Best friends Karen Wright and Martha Dobie graduates from college. They decide to turn Karen's late grandmother's farm into a girls' boarding school. They are shocked to find the rundown farmhouse and they work to fix it up. Karen is dating amiable local doctor Joe Cardin although Martha does have a crush on him. Martha is confronted by her flighty aunt about her crush and one night with Joe in her room. After Karen punishes troublesome student Mary Tilford, she brings it all to a boil after running back to her grandma and spreading some ugly gossip.
Lillian Hellman reworks her 1934 play The Children's Hour into something just as juicy. The lesbian rumor could never be brought to the big screen at the time. While it's not quite the same, it still packs a punch in this emotional drama. Mary's cruelty is as devastating as ever. The last act gets reworked and it struggles to find the happy ending. There are a few stumbles in that last act as it rushes to wrap up. It should have ended with the three leaving the home behind without getting their vindication. That would have been a solid eight.
Lillian Hellman reworks her 1934 play The Children's Hour into something just as juicy. The lesbian rumor could never be brought to the big screen at the time. While it's not quite the same, it still packs a punch in this emotional drama. Mary's cruelty is as devastating as ever. The last act gets reworked and it struggles to find the happy ending. There are a few stumbles in that last act as it rushes to wrap up. It should have ended with the three leaving the home behind without getting their vindication. That would have been a solid eight.