So much physical violence: Patty Duke on Anne Bancroft (with seemingly no restrictions on how much she was allowed to swing her (heavy) arms around!); and Anne on Patty (but Patty mostly deserved the beatings - hahaha!). Violence was also inflicted on the viewer's ears by the parents' over-acted yelling and screaming. Unbelievably annoying. How most people in the 1960s could think that was normal, and how people today can watch it and then give it such a high score on IMDb is difficult to understand....and whether Patty was fighting with Anne or not, why have sooooo many breakable items around the house for "Hellen" (Patty) to break? It felt like such a silly oversight, that it seemed as if the set decorator and/or director realized their error only after they shot the scenes. I'm sure many of us watching the movie wanted to knock Patty out cold for breaking so much - and for nearly scratching out Anne's eyes (for real) on a couple of occasions. I did think Anne's performance was good - probably deserving that Oscar win.

Anne Sullivan, played brilliantly by Anne Bancroft was Helen Keller's teacher in real life and in film The Miracle Worker. Anne Sullivan was an American orphan born with trachoma which lead to her to be almost completely blind. She had a series of botched operations but in The Miracle Worker she could see, certainly more than Helen Keller, and her remembrances of her past trauma are depicted in a hazy visual dream-like state.Keller is played by Patty Duke, also a world class performance.Both won Oscars in 1962 for this movie.Sullivan was from immigrant, penniless Irish parents and was delegated to almshouse until age 14 when she was admitted to the Parsons School for the Blind. Her brother died in the almshouse while there perpetuating the trauma of her experience in that institution.Adept at finger spelling and armed with her own history of resilience, Sullivan takes on Helen Keller. Helen is little more than a human being who eats with her hands from everyone's plate, engages in temper tantrums that would make Jimmy Connors blush, and can only communicate in the most rudimentary form . Her family has all but given up on her when they enlist Anne Sullivan for employment as her a dogged teacher and governess for Helen.Sullivan had a gift for diagnosing and treating Keller's difficult communication problem. She transforms Helen Keller from something like a feral animal to a human being. In this sense she is a health leader not just a teacher and an intuitive caretaker.Ms. Sullivan achieved in two weeks something of a miracle. She was able to accomplish this due to her ability to empathize and look back on her own past to prevent Helen's future from being as dismal as hers might have been. "We used to play with the rats" when describing one of her childhood experiences to the the Kellers in the almshouse. The turn of the century was a terrible time to be institutionalized and conditions were characteristically inhumane.When Anne Sullivan arrived in Tuscumbia, Alabama, she was at odds with the Southern position on pre and post-slavery. The Kellers used to own slaves and this created immediate tension. Sullivan's political leanings were socialist and she was a suffragette, to boot.Sullivan's methodology was akin to family theory models which involve removing the child from the home, and in Keller's case, the overprotective arena. The family members display enmeshment perpetuating Helen's lack of social and intellectual progress. Additionally, current studies have shown that overprotective parents may be a factor in victimization and bullying of children(Georgiou, 2010). Certainly Keller would have a difficult time integrating in a new and strange environment such as an institution.ReferenceGeorgiou, S. N. (2008). Bullying and victimization at school: The role of mothers. British Journal of Educational Psychology. 78, (1), 109–125.

I really didn't expect much out of this, since everybody already knows the story of Helen Keller (or at least they think they do) and it's based on a popular stage play (by William Gibson, whose awful Two for the Seesaw I disliked just the week before), but, holy cow, did this film really move me deeply. I can't even say exactly why. I mean, it's a brilliantly made film, that's for sure. Arthur Penn, who went on to direct one of my very favorite movies, Bonnie & Clyde, just does a perfect job. The film is beautifully shot and directed without ever being showy. For a film based on a play, it's not particularly verbose. It uses moments of silence very well. Certainly one of the biggest reasons I liked it so much was Anne Bancroft's performance as Anne Sullivan. I'd rank it as one of the all-time great performances in film. Patty Duke is, of course, very good as Helen Keller, too (both actresses won Oscars), but Bancroft owns the movie. I guess I just never realized how difficult Sullivan's task was, and her passion and determination to teach Keller really involved me. Films do a lot for me, but, honestly, they hardly ever inspire me, but that big breakthrough moment at the waterpump, even though I knew it was coming, made me cry like a baby. I loved this movie.

Arthur Penn's exhilarating 'The Miracle Worker' is a fascinating story based on the account between Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. One couldn't even begin to imagine what Helen Keller's dark and soundless world must have been like and what a challenge it must have been for Annie Sullivan to guide her and bring some light into her silent world. 'The Miracle Worker' very effectively tells the story giving us some of the most memorable cinematic sequences such as the dining scene where Annie teaches Helen some manners. Another sequence that deserves mention for its fine simple execution is the recurring nightmare of Annie. There's some fine camera-work involved.The highlights of 'The Miracle Worker' are the sequences between Annie and Helen. Needless to say, the movie is carried by the two phenomenal lead actresses: Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. This is reportedly Duke's first movie and what an incredible debut, that too for such a young actress! Bancroft is sublime and transcendent. This will (or perhaps already has) go down as one of the greatest performances by a lead actress. The supporting cast perform well even though they are clearly overshadowed by the leads.The only minor quibble I have is the background score. Such loud background music was a common thing in movies of the 60s. However, in this case, it can easily be overlooked due to the powerful story and performances.On a final note, 'The Miracle Worker' is an enlightening, uplifting and important film that deserves to be viewed. There have been several remakes and interpretative movies over the years following but nothing has topped Penn's movie.