The Miracle Worker

Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft turn in a pair of still-overpowering performances as Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan in this Blu-ray reissue of the 1962 drama "The Miracle Worker."

The film is based on a stage play by William Gibson (not the cyberpunk novelist; a different William Gibson), who adapted his play for the movie screen -- a symmetrical development since the play was based on Gibson's 1957 television play, which aired on "Playhouse 90." Gibson drew on Keller's 1903 autobiography "The Story of My Life," and the film, while taking some dramatic liberties, hews pretty close to Keller's own account.

Of course, the movie is told not from Keller's perspective, but from Sullivan's. Having grown up in an asylum for the physically disabled and those suffering mental impairments, and being all but blind, Sullivan empathizes with Keller in a way the girl's family cannot -- and this means treating the young Helen in ways that appear unsympathetic, even cruel, in order to break through Helen's accustomed patterns of behavior and introduce the concept of meaningful communication to her.

It's this insight that forms the crux of the drama. Can Sullivan impart the notion to Helen before her tenderhearted mother and authoritarian father, not comprehending Helen's untapped intellectual abilities, send Sullivan away? It's a hard task, but Sullivan manages to convince the Kellers to trust her methods. Luckily, she has an ally in Helen's older half-brother, James (Andrew Prine), who has long lobbied for Helen to be taught some form of self-control and proper conduct. (There's a juicy spark of attraction suggested between Sullivan and James, but it's left unexplored.)

The movie is utterly riveting, alternating between intense sequences in which Helen and Sullivan lock horns in an epic battle of wills and snappily-written, crisply performed scenes in which Sullivan, with dauntless hour and utter self-confidence, disarms and outflanks the recalcitrant Kellers for the good of their daughter. Director Arthur Penn has an unerring sense of how to pace and frame the story, and Duke's portrayal of Helen is unnerving -- and ultimately touching.

This is one of those films you've probably heard about but you might never have seen. Now's your chance -- seize it, because "The Miracle Worker" is a cinematic accomplishment for the ages. Moreover, the high-definition Blu-ray transfer is impeccably sharp and well balanced.

"The Miracle Worker"
Blu-ray
$21.00
https://olivefilms.com/product/the-miracle-worker