Brilliant Oscar-winning documentary about a school for deaf children. One of - the sometimes slightly grumpy - Lindsay Anderson's more altruistic and poetic moments. The film is almost completely silent (with music and narration, though), which gives you a good sense of how these children must perceive the world around them. For years it was almost impossible to find this wonderful little movie other than on 16mm film, but in 2007 the Criterion edition of Anderson's masterpiece 'if....' included 'Thursday's Children' as a bonus. The film is narrated by Richard Burton and was co-directed by Guy Brenton. Anderson shot this simultaneously with another short, the satirical amusement park portrait 'O Dreamland' (1953).
7 Reviews
Interesting
gavin694220 June 2013
The subject deals with the children at The Royal School for the Deaf in Margate, Kent. The hearing-handicapped children are shown painstakingly learning what words are through exercises and games, practicing lip-reading and finally speech. Richard Burton's calm and sometimes-poetic narration adds to the heartwarming cheerfulness and courage of the children.
Pretty much as it sounds, this was how deaf children were taught in Britain in the 1950s. I do appreciate that the film starts with a disclaimer that children are no longer taught this way. I was thinking they were warning me of some bad treatment I was going to see, but there was nothing offensive in the documentary at all.
Pretty much as it sounds, this was how deaf children were taught in Britain in the 1950s. I do appreciate that the film starts with a disclaimer that children are no longer taught this way. I was thinking they were warning me of some bad treatment I was going to see, but there was nothing offensive in the documentary at all.
"Thursday's child has far to go"
llltdesq5 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This won the Academy Award for Documentary Short. There will be mild spoilers ahead:
It gave me pause when I thought that the youngest of the children in this documentary (any of them still living) are 64 now. The teaching techniques used are, of course, no longer current, though the Royal School at Margate (established in 1792) is still active.
The thing I found most fascinating is that the primary techniques shown were designed to try to help deaf children function in a world not readily designed for them and to interact with people who might not really want to make the time or effort to interact with them. Learning sign language is useful in a limited sense, in that it only works if the other party in the conversation speaks it as well. This is akin to learning any other language. One can no more "speak" sign language with someone not conversant in sign than you can speak German to someone who doesn't know German.
At least with teaching children to lip read, they can have a chance to understand what is going on around them. It's imperfect, but so is every "remedy" which has been devised to overcome the limitations arising from deafness (or any other difficulty a person might need to handle in life).
Full disclosure-I am disabled and use crutches and a wheelchair. I live in a world designed for the majority, which means I run into all sorts of obstacles which aren't obstacles to people who can walk without aids (which, interestingly enough, includes many deaf people).
This is an extra on the Criterion release of Lindsay Anderson's ...If and is well worth seeking out. Recommended.
It gave me pause when I thought that the youngest of the children in this documentary (any of them still living) are 64 now. The teaching techniques used are, of course, no longer current, though the Royal School at Margate (established in 1792) is still active.
The thing I found most fascinating is that the primary techniques shown were designed to try to help deaf children function in a world not readily designed for them and to interact with people who might not really want to make the time or effort to interact with them. Learning sign language is useful in a limited sense, in that it only works if the other party in the conversation speaks it as well. This is akin to learning any other language. One can no more "speak" sign language with someone not conversant in sign than you can speak German to someone who doesn't know German.
At least with teaching children to lip read, they can have a chance to understand what is going on around them. It's imperfect, but so is every "remedy" which has been devised to overcome the limitations arising from deafness (or any other difficulty a person might need to handle in life).
Full disclosure-I am disabled and use crutches and a wheelchair. I live in a world designed for the majority, which means I run into all sorts of obstacles which aren't obstacles to people who can walk without aids (which, interestingly enough, includes many deaf people).
This is an extra on the Criterion release of Lindsay Anderson's ...If and is well worth seeking out. Recommended.
An interesting historical document
Balok-223 May 2012
Nowadays, Lindsay Anderson's short documentary about children at a school for the deaf is probably of more interest for what it reveals about attitudes during the 1950's than for its own sake. The film shows how these children are taught to lip-read and to vocalize, and it is interesting to see how it was done. The two teachers shown in the film clearly love their work and the children, and do their jobs with an almost saintly patience. The children are shown as bright, happy, and enthusiastic -- although we see the occasional failure, we never see how the children react to the inevitable frustration that they must have experienced.
For those of us who watch the film nowadays, from a perspective of more than half a century, it is hard not to start wondering about the social attitudes toward the deaf that were current at the time the film was made. For example, no effort is made to teach the children sign language (or at least if there is, we never see any evidence of such an effort), even though they openly admit that the school's teaching methods only succeed with one child in three. And one would hope that nowadays, the teacher would find something other than _Little Black Sambo_ to read to the children.
For those of us who watch the film nowadays, from a perspective of more than half a century, it is hard not to start wondering about the social attitudes toward the deaf that were current at the time the film was made. For example, no effort is made to teach the children sign language (or at least if there is, we never see any evidence of such an effort), even though they openly admit that the school's teaching methods only succeed with one child in three. And one would hope that nowadays, the teacher would find something other than _Little Black Sambo_ to read to the children.
50's time-capsule piece
Red-Barracuda13 November 2017
Thursday's Children is maybe best known as an early work from Lindsay Anderson who would go on to critical acclaim as the director of films such as If (1969). In fact, this is really no inconsequential work given the fact that it actually won an Oscar for best short documentary. Narrated by Richard Burton, it focuses on the children from the Royal School for the Deaf in Margate. It considers their situation in life and some of the difficulties that teaching them presents.
It's a pretty minimalistic documentary in fairness and is one which is really of fairly selective interest nowadays. For Anderson scholars, it offers another facet of his work and I guess it ties in with some themes he would delve into with If, in its focus on private schools. Except, unlike that movie, the message regarding the school system here is clearly a positive one. It is interesting to see an example of the teaching that was normal back at the time and it does show some of the aspects that appear particularly archaic now, such the a story character who is particularly popular with the children called Little Sambo! Obviously that is something that could never be used now but these were different, more innocent times. On the whole, this is a film of fairly minor interest to be honest but it is valuable enough as a time-capsule piece.
It's a pretty minimalistic documentary in fairness and is one which is really of fairly selective interest nowadays. For Anderson scholars, it offers another facet of his work and I guess it ties in with some themes he would delve into with If, in its focus on private schools. Except, unlike that movie, the message regarding the school system here is clearly a positive one. It is interesting to see an example of the teaching that was normal back at the time and it does show some of the aspects that appear particularly archaic now, such the a story character who is particularly popular with the children called Little Sambo! Obviously that is something that could never be used now but these were different, more innocent times. On the whole, this is a film of fairly minor interest to be honest but it is valuable enough as a time-capsule piece.
Deafness is a world
Horst_In_Translation28 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Thursday's Children" is a British black-and-white documentary movie from 1954, so this one is already easily over 60 years old. It was written and directed by Guy Brenton and Palme d'Or winner Lindsay Anderson. And as this one went on to take home the Oscar (even if neither of the two is credited with an Oscar win), it is probably still their biggest triumph in the industry. This is a 22-minute film about deaf children at a school in England. There it is the teachers task to help the children have a connection with the world despite not being able to hear and of its sounds. The audiences gets a specific insight into the learning process and how the (really young) kids improve on their lip-reading skills. But there are also other references, for example how one boy is deaf since an illness at the age of 3 or others are dead since birth and have never heard a single sound on the planet.
There is something pure and innocent to these kids I must say. I think this documentary is also such a success because it takes us into a world where we honestly just will never be a part of in your lives. It is impossible for a hearing person to know what it feels like to live in silence. Narrator Richard Burton made a nice reference at the end about them never being able to hear music and that's something really sad that makes me question my initial thoughts about how sometimes it maybe isn't the worst thing not to have to hear all the noise in this world. There is also another really nice reference from Burton about how these teachers offer the children an opportunity in this world that keeps them from ending up in silent loneliness. And finally, I talked earlier about us not being a part of their world, there is another good quote about the lack of patience these kids will have to deal with in their future lives when it comes to hearing people. The final words of this documentary were really special and touching at the same time. I believe this is a very smart documentary. Burton mentions the kids by name, so it is easier for us to make a connection with them. They let the audience be a part of this as they remove sound and we just see the teacher move his lips, so we find out how the deaf children perceive her. Absolutely nothing wrong with this little movie and one of the best short films from the 1950s I'm sure. This one is evidence of how this era had to offer more besides brilliant cartoons. It's nice to see it got the recognition from the Academy. Don't miss out on this one because even if the production values may look dated by our standards in (documentary) filmmaking today, it is especially important because deafness is timeless and exists today as it has back then. Go see it.
There is something pure and innocent to these kids I must say. I think this documentary is also such a success because it takes us into a world where we honestly just will never be a part of in your lives. It is impossible for a hearing person to know what it feels like to live in silence. Narrator Richard Burton made a nice reference at the end about them never being able to hear music and that's something really sad that makes me question my initial thoughts about how sometimes it maybe isn't the worst thing not to have to hear all the noise in this world. There is also another really nice reference from Burton about how these teachers offer the children an opportunity in this world that keeps them from ending up in silent loneliness. And finally, I talked earlier about us not being a part of their world, there is another good quote about the lack of patience these kids will have to deal with in their future lives when it comes to hearing people. The final words of this documentary were really special and touching at the same time. I believe this is a very smart documentary. Burton mentions the kids by name, so it is easier for us to make a connection with them. They let the audience be a part of this as they remove sound and we just see the teacher move his lips, so we find out how the deaf children perceive her. Absolutely nothing wrong with this little movie and one of the best short films from the 1950s I'm sure. This one is evidence of how this era had to offer more besides brilliant cartoons. It's nice to see it got the recognition from the Academy. Don't miss out on this one because even if the production values may look dated by our standards in (documentary) filmmaking today, it is especially important because deafness is timeless and exists today as it has back then. Go see it.
Thursday's Children
CinemaSerf10 February 2024
Richard Burton gently but passionately narrates this informative documentary that follows a group of young children at school. It's not clear from the start but quickly we are told that they are deaf. Some since birth, some through illnesses like meningitis, but all join together in a class room where the teachers take a very personal approach to introducing the alien concepts of vowels and words using techniques that seem simple to watch but prove remarkably effective - and fun. Toys, cartoons, mirrors, symbols and a balloon to illustrate the principles of reverberation all work well and the professionals here exhibit a remarkable degree of patience with their willing and enthusiastic students. There are a few scenes where the audience is invited to follow the lip-reading. Have a go! I couldn't understand a thing yet these children, as they grew older and more accomplished, dealt with it easily. A few of the teaching strands might not work so well nowadays, but the emphasis on getting these people onto the communications ladder transcends out-dated attitudes and delivers an engaging and authentic study of education at it's most relevant.
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