Opiniones de usuarios

"These Three" is an absorbing film that somehow manages to retain its integrity despite being different from the play, "The Children's Hour," on which it is based. Having seen the later film, "The Children's Hour," about two teachers accused of lesbianism, I wondered how the 1936 film would measure up. The answer: Brilliantly.

Part of the reason for this is, as Lilliam Hellman, the playwright herself stated - the play isn't really about lesbianism, it's about a children's lie. And the vicious, destructive lie of a child is still central here, though now it concerns the supposed affair of Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea, who is engaged to marry Merle Oberon, Hopkins' partner in a girls school. Another reason for the film's success is the flawless direction by William Wyler, and last but not least, a sympathetic trio. Hopkins is a standout with her strong, passionate performance.

Bonita Granville, the bad seed, is such an evil, blackmailing brat, that I'm sure when 1936 audiences saw Margaret Hamilton slap her, they broke into applause. I nearly did, and I was watching it alone! It's an unrelenting performance, though she's such a walking horror show, it's remarkable anyone believed her in her "earnest" moments, which were calculated, as only a monster's can be! Highly recommended.

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).

Karen Wright (Merle Oberon) and Martha Dobie (Miriam Hopkins) are best friends since college. When they graduate, they decide to move to Lancet to the farm that Karen has inherited from her grandmother to build a boarding school for girls. On the arrival, they meet Dr. Joseph Cardin (Joel McCrea) and he helps them to restore the farmhouse working hard. One day Karen meets the influent Mrs. Amelia Tilford (Alma Kruger) that helps them to get students including her spoiled granddaughter Mary Tilford (Bonita Granville). Out of the blue, Martha's arrogant aunt Lily Mortar (Catharine Doucet) arrives at the school and offers to give classes. Meanwhile Joseph proposes Karen and they are engaged to each other.

When the spiteful and compulsive liar Mary, who is a bad influence to the other girls, is punished by Karen after telling a lie, Martha has an argument with her snoopy aunt Lily in another room. Lily accuses Martha of being in love with Joseph and having encountered him in her room. Mary's roommate Rosalie Wells (Marcia Mae Jones) overhears the argument and tells Mary what Mrs. Mortar had said about her niece. The malicious Mary accuses Martha of being the lover of Joseph to her grandmother and Amelia spreads the gossip to the parents of the students that withdraw them from the school. Karen and Martha lose a lawsuit against Amelia and have their lives disrupted with the scandal. Further, Karen calls off her engagement with Joe since she is not sure that he is telling the truth.

"These Three" is a cruel and heartbreaking story that shows how destructive the power of a lie may be. William Wyler is among my favorite directors and this film is a little gem with a magnificent screenplay. In 1961, he remade this movie changing the title to "The Children's Hour" and using the theme of lesbianism instead of a triangle of love, and a tragic ending. Both movies are worthwhile watching and it is hard to pointy out which version is the better. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Infâmia 1936" ("Infamy 1936")

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.

"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.

Anyone who loves great Classic films and great veteran actors of the real silver screen, view this film and see acting at its very best. Bonita Granville (Mary Tilford)"Nancy Drew Films" made you despise and hate her horrible role as a real BRAT! Merle Oberon, "The Lodger" '45 gave a great supporting role with Joel McCrea(Dr. Joseph Cardin) "The Virginian" '46. Miriam Hopkins(Martha Dobie) "Wise Girl"'37 showed her great beauty and charm as a love sick woman. If you look real close, you will see Margaret Hamilton (Agatha) "Wizard of Oz"'39 as a wise old housemaid who gets after the Brat (Mary Tilford). Last but not least, you can catch Walter Brennan(Taxi Drive)"Sea of Lost Ships"'54, driving a bomb of a cab in the very beginning of this great film classic. Enjoy this great FILM.

This comment may contain general spoilers.

I swear this has to be the BEST child acting i've ever seen in a classic film in years, and i watch so many classics it's ridiculous. Sure, Mickey Rooney was a capable actor but sometimes I feel he IS acting. With the children in These Three, I was dumbstruck. William Wyler had his hands full w/ child actors in this film and Kudos w/ a capital K to Bill for pulling the best out of everyone.

Bonita Granville as Mary Tilford does a mind-blowing job grasping a tremendously dramatic role and she did it so believably and without force that her blackmailing threat to Rosalie and the confrontation scene w/ grandmother, and bulk of cast, I got goosebumps. She carried the part very much like Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage in her famous "wipe my mouth" scene. She did the scene so delicately, so conniving, with such convincing facial expressions and tonal inflections that I was spellbound. Marcia Jones as Rosalie was quite good herself to the point it makes me wonder what the poor girl was threatened with before the scene was shot.

I must say, too, that it is great to see Merle Oberon using her face in a way that doesn't make her look demented such as in Wuthering Heights. It was great to see her more natural, less possessed looking w/ her eyes. In this movie, she definitely was reeled in quite a bit and i credit Wyler for that. Miriam Hopkins was as beautiful, soulful and sad as ever.

Overall, I believe the child actor Bonita Granville stole the entire film, but I could feel Marcia's fear of her secret being discovered and punishment to ensue. I could feel Miriam's longing and Merle's calm sense of decency. As I said before, William Wyler managed to get performances that were spot on for the film, keeping the tone, believability and atmosphere as convincing as films of the 30s could be.

The cinematography was done very well, and Gregg Toland, who had his life cut short at 44, was very much a master of lighting and unique camera angles. A feeling of intimacy was established in a lot of the scenes in ways I can say I've never seen shot before. The 3 leads, standing in Ms. Tilford's living room on the day they go to find out what the issue is, standing side by side, and Toland puts the camera behind them. That little subtle angle conveyed so much emotionally that i'm surprised it wasn't mimicked over and over by every DP worldwide. He went on to DP such greats as Intermezzo, Citizen Kane, Little Foxes, and more, where his influential yet extremely subtle camera and lighting from These Three was turned on it's head, showing his extreme versatility.

This is a great film, especially for it's era. I'm a harsh critic, so I give it a 6.

In Lillian Hellman's original play, THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, the scandal involved lesbianism--certainly NOT a topic they were allowed to address in Hollywood in the strengthened Production Code era. Starting around 1935, Hollywood bowed to pressure to clean up the movies and feature more wholesome images. While today some see this as a totally negative thing, you must understand that nudity, violence, crudeness and very adult topics were frequently used in films and there was no rating system. So, kids might go to the theaters and see rather graphic nude swimming scenes (TARZAN AND HIS MATE and BIRD OF PARADISE are good examples) or Frank McHugh giving someone "the finger" (PARATROOPER). As a result, SOME sort of system needed to be created, though I will admit some of the resulting products from Hollywood were a bit bland. In regard to THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, there was no way the studios would be allowed to discuss homosexuality during this era, so they changed the allegations to promiscuity between a man and a woman. This did NOT appreciably alter the play nor its impact and reportedly Miss Hellman was happy with the film despite this minor change--minor in that it resulted in only minor alterations to the script and kept the overall message intact.

The resulting film, THESE THREE, was produced by David O. Selznick, directed by William Wyler and starred Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon and Joel McCrea. With this terrific combination of talents and the Hellman script, it certainly isn't much of a surprise that the film was excellent throughout--and one of the better pictures of the 1930s. About the only negative at all about the play was the performance of young Bonita Granville. While generally very good (earning her an Oscar nomination), it was at times also a tad over-the-top--and she acted so histrionic that you wonder what sane person would believe all of her lies!!! If this had been toned down just a bit (making her a little more subtle), the film would have earned a 10. As it is, it's still a terrific film with an original and wonderful script.

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.

Bonita Granville, in a remarkable performance, spreads vicious gossip and malicious rumors while never losing the affect of childhood innocence. Hopkins is 100% believable as the defiant teacher on the spot and Oberon complements her lead with a rather understated performance. Alma Kruger is wonderful as Granville's mother. In an amusing irony, the teachers finally find peace and self-respect in 1936 Germany !!! Nevertheless, this is an excellent film all around.

I have seen "The Children's Hour" with Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn and James Garner a couple of times, and I realize that it is truer to the original play and had a definite shock value in 1961. But "These Three" is far more engaging. Miriam Hopkins (generally not one of my favorites), Merle Oberon and McCrae are far more appealing and the performances of Bonita Granville and Marcia Mae Jones are among the best child performances I've ever seen. Granville, who was also good as Bette Davis' thoughtless niece in "Now, Voyager" a few years later, makes a better young villainess than Patricia McCormack in "The Bad Seed."

Did you know The Children's Hour was a remake? The original was titled These Three, and due to the Production Code, Lillian Hellman's plot had to be altered. In 1936, lesbianism was a no-no, so instead, one woman is accused of having an affair with her friend's fiancé. That was scandal enough!

Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins run a girls' boarding school and live in separate rooms upstairs. Merle is engaged to Joel McCrea, and he frequently comes over for visits. When one disgruntled pupil, Bonita Granville, gets angry at Miriam, she lies and spreads it around that she saw Joel disappear into the wrong bedroom one night. It's vicious and mean-spirited, and it shows how awful some children can be. While both film adaptations are very good, it's hard for me to watch them because Bonita's character is so awful. Children can be careless creatures without awareness for the damage they do. Those who believe kids to be sweet, innocent cherubs haven't seen this movie.

A fun fact about the film: In the remake, Miriam Hopkins played her own aunt! Shirley MacLaine took her part, and Miriam played the self-centered aunt. It was fun to see her come out of the woodworks to act in the remake, and she was joined by another silver screen veteran: Fay Bainter.

This is pretty much a perfect film: emotional, thoughtful and engaging. It begins with a light hearted mood, lulling you into a comfy, happy place with people you care about. Then as their world crumbles, you feel the earth beneath your own feet fall away.

There's nothing wrong with a melodrama when like this, you're emotionally dragged into what feels like the real lives of real people. William Wyler was a master of both bringing stories to life and making you feel you are actually there, breathing the same air as those you're watching. This is directed with perfect pace, beautifully photographed, flawlessly acted but above all really enrages you as the seeds of injustice, fertilised by gossip grow into a strangling web of weeds.

This is considered to be the first feature film that was better than the play it was based on. Despite the lie being made more palatable for the 1930 censors, Hellman's theme that lies and narrow-mindedness can destroy lives is still retained. I am now inspired to see Wyler's second stab at this he made in 1961 where the original lesbian scandal is reinstated. Apparently that version with Audrey Hepburn doing Merle Oberon's role and Shirley MacLaine doing Miriam Hopkins' role - with Hopkins then playing the older aunt is equally as good as this.

Everyone told Sam Goldwyn that he had to be crazy to buy the film rights to this one. At the time (1930s), the lesbian theme of the play would have made a film version impossible to release. But, Goldwyn and Lillian Hellman came up with a version that kept intact the other central theme (the vicious lie told by Mary Tilford, the young girl played by Bonita Granville and the resulting damage to "These Three" lives). Of interest to trivia buffs is the fact that Miriam Hopkins (known by many as a "difficult" actress in her Hollywood years), who played Martha in this version, was brought back to play Martha's aunt (Lily Mortar) in the later (1960s) William Wyler version, which reverted to the original title of THE CHILDREN'S HOUR, and starred Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. That version also was graced by the brilliant performance of Fay Bainter, who played Mary Tilford's grandmother. Watch her especially closely as she exits, after making her (rejected)apology and offer of restitution. Want a real treat? Read Hellman's script for the Broadway play ... and then watch both film versions, in either order.

Lillian Hellman was quite an insightful writer. Writing a play that could have easily been thrown on the enormous pile of soap operas produced by Hollywood, and turning it into a work that seriously examines the interaction of teachers and students within a boarding school is not an easy task. But Hellman accomplished this task with style. Outstanding performances by a radiant Merle Oberon, a soulful Miriam Hopkins, and an earnest Joel McCrea make this not only the Queen of Soaps, but a fine drama as well. Bonita Granville steals much of the film as Mary. Add a star if you are a fan of complex soaps.

This movie was directed by William Wyler and he also directed a remake in 1961 that was actually better than this one. This version stars Merle Oberon and Miriam Hopkins as friends who open a school for young girls. Joel McCrea is a local doctor who loves Oberon and they get engaged but Hopkins loves him too and they don't know. Bonita Granville is a spoiled brat at the school who hates to be punished so she decides to get back at Oberon and Hopkins. Granville finds out Hopkins loves McCrea and she starts a rumor that Hopkins slept with McCrea and everyone finds out and takes their kids out of the school. In this version they leave out the part about them being lesbians like they had in the remake and this version has a much more upbeat ending then the remake.

Now more than 80 years old - "These Three" (from 1936) lets you clearly see just how Hollywood actually handled a "forbidden love" story once the tyrannical "Hays Code" was in effect. Like - Hello!?

Believe me - This particular "love triangle" situation (involving 2 beauties and one hunk) never, ever speaks out its name. Ever. Nope. Not even once.

These Three's story is nothing but an exercise in total sexual innuendo that skirts around, and around, and around its subject matter (ho-hum!) to the point of becoming downright nerve-racking from the perspective of the frustrated viewer.

These Three's screenplay was written by Lillian Hellman. It was directed by William Wyler.