The Miracle Worker

I love this movie. It tells you on how she was raised as a blind and and deaf young woman. You cry and laugh some but it shows you how she learned to know what water is and what they mean. Everything had a meaning to it. Love it

I cannot say enough good things about this version of "The Miracle Worker. Patty Duke is phenomenal as Helen Keller and her portrayal of a blind and deaf youth is absorbing and 100% believable. Duke was able to embody Keller so much so that you almost forget you're watching an actor and not the actual person. No other actress could've played that part and be so damned believable as Duke was. Anne Bancroft was equally phenomenal as Annie Sullivan , who had been blind as a child but had much of her own sight restored through operations. She immediately pulls you into her portrayal of Annie Sullivan and carries you right through the movie leaving you feeling gobsmacked the entire time. There's a scene where Helen is in the dining room and is allowed to move around the table, coarsely taking food from her families plates and eating it with her bare hands. Annie is incensed by this and pretty much tells the Kellers that that behavior is unacceptable and that Helen shouldn't be allowed to do that and convinces the Kellers to leave the room. Annie then locks the dining room doors and what follows is a harsh testament of two very strong willed females. Sullivan, after a long and arduous time, teaches Helen how to eat with a spoon and to fold her napkin. This is one of the most exciting scenes in the movie. When "Annie" finally accomplishes that task I felt exhausted for her. Duke's part in that scene is equally as impressive and it left me feeling that I had really seen an aspect Helen Keller's personality as a child. Inga Swenson gives one hell of an absorbing portrayal as Helen Keller's mother "Kate Keller". Her tenderness and all consuming concern as a mother of a deaf and blind child is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. All throughout this movie you feel her pain and the love she has for her child, especially when in the beginning of the movie Helen shows that she is aware that she cannot see. That's illustrated when in a scene where Helen grabs a doll, whose facial features are rudimentary, and points to where the doll's eyes should be and then her own and when Mr. Keller seems agitated by that, Mrs. Keller painfully tells him that Helen is doing that because she wants the doll to have eyes which helps the viewer understand that Helen is aware of her condition and the only way to let the people around her understand that is by primitive means. Mrs. Keller understands Helen wants to learn but she is unable to "reach" Helen and teach her anything. Because of that, Mrs. Keller knows that Helen's mind is slipping further and further away which prompts her to insist that a teacher come to help with Helen. I almost cried after watching that scene. Victor Jory portrays Helen's father "Captain Keller". His screen time isn't very long or complicated but he makes the most of it and is very convincing as is the actor Andrew Prine who plays "Jimmy" Helen's half brother. The flashbacks that "Annie" has in this movie are tragic. They speak of a very barbaric time in our country's history of orphanages and institutions in general. When the Keller's told Annie that they had considered putting Helen in an institution, Annie lets them know how horrible life was in the orphanage for she and her younger brother Jimmy, (who did not survive) mentioning that what happens on visiting days is nothing compared to what happens when there aren't visitors. The Kellers are sympathetic but Annie cuts them off and her determination is summed by the line "NO! it made me stronger!" The ending always brings tears to my eyes and after I had learned of Helen Keller's life I was awed knowing that a person who was deaf and blind before a year old could learn to speak just as clearly and articulately as a person who could hear and see. Helen Keller was an amazing, accomplished and inspirational human being and this movie brings that all to life. Buy this movie and watch it with your family. It will become a classic that you'll watch time and time again. I utterly love this movie and highly recommend it!!

This classic is my favorite version of Helen’s story.

Helen Keller in her distress as a human being who was blind and deaf was able to have her existence totally changed by a wonderful tutor named Ann Sullivan. MIRACLE WORKER keeps the viewer glued to his seat in compassion and delight at the dedication of the miracle worker in Helene Keller's life.

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 more than 50 years old.I've seen "The Miracle Worker" probably a dozen times. And it never gets tiring, boring or unemotional. In fact, after each viewing, I pick up more details - and the tears still come just as they did when I first saw it many 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, its ending is arguably sentimental, which is why the film's devastating last 10 minutes remain 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-culture storytelling style and shocking violence at the time it was released. That "Bonnie and Clyde" made the American Film Institute's "greatest 100 films ever made list" - and the "Miracle Worker" did not - is the bigger 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, followed by 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's worth owning in all of its widescreen glory. The reason many people rent movies instead of buying them - is because so few - are worth watching more than once. Well, "The Miracle Worker" DVD is comparable to what it costs to see a film in a theater, and there's no doubt in my mind that it should be in every person's 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 "The Miracle Worker" get bumped for a Best Picture nomination by the inferior Brando remake of "Mutiny on the Bounty" - makes me wonder, "what were those voters thinking?"The passage of time will do that to you. 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 gave in "The Country Girl." There's no rhyme or reason for such things. In the end, you've no choice but to take comfort knowing that awards or no awards - "The Miracle Worker" remains one of the greatest American films - ever made.

This is the true story of Helen Keller. Everyone should watch this movie.

Better than what I'd expected - pleasantly surprised.When this movie came out, I was in high school, and the description made it sound like a syrupy heart-warmer... YUKK. So I waited 50 years to see it, and my wife talked me into it. It was not particularly syrupy, and the two main actresses delivered really knockout, physical performances that earned them both Oscars. The script was fresher than I'd have expected, too. It wasn't exactly Fight Club, but the parallels with the fight action were definitely in evidence [sans Fight Club's wacky surrealism].The role of the mom was quite 1-dimensional, and the dad came out of www.Stereotypes.com. But I'm glad I saw it, and there are enough good points to recommend it.

This movie stands the test of time. Actors are highly skilled. Patty Duke is incredible as Helen Keller.A great way to enhance the reading of the book or play for students. Still a favorite and so inspirational. True stories of overcoming disabilities. Wonderful!

I love it to watch it and several time ! It is real life of Helen Keller story ! Amazing ! She learn to spelling ASL to right spelling to wake up to understand that more everything to touch by teacher .. I cried ... sighs ! I never forget that..I have other same one dvd for my deaf friend 's christmas gift too ... I bet she will love it as I do too for sure ! 🤟🧏‍♀️🤟🧏‍♀️

偶然見つけて、即、購入しました。（ヘレン・ケラー物語ですね）the Miracle Worker 上映時間106min モノクロ （英語字幕 有、日本語字幕 無）字幕がなくとも十分わかります。50年以上も昔、高校の映画観賞会で見ました。当時は生徒が揃って行くことが特別でした。深く考えずに見ていました。あらためて見るチャンスに恵まれました、只々感謝です。 ハンディを持った本人もさることながら、家族の愛に感動しました。諦めることなく、投げ出すこともなく、忍耐強く、サリバン先生と家族の愛がなければと。目が見えず、耳が聞こえない、障害を持つ人が「水: water]という言葉と物質を結びつけることがどんなに大変で困難なことか。最後の最後にそれが解かる。そこから一気に知識を広めることになるのですね。感動です、いや、泣けました。余談ですが、そこで映画は終わるのですが、その後、障害者に勇気を与え、健常者にも尊敬と感動を与え、精力的な活動を紹介をすると、もっと解かりやすいかなと、思いました。今の人はヘレン・ケラーを知っているのだろうか。孫が今年高校に入ります。是非、見せたいと思います。

L'histoire de l'éveil d'Helen Keller au langage et aux règles de la vie en société grâce à son institutrice Ann Sullivan. C'est assez fidèle à la biographie d'Helen Keller, "The Story of my life" (qui contient aussi les lettres écrites par Helen depuis l'enfance et les remarques de Ann Sullivan), qu'on peut lire en ligne:Le film est magnifique, visible même avec des enfants bien qu'il soit déroutant au premier abord: en noir et blanc, avec des flashbacks sur l'enfance d'Ann Sullivan et peu de dialogues au début. Les acteurs sont magnifiques, et certaines scènes du "dressage" d'Helen sont de véritables tours de force.

i saw this movie way back in elementry school and loved it. i haven't seen this one for a long time and had to get it again. if anyone likes biography films i highly recommend this one it's one of the best ones of helen keller and her journey to a better life.

Ce film montre comment cette petite fille a compris le sens des mots que sa professeure tente de lui faire comprendre.Des images sont très crus mais parfois marrants dans certains moments! C'est à regarder en famille.