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These Three
Original poster
Directed byWilliam Wyler
Written byLillian Hellman
Based onThe Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman
Produced bySamuel Goldwyn
StarringMiriam Hopkins
Merle Oberon
Joel McCrea
Bonita Granville
CinematographyGregg Toland
Edited byDaniel Mandell
Music byAlfred Newman
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • March 18, 1936 (1936-03-18)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

These Three is a 1936 American drama film directed by William Wyler and written by Lillian Hellman, based on her play The Children's Hour. Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrea, and Bonita Granville stars.

A 1961 remake of the film, also directed by Wyler, was released as The Children's Hour in the US and The Loudest Whisper in the UK.[1]

Plot

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Following graduation, college friends Karen Wright and Martha Dobie transform Karen's Massachusetts farm into a boarding school. Although new to the area, they are able to find pupils with the assistance of the wealthy Amelia Tilford, who enrolls her malevolent granddaughter Mary and encourages other families to enroll their daughters. Shortly before the school opens, Martha's aunt, Lily Mortar, arrives and forces her way into a teaching position as a way to continue sponging off Martha.

Karen and local doctor Joe Cardin begin to date, unaware that Martha is in love with him. One evening, Joe falls asleep in a chair in Martha's room while waiting for Karen to return to the school. He wakes with a start and breaks a glass, which wakes up Mary Tilford. Before he leaves, he casually refers to his and Karen's plans to marry, and Mary watches from the shadows as Martha sobs quietly once she thinks she is alone.

When Karen punishes Mary for missing classes and lying, Mary acts as though she has a pain and falls to the floor in a faint. Although they are not convinced by Mary's performance, Karen and Martha call Joe to examine her. While Joe and Karen are busy with Mary, Martha decides to finally fire Aunt Lily, who is not a good teacher. Lily feels slighted, even though Martha offers to continue to support her, and they have an argument before she goes, during which Lily confronts Martha with her suspicions about the young woman's true feelings for Joe. Martha hears a noise and discovers Rosalie Wells and Evelyn Munn, who are Mary's roommates, listening at the door. Flustered, she accidentally closes the door on Rosalie's arm, slightly injuring her. Back in their room, Evelyn tells Mary about the argument between Martha and Lily.

Feeling persecuted, Mary decides to run away from the school. When her grandmother Amelia just wants to send her back, she tells Amelia a grossly distorted version both of what she witnessed between Martha and Joe and of the argument between Martha and Lily, suggesting Martha and Joe engaged in an illicit sexual affair. To verify the story, Mary has Amelia talk to Rosalie, who she has brought with her and coerced by threatening to reveal that Rosalie stole another student's bracelet. Mary even says that Martha injured Rosalie's arm intentionally. Amelia is shocked by the revelation of a love triangle between Karen, Joe, and Martha, and alerts the other parents who have girls at the school, all of whom withdraw their daughters.

The trio sue Amelia for slander, but they lose their case. Karen and Martha are unable to enroll any new students, and Joe is fired from his job at the hospital. Lily returns, but Martha resents her for not coming back to testify during the case and tells her to leave. Joe asks Karen to come with him to Vienna, where he has gotten a job. She balks when he mentions that Martha is also invited and finally asks if there was ever anything between Martha and him. Unable to fully believe his denial after what she heard in court, she tells him to go to Vienna by himself.

Once Joe is gone, Martha admits to Karen that she loves Joe, though she says she never told him, and then gets on the same train as Lily. In passing, Lily mentions having seen Mary and Rosalie with the missing bracelet, and Martha realizes what happened. She gets off the train and convinces Rosalie to tell Amelia the truth. Amelia offers Martha compensation, but Martha refuses, asking only that Amelia take Karen a message from her: "stay with Joe, wherever he is." Martha leaves, Amelia talks to Karen, and Karen goes to Vienna to be with Joe.

Cast

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Production

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Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour was inspired by the true story of two Scottish school teachers whose lives were destroyed in 1810 when they were falsely accused by one of their students of engaging in a lesbian relationship. At the time, the mention of homosexuality on stage was illegal in New York State, but authorities chose to overlook the play's subject matter when its Broadway production was acclaimed by critics.[2]

Because the Hays Code, which was in effect when the film was produced, would never permit a film to focus on or even hint at lesbianism, Samuel Goldwyn was the only producer interested in purchasing the film rights to the play. He signed Hellman to adapt her play for the screen, and the playwright changed the lie from being that the two school teachers were lovers to it being that one of the teachers had slept with the other's fiancé. The Hays Office even prevented the use of, or a reference to, the play's original title, so Hellman also changed the title of her script to The Lie; it was not until after principal photography was completed that the film was rechristened These Three.[2]

Goldwyn had already cast the three leads when he offered William Wyler, who, until then, had helmed mostly B pictures and Westerns, the opportunity to direct the film, along with a five-year contract. This film would be the first of eight films Wyler and Goldwyn would work on together. Although Wyler wasn't completely happy with Goldwyn's casting choices, he accepted the offer, though he insisted on a three-year contract instead. He tried to convince Goldwyn to replace contract player Joel McCrea with Leslie Howard, but the producer refused and, unwisely, told McCrea about Wyler's preference, which led to difficulties between the actor and director during filming.[2]

The Lux Radio Theatre aired a one-hour adaptation of the film on December 6, 1937, with Barbara Stanwyck as Martha Dobie, Errol Flynn as Dr. Joe Cardin, Mary Astor as Karen Wright, and Constance Collier as Lily Mortar. Alma Kruger and Marcia Mae Jones reprised their roles from the film as Amelia Tilford and Rosalie Wells, respectively.[3]

Critical reception

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Frank S. Nugent of The New York Times wrote: "Miss Hellman's job of literary carpentry is little short of brilliant. Upon the framework of her stage success she has constructed an absorbing, tautly written and dramatically vital screen play. To it, in turn, a gifted cast headed by Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins and Joel McCrea has contributed lavishly of its talents, aided by superb direction and exceptionally fine photography. In its totality the picture emerges as one of the finest screen dramas in recent years . . . Strong, turbulent and caustic, These Three is an unusual picture and it has been brought to the screen with perception, beauty and a keen sense of drama."[4]

The review in Variety said of Bonita Granville and Marcia Mae Jones: "Theirs are inspired performances." It added: "Hellman, if anything, has improved upon the original in scripting the triangle as a dramatis personae of romantic frustration, three basically wholesome victims of an unwholesome combination of circumstance. McCrea was never better in translating a difficult assignment intelligently and sympathetically. The well bred restraint of Hopkins and Oberon in their travail with the mixture of juvenile emotions at their boarding school is likewise impressive."[5]

Writing for The Spectator in 1936, Graham Greene observed: "I have seldom been so moved by any fictional film . . . After ten minutes or so of the usual screen sentiment, quaintness and exaggeration, one began to watch the incredulous pleasure of nothing less than life."[2] Greene praised the acting of the protagonists portrayed by Oberon, Hopkins, and, to a lesser extent, McCrea, as well as the "shocking mastery" of the performances by Granville and Jones as the antagonists.[6]

The review in Film Daily read, in part: "Tense, dramatic, this is one of the most powerful pictures that has come to the talking screen . . . Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon give splendid performances, but it is the work of little Bonita Granville, as the troublemaker, which will attract the most attention."[7]

John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote that "quite a good piece of work has been done with this somewhat problematic drama". He added: "With all the drastic alterations made in the plot, it is surprising how many of the original episodes and scenes have been retained."[8]

In the 21st century, TVGuide.com rated the film 4½ out of five stars, calling it "gripping, adult cinema" and commenting that "Oberon gives one of her best dramatic performances and McCrea is also quite fine. The two child actresses have the showiest parts, but the real performances to watch are those of Alma Kruger and Miriam Hopkins. Hopkins, in particular, has rarely been better, her intense, high-strung quality perfectly suited to the role of a woman unable to stop her world from falling apart around her."[9]

Awards and nominations

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At the first ceremony at which the category was contested, Bonita Granville was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to Gale Sondergaard (who won for her performance in Anthony Adverse).[citation needed]

References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

These Three

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These Three is a 1936 American drama film directed by and produced by , serving as an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour, with the central accusation of lesbianism between two female schoolteachers revised to a heterosexual affair involving one teacher and the school's doctor to evade prohibitions under the Motion Picture Production Code. The story centers on lifelong friends Martha Dobie () and Karen Wright (), who operate a private girls' school, only for their enterprise and personal lives to unravel after a spiteful student, Mary Tilford (), spreads a vicious lie that destroys their reputations. Wyler's direction earned the film acclaim for its emotional depth and technical precision, including innovative use of deep-focus cinematography, while Hellman's retained the play's exploration of , , and social despite the thematic alterations necessitated by . Bonita Granville's portrayal of the manipulative child garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, highlighting the film's impact on recognizing young performers, though the production faced challenges from the era's strict moral guidelines that diluted the source material's provocative intent. The movie's release underscored tensions between artistic expression and industry self-regulation, influencing later adaptations like the 1961 remake The Children's Hour, which restored the original accusation after Code relaxation.

Origins and Development

Source Material: The Children's Hour

The Children's Hour is a three-act play written by American playwright , first performed on Broadway at the Maxine Elliott's Theatre in on November 20, 1934, under the production and direction of Herman Shumlin. The work ran for 691 performances, closing on July 4, 1936, marking a commercial success amid controversy over its subject matter. Hellman drew inspiration from the 1811 Scottish court case Woods-Pirie, in which two female schoolteachers were accused of lesbianism based on unsubstantiated student testimony, though the play fictionalizes the events by emphasizing the rumor-spreading mechanism and its irreversible consequences. The plot centers on Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, two unmarried women who co-own and operate , a private academy for girls in a rural during the early [20th century](/page/20th century). Trouble arises when Mary Tilford, a manipulative and sickly , runs away from the and fabricates a tale to her grandmother, Mrs. Lily Mortar (Martha's aunt and a teacher at the ), claiming to have witnessed Karen and Martha in a lesbian embrace; Mary recruits a younger , Rosalie, to corroborate the lie under duress. The accusation spreads rapidly, prompting parents to withdraw their daughters en masse, isolating the women socially and financially; Karen's fiancé, Dr. Joseph Cardin, initially defends her but ultimately abandons the relationship amid the . In a climactic confrontation, Martha confesses to Karen that she has harbored unspoken romantic feelings toward her, validating the rumor's core in her mind despite its malicious origin, before hanging herself; the play concludes with Karen confronting Mrs. Tilford, who admits Mary's history of deceit but refuses restitution, underscoring the permanence of . Thematically, the play examines the destructive force of unfounded gossip and its amplification through authority figures, portraying how a child's lie can dismantle adult lives without empirical proof or legal recourse. It critiques societal intolerance toward perceived deviance, particularly female homosexuality, which Hellman presents not as the primary fault but as a pretext exploited by envy and power imbalances within interpersonal and institutional dynamics. Though the accusation originates as fiction, Martha's self-realization introduces causal ambiguity about the rumor's partial truth, challenging simplistic narratives of innocence versus malice. The work faced bans in London and several U.S. cities due to its handling of lesbianism, reflecting era-specific moral panics, yet its Broadway longevity demonstrated audience tolerance for realist drama probing human frailty over didactic moralizing.

Adaptation Challenges and Changes

The primary challenge in adapting Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour into the 1936 film These Three stemmed from the Motion Picture Production Code, enforced more stringently after 1934, which explicitly forbade depictions of "sex perversion," including homosexuality. The play's central plot revolves around a malicious student's false accusation of lesbianism between two female teachers, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, leading to social ruin, Martha's confession of unspoken attraction to Karen, and her subsequent suicide. To comply, Hellman, who authored the screenplay, transposed the rumor to a heterosexual infidelity triangle: the accusation shifts to Karen allegedly sleeping with Martha's fiancé, Dr. Joseph Cardin, while introducing Cardin as a central character absent from the play's focus on the women's relationship. This alteration enforced a normative heterosexual framework, erasing the play's exploration of same-sex desire and replacing it with conventional romantic rivalry. Censors identified additional issues beyond the "degenerate" lesbian theme, including the "sadistic nature" of the student Mary Tilford, Martha's confession of internal "mental perversity," and the suicide, which violated Code prohibitions on suggesting sexual abnormality or graphic despair. Hellman reluctantly acquiesced to these demands to secure production under producer , retaining screen credit and subsidiary rights to enable a future faithful adaptation, as realized in Wyler's 1961 remake. The film's title change to These Three—referencing Karen, Martha, and Cardin—further distanced it from the play's incriminating name, which evoked Longfellow's poem about but carried taboo connotations under . Despite these concessions, the preserved core elements like the destructive power of and Mary's manipulative , with Wyler emphasizing psychological realism through close-ups and nuanced performances to imply lingering emotional between the women. Martha's arc diverges sharply: instead of , she rejects the false narrative with defiance, survives the , and affirms her bond with Karen, softening the play's tragic inevitability to align with Code-mandated moral uplift. Hellman later defended the changes as necessary compromises that retained the story's essence of rumor-induced devastation, though critics have noted the erasure diminished the play's of repressed sexuality. These modifications highlight the era's institutional constraints on narrative candor, prioritizing commercial viability over the source material's unflinching examination of accusations.

Pre-Production Decisions

purchased the screen rights to Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour for $40,000 shortly after its Broadway premiere on November 20, 1934. Recognizing the commercial potential of the story despite its controversial elements, Goldwyn proceeded with development under his , aiming to adapt it into a viable Hollywood feature amid the recently strengthened enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code. The primary pre-production challenge stemmed from the Hays Code's prohibitions on depictions of homosexuality as "sexual perversity," leading to the decision to excise the play's accusation and replace it with a rumor of heterosexual between one , her friend, and the friend's fiancé. Hellman, already under contract with Goldwyn as a , was assigned to pen the herself; she consented to the alterations, preserving character names and much of the dialogue while restructuring the plot to focus on a , and the title was changed to These Three to obscure ties to the source material. Production Code Administration head personally oversaw script revisions to ensure compliance, approving the revised version after confirming the removal of homosexual themes. William Wyler was chosen as director on Hellman's recommendation, leveraging his recent successes that had caught Goldwyn's attention during a period of the producer's declining output. Casting emphasized established stars for marketability: was selected for the role of Martha Dobie, for Karen Wright, and for Dr. Joseph Cardin, with ' prior dramatic range aligning with the intensified emotional demands of the revised narrative. These choices prioritized actors capable of conveying relational tension without explicit taboo content, facilitating the film's passage through while retaining dramatic intensity.

Production

Casting and Performances

portrayed Martha Dobie, the emotionally vulnerable teacher harboring unspoken feelings for her colleague's fiancé, while played Karen Wright, the school's co-founder and more resilient partner in the central . embodied Dr. Joseph Cardin, the doctor engaged to Karen but drawn into scandal through false accusations of infidelity. In supporting roles, Catherine Doucet appeared as the scheming aunt Lily Mortar, as the wealthy but credulous Mrs. Amelia Tilford, and as the manipulative student Mary Tilford, whose lie drives the plot's crisis. Other notable child performers included as the guilt-ridden Rosalie Wells, whose coerced perjury amplifies the rumor. Contemporary critics lauded the ensemble's emotional depth under William Wyler's direction. The highlighted Oberon's "finest performances" to date, with Hopkins and McCrea equally impressive in conveying the characters' anguish, though ultimate praise went to Granville's portrayal of the vicious yet believable child antagonist. Variety commended the cast's collective talent for elevating Lillian Hellman's adapted into a gripping drama, emphasizing their ability to sustain tension amid the Hays Code's constraints on explicit themes. Granville's turn as Mary earned her the first-ever Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, recognizing her scene-stealing intensity as the film's most dynamic force. Later evaluations have affirmed ' nuanced handling of Martha's internal conflict, describing it as brilliant in capturing repressed turmoil without overt sentimentality. McCrea's sympathetic doctor and Oberon's poised Karen were seen as believable romantic leads, grounding the in relatable conviction, though some noted the adult trio's effectiveness partly overshadowed by the younger actors' raw edge. Jones' depiction of Rosalie's moral torment similarly drew acclaim for its disturbing authenticity, underscoring the film's strength in child performances amid adult restraint.

Filming and Technical Aspects

Principal photography for These Three occurred primarily at Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Hollywood, with exterior scenes captured at Franklin Canyon Reservoir in the and at the . The production adhered to standard 1930s Hollywood practices, utilizing black-and-white 35mm to achieve a runtime of 93 minutes. Cinematography was provided by , in his inaugural collaboration with director out of seven total projects together. Toland's work emphasized visual intensity through careful composition, including expressive long shots of the setting that underscored thematic isolation, though it predated the deep-focus innovations Toland would refine in later films like . Wyler's directing approach featured extended long takes and a probing camera movement to foster realism and capture nuanced performances, often staging actors in depth to evoke spatial constriction mirroring the characters' emotional . This technique, honed through Wyler's insistence on numerous retakes—sometimes exceeding 50 per scene—prioritized continuous action over rapid cuts, enhancing dramatic continuity. Editing duties fell to Daniel Mandell, who maintained narrative momentum while preserving Wyler's preferred unbroken sequences. Sound design, typical of mid-1930s synchronous recording, integrated dialogue and effects to heighten tension, with Wyler leveraging audio cues—such as whispers and accusations—to amplify psychological realism without overt stylization.

Role of the Hays Code

The Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code, enforced from July 1, 1934, by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA), played a decisive role in shaping the 1936 film These Three by prohibiting any depiction or inference of homosexuality, classified under the Code's ban on "sex perversion." The Code's Section II on "Sex" explicitly forbade content that undermined marriage or suggested non-normative sexual relations, requiring all films to obtain a Certificate of Approval from the Production Code Administration (PCA) headed by Joseph Breen to ensure nationwide distribution without state or local censorship bans. For These Three, an adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour—which centered on a false accusation of a lesbian relationship between two schoolteachers—the Code necessitated a fundamental alteration of the source material's core conflict to a heterosexual love triangle involving an alleged affair between one teacher and the fiancé of the other. Hellman, who penned the screenplay herself under producer Samuel Goldwyn's auspices, implemented these changes to secure PCA approval, retitling the work These Three to distance it from the play's explicit themes and renaming characters—such as changing the accused teachers Karen and to Karen and , but shifting the slander to rather than same-sex attraction. This preserved the play's structure of , social ostracism, and reputational ruin but sanitized the "perversion" element, allowing the film to pass PCA review without revisions; Breen's office certified it on March 5, 1936, confirming compliance with moral standards upheld by religious groups like the Catholic Legion of Decency, which had pressured Hollywood into stricter . The changes maintained dramatic tension through the destructive power of but avoided the play's exploration of desire, reflecting the Code's broader aim to align cinema with conventional Protestant and Catholic ethics amid 1930s . The Hays Code's influence extended beyond plot to thematic emphasis, foregrounding heterosexual romance and fidelity—evident in the film's resolution where the innocent characters reconcile romantically—while excising any ambiguity that could imply deviance, a concession that Hellman later described as necessary for commercial viability but which diluted the original's critique of hypocrisy and intolerance toward non-conforming relationships. Director William Wyler, working under Goldwyn, navigated these constraints by focusing on performances that conveyed emotional devastation without visual or dialogic breaches, such as subtle glances and denials that skirted Code violations. Contemporary reviewers, including those in Variety and The New York Times, praised the film for its "improved" heterosexual framing over the play, attributing its success to evading censorship pitfalls that had banned similar pre-Code works. This compliance enabled These Three to achieve wide release on March 18, 1936, grossing over $1.5 million domestically, but it also exemplified how the Code suppressed nuanced portrayals of human sexuality until its erosion in the late 1950s, paving the way for the 1961 remake The Children's Hour.

Synopsis

Plot Summary

Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, recent college graduates and lifelong friends, convert Karen's family farm in into a for young girls, securing startup funding from local physician Dr. Joseph "Joe" Cardin, who becomes engaged to Karen. Martha's eccentric aunt, Lily Mortar, joins as the instructor but soon quits amid interpersonal tensions, including complaints about her teaching methods and demands for better accommodations. The school's primary disciplinary challenge is 12-year-old student Mary Tilford, a habitual liar and manipulator whose grandmother, wealthy widow Mrs. Amelia Tilford, exerts significant influence in the community. Punished by Karen and Martha for cheating on an exam and lying about it, Mary feigns illness to delay returning home and confides in her grandmother that she overheard and witnessed passionately kissing Joe—implying an adulterous affair and that harbors romantic feelings for her friend's fiancé. Alarmed, Mrs. Tilford withdraws Mary from the and telephones other parents, igniting a that portrays as a romantic rival to Karen and the as morally compromised; enrollment plummets to zero as families pull their daughters, financially ruining the institution and isolating the principals socially. Joe defends the women publicly but faces repercussions, while Karen postpones the amid doubts fueled by the scandal. Seeking redress, Karen and Martha sue Mrs. Tilford for slander in court. During testimony, Martha breaks down and confesses her suppressed, unrequited attraction to Joe, inadvertently lending partial credence to the rumor's core allegation of romantic impropriety and causing the judge to dismiss the case. The turning point comes when Mary's classmate Rosalie Wells, intimidated by Mary into providing false corroboration of the kiss, recants under cross-examination, exposing Mary's fabrication as a vengeful ploy. Confronted with the truth, Mrs. Tilford slaps Mary in remorse and attempts to apologize to Karen, who rejects the overture. In a conciliatory resolution, Karen forgives Martha's confession, Joe reaffirms his commitment, and the couple reunites, allowing the film to conclude on an optimistic note of restored relationships despite lingering emotional scars.

Key Themes and Motifs

The central theme of These Three revolves around the corrosive power of lies and , illustrating how a single can dismantle personal reputations, professional endeavors, and intimate bonds within a tightly knit . In the narrative, a manipulative student's claim that one is engaged in with the other's fiancé escalates into widespread , forcing the closure of the protagonists' and leading to profound emotional and , as unproven rumors supplant factual innocence. This underscores the fragility of social trust, where functions as a weapon capable of inflicting irreversible harm regardless of the underlying truth. Lillian Hellman's screenplay adaptation preserves the essence of destructive falsehoods from her source play The Children's Hour (1934), but reframes the accusation from an implied same-sex relationship to heterosexual infidelity involving jealousy and betrayal among the trio of adults, thereby evading Hays Code prohibitions on homosexual themes while emphasizing that the lie's propagation—not its specific content—drives the tragedy. The theme extends to critiques of puritanical judgment, depicting a society prone to moral hysteria and swift condemnation, where the accused bear the burden of disproving innuendo amid entrenched biases against perceived deviance. Recurring motifs include the weaponization of childhood , embodied by the deceitful pupil Mary Tilford, whose fabricated story exploits adult deference to youthful , highlighting the peril of unchecked innocence masking malice. The rural setting serves as a microcosm for broader communal dynamics, where enclosed spaces amplify rumor diffusion and enforce rigid ethical scrutiny, mirroring real-world mechanisms of through whispered allegations. Visual and echoes of isolation—such as characters' progressive withdrawal into solitude—reinforce motifs of reputational contagion, portraying as an insidious force that erodes and self-perception.

Release and Reception

Initial Box Office and Critical Response

"These Three" premiered on March 18, 1936, at the Rivoli Theatre in , marking a significant release for under producer . The film achieved moderate commercial success at the , performing reasonably well relative to its production costs and contributing to Goldwyn's reputation for quality dramas, though exact gross figures from the era remain sparsely documented in contemporary records. Initial critical reception was predominantly favorable, with reviewers commending director William Wyler's handling of sensitive material and the strong ensemble performances. described the film as "an unusual picture" executed "with perception, beauty and a keen sense of drama," highlighting its emotional depth despite deviations from Lillian Hellman's original play "The Children's Hour." Variety praised the adaptation's fortification by the "socko trio" of , , and , noting how the shift in thematic focus from lesbianism to infidelity preserved dramatic potency while navigating production code restrictions. Some critics acknowledged the alterations as a concession to but deemed the revised narrative effective in conveying and romance, with the film's resolution providing a poignant, if softened, emotional payoff compared to the play's stark ending. Overall, responses emphasized the film's technical polish and acting prowess, positioning it as a mature entry in pre-Code transition Hollywood cinema, though a subset of reviews noted varied opinions on its thematic dilutions.

Awards and Recognition

"These Three" received a single nomination at the in 1937 for Best Supporting Actress, awarded to for her portrayal of the malicious child Mary Tilford. This marked the film's only Oscar recognition and made Granville, at age 14, the first nominated in that category. The award ultimately went to for "." Director William Wyler earned a nomination from the New York Film Critics Circle for Best Director in 1936, though he did not win; the honor went to Frank Capra for "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town." The film also secured a Photoplay Award as one of the Best Pictures of the Month for May 1936, a recognition from the popular film magazine highlighting contemporary audience and critical appeal. Despite its thematic boldness under Hays Code constraints, "These Three" garnered no major competitive wins, reflecting the era's selective acclaim for dramas addressing social issues through veiled narratives. Subsequent retrospective honors have been limited, with the film's legacy more tied to its production challenges and influence than formal accolades.

Modern Reassessments

In contemporary scholarship, These Three is frequently reevaluated as a product of the Motion Picture Production Code's stringent enforcement beginning in , which compelled screenwriter to substitute the play's accusation with a heterosexual rumor to evade prohibitions on "sexual perversity." , head of the Production Code Administration, explicitly required these modifications, including the title change from The Children's Hour, rendering the film a study in evasion rather than direct confrontation with the source material's themes. This adaptation preserved the narrative's core mechanism of destructive gossip while diluting its specificity, allowing the film to pass censorship and achieve commercial success upon its March 1936 release. Film historians commend director William Wyler's handling of the constraints, praising his use of deep-focus cinematography by and precise blocking to convey emotional isolation and mounting tension, as evident in scenes like the snowbound confrontation between and Joe. Bonita Granville's portrayal of the manipulative student Mary Tilford earned an nomination, underscoring the film's dramatic potency independent of its altered premise. Some analysts argue the 1936 version surpasses the 1961 remake in subtlety, with the heterosexual framing enabling broader resonance on themes of communal and reputational ruin, rather than fixating on explicit identity politics. Queer readings persist in modern criticism, positing subtextual "intrinsic queerness" in the unresolved intimacy between (Miriam Hopkins) and Karen (), such as Martha's poignant plea to cohabitate post-scandal, interpreted as echoing suppressed same-sex desires from the play. These interpretations, often framed within post-1960s LGBTQ+ , highlight how inadvertently amplified ambiguity, with promotional materials like the poster's "Tortured by a suppressed love!" hinting at elided elements. However, such views remain inferential, as the film's overt plot centers empirical dynamics of falsehood propagation and Puritanical judgment, unmoored from verifiable homosexual content.

Controversies and Criticisms

Censorship and Thematic Alterations

To comply with the Motion Picture Production Code, enforced strictly from mid-1934, producer and screenwriter altered the core premise of Hellman's 1934 play The Children's Hour, shifting the destructive rumor from an implied lesbian relationship between the two female schoolteachers to an accusation of heterosexual involving one and the fiancé of the other. The Code explicitly banned depictions of "sex perversion," interpreted to include , rendering the original plot unfilmable without risking rejection by the Production Code Administration (PCA). Joseph Breen, head of the PCA, required these modifications during script review, including the title change to These Three to conceal the source material and avoid scrutiny over its controversial themes. Hellman, who adapted her own play, incorporated a dynamic—introducing romantic rivalry over physician Joseph Cardin ()—to heteronormativize the narrative while preserving the emotional stakes of betrayal and reputational ruin. The PCA approved the final script and film on February 14, 1936, shortly before its March 18 release. Further adjustments softened tragic elements: in the play, co-teacher Martha Dobie (Miriam Hopkins) confronts her unspoken attraction to colleague Karen Wright (Merle Oberon) and dies by suicide, but the film version has her reject the scandal defiantly, surviving to rebuild her life and emphasizing heterosexual resolution with Cardin's choice between the women. These changes diluted the play's psychological depth on repressed desire and societal hypocrisy toward non-normative relationships, prioritizing Code-compliant moral uplift where the perjuring child (Bonita Granville) faces punishment, reinforcing themes of truth prevailing over "immoral" lies reconfigured as infidelity rather than deviance. Contemporary reviewers noted the sanitization, with some praising the adaptation for "improving" the source by avoiding "unnatural" elements, though the alterations sparked debate over Hollywood's stifling artistic fidelity to real-world scandals like the 1810 Mirick case inspiring the play. The PCA's influence extended to , ensuring no residual subtext survived in or visuals, such as excising any in the teachers' bond beyond . This preemptive evasion of outright bans—unlike outright rejections of other projects—highlighted the Code's on thematic exploration during .

Lillian Hellman's Credibility and Political Influences

, author of the 1934 play The Children's Hour on which These Three (1936) was based, maintained close ties to leftist causes throughout her career, including membership in the Communist Party of the (CPUSA) from to 1940. Her political engagements extended to supporting the Republican side in the and broader anti-fascist efforts, aligning her with fellow travelers in New York intellectual circles during the 1930s era. These affiliations shaped her worldview, evident in plays like (1941), which critiqued while reflecting sympathy for Soviet-aligned resistance, though The Children's Hour predated her formal CPUSA involvement and centered on themes of and social ostracism rather than explicit . Hellman's refusal to name associates during her 1952 appearance before the (HUAC) resulted in her blacklisting from Hollywood, curtailing film work after despite her earlier contributions, including scripting These Three to evade prohibitions on depicting lesbianism by substituting an adulterous affair. In her 1976 memoir Scoundrel Time, she denied ever holding CPUSA membership and framed the era's investigations as tyrannical inquisitions against , a narrative that critics argued whitewashed her Stalinist sympathies and the party's support for the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Hellman's credibility faced sharp scrutiny from contemporaries, culminating in novelist Mary McCarthy's 1979 Dick Cavett Show remark that "every word [Hellman] writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the,'" prompting Hellman to file a $2.25 million libel suit that remained unresolved at her death in 1984. Subsequent analyses, including examinations of (1973), uncovered fabrications such as the disputed "Julia" episode, where Hellman claimed personal involvement in funds to anti-Nazi operatives, later contradicted by archival and associates' testimonies. These revelations, amplified by McCarthy's defense and posthumous reviews, cast doubt on Hellman's factual reliability, with detractors attributing distortions to ideological revisionism rather than mere embellishment, thereby complicating interpretations of her oeuvre, including the lie-driven plot of These Three.

Cultural and Moral Debates

The alteration of Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour into the 1936 film These Three—replacing the accusation of lesbianism with one of heterosexual infidelity to evade the Motion Picture Production Code's ban on "sex perversion"—ignited debates over cinema's capacity to confront moral taboos without self-censorship. The Hays Office, enforcing standards rooted in prevailing , required this sanitization for approval, reflecting broader cultural anxieties about media's influence on public morality and youth. Proponents of the Code viewed such restrictions as essential to prevent the normalization of behaviors deemed deviant, arguing that direct depictions could erode familial and social structures; critics, however, contended that evasion undermined artistic truth, reducing the narrative's examination of intolerance to a less provocative commentary on gossip's harms. At its core, the film probes the moral fragility of reputation in small communities, where a single child's lie—motivated by spite—triggers irreversible consequences, including social exile, financial ruin, and one character's suicide. This aligns with empirical observations of rumor propagation: studies of defamation cases show false sexual allegations often persist due to confirmation bias and reluctance to challenge accusations involving minors, amplifying damage through lost livelihoods and isolation. Hellman, drawing from the 1810 Woods-Pirie libel trial in Scotland where similar pupil testimony nearly destroyed two teachers' careers, emphasized causal realism in how unverified claims override evidence, a dynamic the film preserves despite thematic shifts. Moral philosophers have cited such stories to argue for evidentiary thresholds in accusations, warning that moral panic—whether over heterosexuality or otherwise—prioritizes collective purity over individual justice, as seen in the film's climax where vindication arrives too late to avert tragedy. Later cultural reassessments highlight tensions between the film's heteronormative facade and latent readings, with some scholars interpreting the protagonists' bond as subtly evoking the original play's dynamics, thus critiquing puritanical fears of female intimacy irrespective of orientation. These interpretations, often from LGBTQ-focused analyses, risk retrofitting intent with contemporary lenses, overlooking the era's data-driven concerns: contemporaneous surveys, like those from the Payne Fund studies (1929–1933), linked cinematic portrayals of vice to fears, justifying Code-era restraints. Yet the film's enduring lesson—that lies weaponized by authority figures erode trust in institutions—transcends sexuality, underscoring a universal moral: societies must balance with , lest unfounded moral outrage perpetuates cycles of injustice.

Legacy and Impact

Influence on Later Adaptations

The 1936 film These Three, directed by William Wyler, directly preceded and informed his 1961 remake The Children's Hour, which restored the original lesbian accusation central to Lillian Hellman's 1934 play while retaining core narrative structures from the earlier adaptation. In These Three, Hellman altered the play's premise—replacing the rumor of a sexual relationship between the two female teachers with an accusation of adultery involving one teacher and the fiancé of the other—to comply with the Motion Picture Production Code's prohibitions on depicting homosexuality. Wyler's experience directing the censored version influenced the 1961 film's approach, as he reused elements like the boarding school setting, the manipulative child antagonist, and interpersonal tensions among the adults, but emphasized psychological depth in the restored queer theme after the Code's influence had diminished by the late 1950s. The 1961 adaptation starred Audrey Hepburn as Karen Wright and Shirley MacLaine as Martha Dobie, shifting from the 1936 cast of Miriam Hopkins and Merle Oberon, yet maintained Wyler's focus on the destructive power of gossip and reputational ruin. These Three's critical and commercial success—grossing over $1.3 million against a $425,000 budget and earning five Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture—validated the underlying story's appeal despite the thematic alterations, facilitating the for a faithful screen version a quarter-century later when cultural and regulatory constraints eased. This demonstrated how the 1936 film's evasion of preserved the play's dramatic viability, influencing producers to revisit the material with greater fidelity; Hellman again adapted her own work for the 1961 screenplay, incorporating details from the play's real-life inspiration, the 1810 Scottish libel case of Woods-Pirie and Woods v. Dame Cumming Gordon. The remake, released by on December 22, 1961, faced its own Production Code challenges but ultimately received a certificate after cuts, underscoring These Three's in testing tolerance for the story's scandal motif. Beyond Wyler's films, These Three indirectly shaped subsequent interpretations of Hellman's play through its emphasis on universal themes of and social , which persisted in stage revivals and unproduced projects. For instance, a announcement detailed a planned limited TV series adaptation by playwright for , retaining the 1930s setting and expanding on the historical libel case, though as of October 2025, the project remains in development without a . This prospective adaptation reflects the enduring legacy of the 1936 film's structural innovations, which decoupled the plot's emotional core from explicit elements to broaden , influencing modern retellings to prioritize relational betrayal over period-specific taboos.

Broader Cultural Significance

"These Three" exemplifies the constraints imposed by the Motion Picture Production Code, enacted in , which compelled filmmakers to alter narratives involving sexual deviance to avert federal censorship. By substituting the original play's accusation of lesbianism with one of , the film navigated Hays Office requirements while retaining the central motif of how unfounded rumors devastate reputations and lives. This adaptation underscored Hollywood's era of self-regulation, where studios prioritized commercial viability over artistic fidelity, reflecting broader societal pressures to uphold prevailing moral standards amid fears of moral decay in the Depression era. The film's portrayal of puritanical and the fragility of social standing resonated with contemporary anxieties about gossip's corrosive effects in insular communities, drawing from real-life inspirations like the 1810 involving a Scottish schoolteacher falsely accused of lesbianism, which Hellman referenced in her play. It highlighted causal mechanisms whereby a child's malice, amplified by adult prejudices, triggers irreversible consequences, critiquing the irrationality of collective judgment without endorsing progressive ideologies. This thematic core influenced public discourse on personal integrity versus communal vindictiveness, as evidenced by period reviews praising its moral inquiry despite the sanitization. In the broader cinematic landscape, "These Three" contributed to evolving standards of thematic depth under , paving the way for post-Code films to revisit suppressed subjects more directly, as seen in the 1961 remake. Its success—grossing over $1.5 million domestically—demonstrated that audiences accepted nuanced explorations of human frailty when framed heteronormatively, reinforcing industry practices of coded storytelling that evaded explicit prohibitions while probing ethical boundaries. Modern analyses often retroactively emphasize erased elements, yet the film's enduring value lies in its empirical depiction of as a social , independent of later ideological overlays.

Historical Context in Hollywood

The film These Three, released on March 18, 1936, by , was produced amid the stringent enforcement of the (), which major Hollywood studios had adopted in 1930 to preempt government censorship but began rigorously applying from July 1934 onward under Joseph Breen's oversight at the Production Code Administration (PCA). This shift followed public outcry over pre-Code films of the early , which featured explicit , , and social taboos, prompting moral campaigns by groups including Protestant and Catholic organizations. The Code's General Principles mandated that films uphold moral standards, prohibiting depictions that could "lower the moral standards of those who see" them, with specific bans on "sex perversion" encompassing . Samuel Goldwyn's adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 1934 Broadway play The Children's Hour—inspired by a 19th-century Scottish defamation case involving lesbianism rumors—required substantial plot alterations to secure PCA approval. The original play's central accusation of an illicit lesbian relationship between teachers Karen Wright and Martha Dobie was recast as a heterosexual adulterous affair between Karen and Dr. Joseph Cardin, Martha's fiancé, to evade prohibitions on non-normative sexual themes. Hellman, who penned the screenplay, collaborated with director William Wyler to retain the narrative's emphasis on destructive gossip and social ostracism while introducing romantic subplots compliant with Code dictates, such as Cardin's eventual marriage proposal to Karen. These changes exemplified Hollywood's pragmatic self-regulation, where studios submitted scripts and cuts for pre-approval to avoid bans or boycotts that threatened box-office revenue. In the broader 1930s Hollywood landscape, These Three reflected the industry's consolidation under the , dominated by majors like , Warner Bros., and Paramount, which prioritized mass-market appeal and narrative upliftment over provocative realism. The PCA's veto power extended to advertising and distribution, compelling producers like Goldwyn to navigate bureaucratic reviews that delayed productions and inflated costs; for instance, the film's reshot elements underscored the Code's on artistic liberty. Despite such constraints, the era fostered technical innovations and star-driven vehicles, with These Three leveraging performers like and to draw audiences, ultimately grossing modestly but earning Wyler an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. This context highlights causal pressures from external moralism and internal commercial imperatives that shaped content, often diluting source fidelity to sustain the industry's autonomy.

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