The Miracle Worker

Released Jul 28, 1962

1 hr. 46 min.

Biography

Drama

List

96%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

88%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Blind and deaf after suffering a terrible fever as a baby, young Helen Keller (Patty Duke) has spent years unable to communicate, leaving her frustrated and occasionally violent. As a last chance before she is institutionalized, her parents (Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine) contact a school for the blind, which sends half-blind Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft) to teach Helen. Helen is initially resistant, but Annie gradually forms a bond with her and shows Helen ways of reaching others.

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Harry H

The indomitable Ann Sullivan (Bancroft) goes up against the feral Helen Keller (Patty Duke)! I love movies like this and even more because it's based on fact! Duke and Bancroft deserve their Oscars, but Victor Jory as Helen's father was just perfect as the post Civil war father, Tough, gritty and touching and that it was shot in black and white is no accident! Gotta love the great, realistic fight scene in the dining room! A passionate movie about the capabilities of humans! Remarkable.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

07/12/23

Full Review

ERF

Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft give two of the most incredible acting performances of all time. An amazing story of courage and tenacity in the face of insurmountable odds.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

Full Review

Emily H

I watched The Miracle Worker 1962 movie on Tubi with my older sister Carly and my mother. I'm a big fan of The Miracle Worker and every other movie and TV show. I have screen-recordings of 2 scenes from The Miracle Worker that I love.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/08/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Way overrated…and over acting

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Paula T

Very touching. The acting is superb. Just wish it was in color.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/01/21

Full Review

Audience Member

In spite of my mature age, I've come to this point knowing very little about the real life Helen Keller. As a kid I'd often hear about this mythic, blind, deaf and mute woman--by my Catholic school teachers, mostly-- and mostly when they wanted to point out how easy my own struggles were by comparison. Of course there were also the mean-spirited Helen Keller jokes and riddles that circulated around school. We shouldn't have laughed, but adolescents are drawn to taboo humour like babies to staircases. I think it was precisely because Keller was this legendary figure who overcame unimaginable obstacles in order to live her life with a semblance of normality that I studiously avoided the highly regarded 1962 American biopic The Miracle Worker. It always seemed like it would be a downer. I imagined a portrait of a poor girl abandoned to a life of misery and squalor, shunted from convents to orphanages and probably beaten by hard-hearted adults who resented the burden she foist on them. I mean, even the famous poster for the film looks like the hapless girl is in a headlock while a caregiver slaps her upside the head. Nevertheless, as the father of two young children (Grade 5 & 7) I decided that now would be a good time to finally watch this movie. It would expose my kids to a real life story of grit and resilience, which all kids need to reach their potential. The film surprised me right off the bat by revealing that Helen Keller (played by Patty Duke) was born in 1880 to a privileged family in the South (Tuscumbia, Alabama). While her life was difficult, due to multiple disabilities, she lived in a well appointed home with servants and an indulgent mother. So much for my assumptions about her miserable life. In desperation, the family seeks help in the person of Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft, who incidentally was born Anna Maria Luisa Italiano) a partially blind young woman, who figures out just what Helen needs to start making sense of the world around her. The main challenge, it turns out, is overcoming Keller's willfulness and spoiled upbringing; then teaching the child to make the crucial connection between objects and feelings in the world, and the words that represent them. Oscars were earned by both the leads. Bancroft and Duke have a riveting onscreen chemistry, and the relationship they eventually develop is a long time coming. THE ONE THING that really lingers for me are the methods used by Sullivan to bring her charge to a point where she is open to learning and cooperating. As a special education teacher this resonates quite a bit. Behaviour is often a recourse for students with lagging skills in other areas. The key as a teacher is to be uncompromising in making the student accountable to a high standard of behaviour so that they can build the discipline needed to learn. Although the film portrays only the initial stages of the relationship, Helen Keller's eventual accomplishments as an author, activist and lecturer are a testament to the methods of the her amazing teacher Anne Sullivan, miracle worker indeed.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

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Arthur Penn

Director

Anne Bancroft

Annie Sullivan

Patty Duke

Helen Keller

Victor Jory

Captain Arthur Keller

Inga Swenson

Kate Keller

Andrew Prine

James Keller

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The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - It Has a Name

2:16

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - Let's Play a Game

3:50

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - Helen's First Lesson

2:10

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - She Knows!

3:34

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - Helen Kisses Annie Goodnight

1:48

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - Annie Is Reminded of Her Past

2:13

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - I Want Complete Charge

2:07

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - She Wants to Talk Like You and Me

1:41

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - Helen's Table Manners

2:09

The Miracle Worker: Official Clip - She Can't See or Hear

1:45

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Outstanding movie based on life of Helen Keller.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 28, 2010

Full Review

Nick Pinkerton

Village Voice

The centerpiece is a one-room, nine-minute war of attrition, as a tutor (Anne Bancroft) imposes table manners on her feral charge (Patty Duke). It's a heaving, shin-cracking donnybrook, done with complete commitment.

Nov 12, 2008

Full Review

Variety

Where the picture really excels, outside of its inherent story values, is in the realm of photographic technique.

Oct 18, 2008

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

This is a work that's raw, uncomfortable, and in-your-face.

Rated: 3.5/4

Sep 19, 2021

Full Review

Janet Graves

Photoplay

Simple, powerful, unsentimental, this version of the stage hit is a real movie.

Dec 15, 2020

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Based on the biography of tutor Anne Sullivan and her famous case study with Helen Keller, Penn's film has stupendous portrayals of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, but it only moves me to a minimum. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 6/10

Jul 25, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

Blind and deaf after suffering a terrible fever as a baby, young Helen Keller (Patty Duke) has spent years unable to communicate, leaving her frustrated and occasionally violent. As a last chance before she is institutionalized, her parents (Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine) contact a school for the blind, which sends half-blind Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft) to teach Helen. Helen is initially resistant, but Annie gradually forms a bond with her and shows Helen ways of reaching others.

Director: Arthur Penn
Screenwriter: William Gibson, William Gibson, Helen Keller
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp., United Artists
Production Co: Playfilm Productions
Genre: Biography, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 28, 1962, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 24, 2010
Sound Mix: Mono

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