Synthesis Week 5

When comparing the play and movie of “The Children’s Hour” there are still quite a few similarities in terms of story and plot points yet there were quite a few differences. The main similarity is that the main story was still intact i.e. Mary lied to her grandmother, Rosalie lied about Karen and Martha as well because of the necklace, Martha committed suicide, and Mrs. Tilford trying to apologize. Regardless of these similarities there many differences in the movie adaptations that were not in the original play. The first main change is that it showed Mary reading a book that obviously was about lesbianism which explains why she chose that specific lie. The next major difference was that the movie showed a scene where the necklace was found and Mrs. Tilford getting angry with Mary about it. The next major difference was that Martha did not commit suicide by shooting herself before Mrs. Tilford arrived. The biggest difference however was that Martha instead hung herself when Karen went out and committed suicide that way. The final difference was the extension of the play when the last scene was of Martha’s funeral and of Karen walking down the road and smiling. I’m not entirely sure why it was these changes are made. I could guess that they were trying to make the movie a little more family friendly but when looking back, at the changes that does not seem likely. That and there’s that possibility that the producers wanted to try and extend the film to longer than an hour and a half. That would explain all the additions and plot changes that all contributed to the movie being long.