The Miracle Worker (1962)

The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

William Gibson (screenplay), William Gibson (based upon the stage play by)

Stars:

Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory

Won 2 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anne Bancroft	...	Annie Sullivan
Victor Jory	...	Captain Arthur Keller
Inga Swenson	...	Kate Keller
Andrew Prine	...	James Keller
Kathleen Comegys	...	Aunt Ev
Patty Duke	...	Helen Keller

Storyline

Young Helen Keller, blind, deaf, and mute since infancy, is in danger of being sent to an institution. Her inability to communicate has left her frustrated and violent. In desperation, her parents seek help from the Perkins Institute, which sends them a "half-blind Yankee schoolgirl" named Annie Sullivan to tutor their daughter. Through persistence and love, and sheer stubbornness, Annie breaks through Helen's walls of silence and darkness and teaches her to communicate.

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Plot Keywords:

based on play | tutor | communication | boston massachusetts | 1880s | 

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Taglines:

A mighty motion picture experience. . .touch it. . .sense it. . .feel it. . .you can't forget it!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English American Sign Language

Release Date:

28 July 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Miracle Worker

Filming Locations:

Big Sky Ranch - 4927 Bennett Road, Simi Valley, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Playfilm Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ingrid Bergman claimed in her autobiography that she was offered the role of Annie Sullivan.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the dinnertime confrontation, Helen's position changes; she is kneeling at Annie, and begins to stand, but in the next cut she is kneeling again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Doctor: She'll live.
[Captain Arthur and Kate Keller embrace tenderly and thankfully at the seemingly good news]
Doctor: I can tell you now I thought she wouldn't.
Captain Arthur Keller: I thought too I'd miss my wife's first. It's a battle scar
Kate Keller: Doctor, will my girl be alright?
Doctor: By morning she'll be knockin' down Cap'n Keller's fences again.
Kate Keller: Oh, is there nothing we should do?
Captain Arthur Keller: Put up stronger fences, huh?
Doctor: Just let her get well. She knows how better than we do. These things come and go in infants, never know why. Probably ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Words (1987)

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Soundtracks

Hush, Little Baby
(uncredited)
Traditional Southern lullaby
Music adapted by Don Costa
Lyrics by Arthur Siegel
Sung by Anne Bancroft
Also played in the score

User Reviews

Emotionally devastating

Arthur Penn's superb, emotionally devastating screen version of William Gibson's play about the early life of Helen Keller and of how a great dedicated teacher, Annie Sullivan, dragged her kicking, if not necessarily screaming, out of her world of darkness. Penn's style is spare and unsensational, (even finding a good deal of humour in the early encounters between teacher and pupil; deaf, dumb and blind Keller may be but she is as wily as a cat and runs rings round Sullivan). The black and white images are straightforward and uncluttered and have the power of the images in silent cinema. As Sullivan and Keller, Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke are both astonishing. There is a rapport between these two actresses that seems to transcend mere 'acting' and raises the film to an altogether higher, more deeply moving plain.