinarily high level here--everyone, from Merle Oberon to Miriam Hopkins to Joel McCrea and especially little Bonita Granville (as a liar who even stoops to blackmail to keep her lie afloat). As the terrorized girl, Marcia Mae Jones is every bit as adept as the others in making the entire story a convincing one.

The power of a lie to destroy others has never been more effectively played out than it is here. Under William Wyler's direction, the screenplay has been expanded with enough outdoor scenes to keep the film from seeming like a filmed stage play.

Joel McCrea has never been more effective in a sympathetic role. He and Merle Oberon are impressive and wholly believable as the young lovers. Miriam Hopkins has a difficult role and she handles it brilliantly. Bonita Granville fully deserved her Oscar nomination as the monstrous girl, sparing nothing to make her one of the most hateful brats in screen history.

Well worth watching for some brilliant performances and a compelling story.

With Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, and Joel McCrea in the leading roles, I wasn't expecting to find them all upstaged by a brilliant performance from 13-year-old Bonita Granville. I knew very little about the film going in, and that was a good thing, as the film went off in an interesting direction. The setup is that Hopkins and Oberon play a couple of friends who start up a school in rural Massachusetts after graduating from college, and McCrea is a doctor who falls for Oberon. Granville's character is one of the challenges they have; she's spoiled, manipulative, a bully, and overall troublemaker in the school. Another is Hopkins' aunt (Catherine Doucet), a featherbrained leech who imposes herself on them. I won't describe the plot further, except to say that there's just enough of an inkling of truth about a rumor that is whispered about - or in the seeds of a possible truth - that it gives the story nuance, and helps enable a deceitfulness which is as clever and realistic as it is maddening (and it is quite maddening). William Wyler exercises the right amount of restraint as director - letting the events and emotions come to us (if that makes any sense), avoiding mundane tedium such as the details of a courtroom scene, and letting a deep cast deliver fine performances, another of which is from 12-year-old Marcia Mae Jones. It really makes me want to seek out 'The Children's Hour' (1961).