I hadn't seen this film since I was a kid and I certainly couldn't have appreciated it back then. I saw it just now on TCM. Very powerful and very moving.

I wonder if these days, young people are taught about Helen Keller, but imagine being born into the world of the late 19th Century and being deaf and blind, and the impossible struggle you would have if anyone even bothered to try teaching you to communicate.

Patti Duke (Helen Keller in the film) was only a marginal actress but if she had done only this one film, she'd still be remembered.

Everyone remembers Anne Bancroft for her role as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate, and while that film holds social significance beyond what is apparent on the screen, Bancroft's performance is pure fluff when compared to her portrayal as teacher Anne Sullivan in The Miracle Worker

The climax of the film. This certainly won't have the same emotional impact than if you'd watch the entire film, but here it is.




And, just as a bonus, here's Bancroft in Garbo Talks. This kills me.

I vaguely remember watching this movie when I was a kid of 7 or 8 years old. I'm going to have to watch it again. I always liked Bancroft especially in the Graduate. At that time I never knew what sultry meant until I watched Bancroft.

A movie that left a great impression on me around the same time was Lilies Of The Field with Sidney Poitier. I identified with that movie because I was in parochial school at the time and seeing nuns act in a movie was something I couldn't imagine then. It never occurred to me the nuns were actress's and not really nuns. I was enthralled with Poitier's performance even then.

Bancroft was married to Mel Brooks.