May. 15, 2006 - 6:24 pm

The Miracle Worker (1962)

I was recently reading Gene Wilder's autobiography, "Kiss Me Like a Stranger", and, ironically, he mentioned this film. Jill and I had been wanting to see it for some time. I think Jill actually wanted to see the newer version, but I don't think I actually knew that there was a newer version. This is the original version with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke.

This is a film version of the popular Tony-award-winning play of the 1960s. Bancroft stars as Annie Sullivan, the teacher who more or less brought Helen Keller into the real world. The movie only follows Helen and Annie for the first few months of their relationship and how Annie was able to make a breakthrough with Helen, teaching her that words had meaning.

Both actresses won Oscars for their performances which were well-deserved. the rest of the elements of the film were not overly creative, but the story was strong and so was the acting by the two stars. I definitely know more about Helen Keller today than I ever have before. I think I keep hearing about her on Jeopardy in various categories. I also really enjoyed seeing this statue of Helen for the first time (the picture on Jeopardy was cooler), which has her signing the word for "deaf" while pointing to the word "blind" in a Braille text. A very cool idea, and a wonderful sentiment.