The Miracle Worker | | Cast : | Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke | | Director : | Arthur Penn | | Studio : | MGM/UA Video | | Format : | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | July 28, 1962 | | DVD Released Date : | March 06, 2001 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 20, 2005 | | Summary | Granddaughters and Helen Keller | Content
 | My granddaughters are 8 and 10 years old. We visited Ivy Green in Tuscumbia, Al. a few weeks ago, and throughly enjoyed it! I told them about the "Miracle Worker" movie. I found it immediatly at Amazon.Com. They really enjoyed learning about the Helen Keller story. Absolute great movie!! |
| Rating | | | Date | August 11, 2005 | | Summary | A True Classic Among Classics | Content
| 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. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 03, 2005 | | Summary | A Classic | Content
| This movie stands the test of time...I cry every time I watch it! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 12, 2005 | | Summary | The Miracle Worker (1962) | Content
| I purchased this movie being as I was taking an American Sign Language course and needed insight into the life of Helen Keller. As far as the story ITSELF goes, the movie didn't help me much in terms of who Helen Keller really was (throughout her life) as it only goes into a bit of time with Anne Sullivan. HOWEVER, the acting performances of both Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are absolutely PHENOMENAL!!!! Even my young children wanted to see the movie over and over. You really feel as though you were watching the evolution of an intelligent, completely spoiled deaf/mute child into a fully communicating individual, not just a "monkey" as they made her out to be. (but that's as far as it goes; it does not elaborate on any events subsequent to that). So, as far as utilizing this movie for a research paper, I would not recommend it. But for more insight into some of the difficulties of the deaf community, this is a wonderful movie to "be on the outside, looking in." Highly, HIGHLY recommended. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 01, 2005 | | Summary | I would give it six stars, if I could | Content
| I had not seen this movie/video in a number of years. I was a teenager or so at the first viewing time. My memory was that it was very powerful and moving and not a lot beyond that. So, having mangaged to get my hands on one of the few that are rentable, I set aside a viewing time.
I was thunderstruck. The reality (not graphic gratuity, of course, this was made in early 1960's) was not easy, but rewarding. Helen Keller overcame some formidable odds, not the least of which was her family who were determined (unknowingly) to maintain her helpless state out of fearful love of not demanding anything of her. Then a stranger, Annie Sullivan, comes to the family in their desperation to do what the family could not do.
Being the basis of a true story, this drama of Helen Keller's life verifies what rewards a stubborn love can reap. A sensitive discipline of any child is never hurtful. I would recommend this incredible experience to any parent, teacher, counselor or Christian ministry member who wants to learn the value of commitment in the face of hard-headed belligerence and ignorant defiance.
There are very, very few videos and dramas, by my mind, that I could make this claim for: Excellence and the highest rating possible. Buy this! |
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