Elliott’s Sullivan is determined to instill in Helen-deaf and blind since a fever in infancy-the gift of language, and Eisenberg’s Helen-once she is done testing the strange new person in her life-is hungry to learn. This remains a story of strong-willed people who won’t let circumstances limit what they can achieve. Thankfully, most of the key scenes and many of the lines remain from William Gibson’s original television-to-stage-to-film version, and with them linger the story’s knife-edged humor and heart-tugging drama. Everyone seems more confident, agreeable and self-aware, and speaks in perfectly structured sentences that leave no nuance of characterization unarticulated. The Miracle Worker featuring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke is streaming with subscription on Hoopla, streaming with subscription on Kanopy, free on Tubi. Elliott’s Sullivan is less prickly than Bancroft’s, as are Helen’s parents, played by David Strathairn and Kate Greenhouse. Eisenberg’s Helen is always dressed in crisp, clean clothes, unlike Duke’s, who-more realistically-was often covered in grime from her many falls and willful acts of demolition.
Their work goes a long way toward legitimizing this project, which in many other ways has been too cleaned up by writers Monte Merrick and Marsha Norman (who gave the script a dialogue polish) and director Nadia Tass.Īs re-envisioned here, the tone is too soaked in sunlight and saturated with color, and too many rough edges have been knocked off the characters. Now, Helen is portrayed by 8-year-old Hallie Kate Eisenberg, who has been unmissable lately in those voice-altered Pepsi commercials and such movies as “Bicentennial Man” and “Beautiful.”Įisenberg gives a fierce, committed performance, as does Alison Elliott (“Wings of the Dove”) as Sullivan.
#THE MIRACLE WORKER 1962 MOVIE#
I first saw this film in 1962, the year of its release. The Miracle Worder is a 1962 American biographical drama movie directed by Arthur Penn and is based on Helen Kellers book about her own life, The Story of My Life.The title character is Annie Sullivan, who teaches a blind and deaf girl to communicate.
#THE MIRACLE WORKER 1962 TV#
There’s also something to be said for trying to reach youngsters with new actors, from their own frame of reference, as a 1979 TV movie did by advancing Duke to the Sullivan role and bringing in Melissa Gilbert to play Helen. : The Miracle Worker Blu-ray : Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Edward Beyer, Victor Jory.
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