Synopsis
The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.
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Cast
- Anne BancroftAnnie Sullivan
- Victor JoryCaptain Arthur Keller
- Inga SwensonKate Keller
- Andrew PrineJames Keller
- Kathleen ComegysAunt Ev
- Patty DukeHelen Keller
- John BlissAdmissions Officer (uncredited)
- Grant CodeDoctor (uncredited)
- Michele FarrAnnie at Age 10 (uncredited)
- Jack HollanderMr. Anagnos of Perkins School in Boston (uncredited)
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
The film is a harrowing, painfully honest, sometimes violent journey, astonishingly acted and rendered. - 90
Time Out
It's a stunningly impressive piece of work, typically (for Penn) deriving much of its power from the performances. - 88
Chicago Tribune
Anne Bancroft won the Oscar playing Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan, in this intelligent adaptation of William Gibson's Broadway hit, and it's a fierce, moving job, highlighted by the incredibly savage battles between teacher Annie and pupil Helen (fellow Oscar winner Patty Duke). It's a model serious bio-drama. - 80
The New Yorker
Truffaut's The Wild Child is a more beautifully conceived picture on the same theme, but even with its imperfections and staginess this early Penn film is extraordinary. - 80
Variety
Where the picture really excels, outside of its inherent story values, is in the realm of photographic technique. It is here that director Penn and cameraman Ernest Caparros have teamed to create artful, indelible strokes of visual storytelling and mood-molding. - 80
Village Voice
A film that storms where most biopics respectfully tiptoe. - 70
The New York Times
The absolutely tremendous and unforgettable display of physically powerful acting that Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke put on in William Gibson's stage play The Miracle Worker is repeated by them in the film made from it by the same producer, Fred Coe, and the same director, Arthur Penn.
