The Miracle Worker
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Movie Reviews of The Miracle Worker
Movie Review: The Miracle Worker is spectacular, wonderful and wrenching! But also worth owning!
Summary: 5 Stars
The most amazing thing about the film version of "The Miracle Worker" is its absolutely timeless quality. It still holds up beautifully for a film that's almost 40 years old.
I've seen "The Miracle Worker" probably a dozen times. And it never gets tiring, boring, or unemotional. In fact, I dare say that after each viewing, I pick up more details and the tears still come neither cheaply yet more freely than they did when I first saw it years ago.
The Oscar-winning performances by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are shattering, the grainy flashback and dream sequences involving Bancroft's character, Annie Sullivan are wonderfully spooky -- and the fabulously haunting score by Laurence Rosenthal adds a perfect counterbalance to "The Miracle Worker," bringing emotional resonance to an otherwise purposely unsentimental telling of the Helen Keller story. Yet while I say it's unsentimental, the ending is arguably sentimental, which is why the devastating last 10 minutes are so wonderful. The film covers only the short period leading up to Helen Keller's breakthrough to others as a child of intelligence -- instead of a child who's incorrectly believed to be mentally handicapped.
Director Arthur Penn, who later went onto to lens his classic, "Bonnie and Clyde (1967), did a wonderful thing translating William Gibson's play to the visual language of cinema. There isn't a flaw I can detect with this film, especially his pans, dissolves, double exposures and grainy images with the dream sequences. It's a remarkable portend of things to come for this director, and frankly, I enjoy "The Miracle Worker" a lot more than "Bonnie and Clyde," an acknowledged classic that for me, is more recognized for its counter-establishment storytelling style and the shocking violence depicted at the time. That "Bonnie and Clyde" made the American Film Institute's "greatest 100 films ever made list" and the "Miracle Worker" did not is the greater shock. If you go over the list and see some of the junky films that made it on the basis of "name" instead of quality, you almost retch.
Sharing the New York stage with Patty Duke in 1960, and the producer's insistence that Bancroft be kept as the lead for the film version of "The Miracle Worker" -- over bankable names like Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn -- is the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of. Then of course, Bancroft gets her Oscar and five years later, she lands the role that's as big to film history as Scarlett O'Hara....Mrs. Robinson in "The Graduate!"
One scene I must comment on...it's the famously long sequence in the dining room where no more than perhaps five lines of dialogue are uttered by Bancroft. It is relentlessly physical, a dazzling and exhausting battle of wills, so entrancing a show by Bancroft and Duke as they run around the room, spoons thrown, with every object getting trashed. It is violence in a different form, one with an extremely productive purpose that makes it impossible to avert your eyes. It's mesmerizing.
In sum, this film is a treasure that pops up on television from time to time, but it's also a film that is worth owning in all of its widescreen glory and to view the trailer offered on the DVD. The reason many people rent movies instead of buying them -- is because so few of them -- are worth watching more than once.
Well, "The Miracle Worker" DVD is comparable to what it costs to see a film in a theater these days, and there's no doubt in my mind that this is a film worth putting into your library.
Perhaps my only regret, as an Oscar buff, is that the film wasn't nominated for Best Picture. I don't mind that "Lawrence of Arabia" won that year (another classic), but to see it get bumped for a Best Pix nomination by the inferior Brando remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" kind of makes you scratch your head.
The passage of time, and hindsight, will do that to 'ya... Just ask people who wonder why Judy Garland lost an Oscar in 1954 for "A Star is Born" to the "dressed down" performance Grace Kelly gives in "The Country Girl." There's no rhyme or reason for such things. You simply have to be satisfied knowing that "The Miracle Worker" is one of the greatest American films ever made...
Movie Review: EXCELLENT MOVIE; BEST BY A LONG SHOT!
Summary: 5 Stars
The plot of the movie:
Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), 20, (who is visually impaired and wears dark glasses to protect her sensitive eyes from the pain of light), has come to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to teach Helen Keller (Patty Duke), 6, who, at the age of 19 months, was striken blind and deaf after a bout of Scarlet Fever. After many nightmarish flashbacks of her early childhood on the train rides to Tuscumbia, Annie arives at Ivy Green.
After Annie teaches Helen how to spell d-o-l-l (using the manual alphabet) her obstinate pupil deliberately hits Annie in her face with the doll, and breaks one of her teacher's teeth. After being locked in her room, Annie is "chivalrously" saved by her employer (also Helen's father), Captain Keller; after being lugged down a l-a-d-d-e-r.
The next morning, Annie is intent on correcting Helen's table manners; and after a 9 minute scene, she finally succeeds.
Now Annie is sure that she can no longer continue to educate Helen with the Kellers smothering their daughter with indulgence. Annie soon finds a small cottage and askes Captain and Mrs. Keller if she and Helen can move in. After a while of debating, it is decided that the pair, teacher and pupil, will be living together for 2 weeks. After a few small battles, 2 weeks has passed. Annie and Helen return to Ivy Green; though Helen still does not know that objects have a name.
When the entire Keller family (including Annie) sit down for supper, Helen begins to act up. It is up to Annie to insist on civil behavior. Will she follow through with much neede discipline, or will she fall short and give into Helen's disobedience? It's up to you to buy the movie and find out!
I really enjoyed this movie; in fact, it's one of my favorites. If you are either a Anne Bancroft or Patty Duke fan, you should know that they both won Acadamy Awards for their performances. And I can see why! The rich Irish accent of Anne Bancroft's character, and the always-there "smoked glasses" never seem to leave you alone; I find myself using different quotes from this movie all the time, sometimes the accent slips out, even! Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are extraodinary! are amazing! If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was watching it in real life! Also, just to let you know, it is in black-and-white, (just in case your wondering).
This is definantly a five star
If you really like it, you should try these 2 books:
"The Miracle Worker: A Play In Three Acts", by William Gibson (1914-2008; as not to be confused with the "William Gibson' of the "Cyberpunk" fame).
"Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller", by Sarah Elizabeth Miller.
Movie Review: Every American adolescent should see this outstanding film
Summary: 5 Stars
I am in awe of every aspect of this film. The screenplay is almost beyond compare. The acting by Ms. Bancroft and Miss Duke was of the highest merit. The directing and cinematography were both incredible. This is one of America's great achievements in film making. I will go into detail on a few of these points:
The screenplay is superb, getting to the very heart of what is the difference between love and pity, between meeting our dependency needs and encouraging the independence of other. The struggle between Anne Sullivan and her student, Helen Keller, is only slightly more dramatic than the struggle between Anne Sullivan and Helen's parents. As a young girl with impaired visision Anne and her brother grew up in a state institution with the mentally ill and elderly, playing with the bodies in the morgue. Her brother tragically dies of TB of the pelvis, but Anne convinces the assylum directors to allow her to attend school. After 11 operations she graduates at the top of her class from the Perkins School for the Blind. The achievements of Anne Sullivan must be recognized as being as significant as the achievements of Helen Keller.
Even though the film is full of insightful, piercing dialogue, it also is absolutely filled with action, so much action that it wears you out watching it. The battles between Anne Sullivan and Helen are amazing.
Ms. Bancroft is super in the role of Anne Sullivan, a semi-blind young woman who is certain of her mission and realizes compassion must not overpower the instinct to foster independence and autonomy of the human spirit. Patty Duke's portrayal of Helen is sensitive and natural, never once giving the impression that she is an actress playing as a blind girl.
The drama and movement are heightened by the wonderful choice of black and white with austere sets and scenes. Camera angles and closs-up shots of the characters intensify the emotional charge of the film.
What a wonderful combination of exquisite storytelling this film is. It should be part of every American adolescent's education to see and study this film.
Movie Review: A 5-Star Knock-Out Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
The Miracle Worker is a 5-star movie which will knock you out with drama, humor, tears, and physical grit. (If this film is not a 5-star movie, then no movie is). If you don't laugh, cry, and cheer for this movie, you simply are not a member of the human race. Young and old will enjoy the drama and humor of this superb film. Although it did not win an Academy Award in 1962 (that went to "Laurence of Arabia"), this film certainly deserves Academy honors. This movie is a close adaptation of the 1959 award-winning Broadway play directed by Arthur Penn, screenplay by William Gibson. The movie views very much like one is watching a play in a theatre. The movie was filmed in black and white.
If conflict makes a movie, then this movie has it all: the conflict of the young Anne Sullivan and the old strong-willed Captain Keller, the supreme conflict of wills between Sullivan and Hellen Keller, the conflict of a mother's love for her child and what's best for the child, and finally, the conflict of teaching Hellen Keller that her world can be understood and defined through the concept of words. In the movie finale at the water pump, when Hellen Keller finally understands that "water" is a word, the thick shroud of curtains holding her in darkness are opened, letting in the light of understanding. It is a moment that brings tears of joy to the viewer.
Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are absolutely stunning in their portrayals of Anne Sullivan (The Miracle Worker) and Hellen Keller. Their performances are legendary and for the ages. How Patty Duke learned to act the part of Hellen Keller is a miracle in itself. Her acting is absolutely breathtaking. Duke "became" Hellen Keller to such an extent that she dreaded the final filming sequence knowing her link with Heller was finally over. Bancroft's Anne Sullivan earned her an Academy Award for best actress and launched her film career.
This film is a film for the entire family to watch and enjoy. The children will love it just as much as the adults. Highest recommendation.
Movie Review: A True Classic Among Classics
Summary: 5 Stars
This timeless story of two of the most heroic figures in American history is told in a spare, rigorous, unsentimental style; but I have to say that this is one of the only films I've ever seen which blends heart and head in such a perfect alchemy, and furthermore, one of the only films that mercilessly breaks your heart and then mercifully reconstructs it by its end.
The script is taut and muscular but it never approaches the point of being tight and too souped-up. There are hilarious moments of spare and uncompromising wit (delivered expertly by the lurid and machiavellian James), as well as interludes of subtle poetic power (such as Anne's mini-monologue in the first dining room scene). The directing and editing borders on a Hitchcock-like mise en scene, with claustrophobic closed-sets, awesome closeups, unexpected panning shots, and enough hallucinatory elements like flashbacks and dream sequences to balance the gritty and sometimes grisly realism. And the acting? Eccentric and fascinating, and these qualities vary depending on who you're talking about. Bancroft's Oscar-winning performance is intense, with a focused psychology both subtle and searing, and is never over-the-top in either melodrama or comic relief. And Patty Duke is fiercely good despite her young age. Roles this demanding and historically relevant need to be felt and experienced, not just played, and I think both actors fit the bill with uncanny ardor and dignity. Kudos for the actors who played Captain and Kate Keller - Kate is delicate and dainty but believably neurotic and motherly, and the Captain is played with this false but immovable machismo and militaristic mentality, that approaches the unforgettability of George C. Scott's General Patton.
This is quite possibly the most successful film translated from stage play form in the history of the medium, maybe with the exeption of "A Streetcar Named Desire". This is a real classic among classics, one you can pop in the VCR and watch over and over again and it never diminishes in either its power or lyric beauty.