The Miracle Worker (1962)
(Arthur Penn, US 1962, 106 min., 35mm)
Few changes were made from William Gibson's play on blind, deaf Helen Keller (Patty Duke) and her remarkable teacher, Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft). Yet director Arthur Penn's interpretation is a high point in cinematic style, using framing to indicate the relationship of the characters in that moment, and often circling the two of them as if a cinematic referee. Exhausted and infuriated by caring for the young Helen, her parents reach out to the Perkins School for the Blind to ask for help; what they receive is a young teacher, blind herself, who will settle for nothing less than teaching Helen how to communicate and think, despite the parents’ instinct to coddle. The two lead performances are extraordinarily physical and were both recognized with Academy Awards.