← Back to films
Thursday's Children

Thursday's Children

6,9 /10 (14 Votes)
1954 EN 21 min

Overview

Won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Short of 1954. 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. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with British Film Institute in 2005.

Release date

01/05/1954

Votes

14

Popularity

0.8

Genres

Status

Released

Language

EN

Runtime

21 min

Original Soundtrack

Loading soundtrack videos…

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

2024-02-10

⭐ 7

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 …

Read full review →