Thursday's Children

Thursday's Children

1954 · 21 min · ★ 6.9 · Documentary

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.

Directed by Lindsay Anderson · Written by Guy Brenton

Your Rating

Cast

Richard Burton Narrator (voice)

Make it a double feature

1h 13m together

Thursday's Children

Together

Both from Lindsay Anderson.

More from Lindsay AndersonSee all →

The Threatening Sky

The Threatening Sky · 1966

The Threatening Sky

MovieDocumentaryWar

This documentary presents the Vietnam War as seen from within Vietnam, focusing on civilian life, industrial and agricultural labor, and organized resistance under sustained aerial bombardment. Introduced by Bertrand Russell, the film situates the conflict within a broader history of anti-occupation struggles, drawing parallels to World War II resistance movements. Footage includes interviews with Vietnamese leaders, scenes of air defense, and mass political mobilization.

John Ford

John Ford · 1992

MovieDocumentary

A look at the famous director written and presented by Lindsay Anderson.

Glory! Glory!

Glory! Glory! · 1989

MovieComedyDrama

A rock singer revives a failing TV ministry, but the cost may be high when she falls for a reporter planning an exposé.

Home

MovieDramaTV Movie

David Storey's adaptation of his award winning play for the BBC's Play for Today series.

if....

In an English boys' boarding school, social hierarchy reigns supreme and power remains in the hands of distanced and ineffectual teachers and callously vicious prefects in the Upper Sixth. Three Lower Sixth students, Wallace, Johnny and leader Mick Travis decide on a shocking course of action to redress the balance of privilege once and for all.

The Whales of August

The Whales of August · 1987

The Whales of August

Two aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.

Inadmissible Evidence

Inadmissible Evidence · 1968

Inadmissible Evidence

A lawyer's agonizing journey to the breaking point of his private and professional lives as he becomes more and more alienated from everyone connected with him.

This Sporting Life

This Sporting Life · 1963

This Sporting Life

In early 1960s Northern England, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

Together

Together · 1956

The workaday boredom and crushing hardships of London's East End in the 1950s, seen from the point of view of two deaf-mutes who share a strong bond of friendship.

O Lucky Man!

O Lucky Man! · 1973

MovieComedyMusic

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures seemingly designed to challenge his naive idealism.

Chariots of Fire

Chariots of Fire · 1981

Chariots of Fire

MovieDramaHistory

In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.

Play for Today

Play for Today · 1970

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

The Adventures of Robin Hood · 1955

The Adventures of Robin Hood

SeriesAction & AdventureFamily

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

O Dreamland

O Dreamland · 1953

MovieDocumentaryComedy

Lindsay Anderson's early documentary film of a British amusement park, the irony of its manufactured fun on full display.

Britannia Hospital

Britannia Hospital · 1982

Britannia Hospital

MovieComedyScience Fiction

Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.

Prisoner of Honor

Prisoner of Honor · 1991

Prisoner of Honor

MovieDramaHistory

France, 1897: Colonel Georges Picquart challenges the government when he discovers the obscure political maneuvers that leads to the imprisonment of the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus after being convicted of espionage three years earlier.

More Like This

Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams · 1994

MovieDocumentary

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter