Editing These Three (section)

==Production==
{{one source|section|date=December 2024}}
[[Lillian Hellman]]'s 1934 play ''[[The Children's Hour (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 [[lesbianism|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 theatre|Broadway]] production was acclaimed by critics.<ref name=TCM>[http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/article.jsp?contentId=18608]{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} </ref>

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''.<ref name="TCM" />

Goldwyn had already cast the three leads when he offered [[William Wyler]], who, until then, had helmed mostly [[B picture]]s and [[Western (genre)|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 (actor)|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.<ref name="TCM" />

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/download/Lux02/Lux_37-12-06_These_Three.mp3|format=MP3|title=Sound file|website=Archive.org|access-date=June 24, 2022}}</ref>