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Post by spiderwort on May 19, 2024 20:41:48 GMT
With brilliant performances by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke and great direction by Arthur Penn, The Miracle Worker is a masterful cinematic adaptation of the powerful stage play by William Gibson. The use of quasi-surrealism in the starkly beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Ernesto Caparrós is haunting. It's so characteristic of many other great films of the sixties, but it distinguishes itself in the dream sequences in which it also pays lyrical homage to the ghostly images of early cinema and, even before, to the early days of photography. This adds an eerie integrity to the film's vintage period which is fraught with images that linger in the mind and heart long after the film is over. A true masterwork, in my opinion. And the final moments are deeply touching and beautiful.
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Post by politicidal1 on May 19, 2024 22:02:03 GMT
Excellent drama, I agree. Although the bits with Patty Duke screaming her head off are very aggravating. I can see modern audiences being put off by that.
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Post by marianne48 on May 20, 2024 1:29:18 GMT
Excellent drama, I agree. Although the bits with Patty Duke screaming her head off are very aggravating. I can see modern audiences being put off by that. I think modern audiences are used to hearing kids screaming their heads off in public places.
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Post by jervistetch on May 20, 2024 2:20:28 GMT
It is a wonderful movie but I can see modern audiences boycotting the film because Helen isn’t played by a real blind person.
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Post by petrolino on May 20, 2024 4:21:41 GMT
Brilliant film.
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Post by Rufus-T on May 20, 2024 4:45:48 GMT
The first version of The Miracle Worker I saw was the TV movie starring Melissa Gilbert as Helen Keller, and Patty Duke as Anne Sullivan. I like that one. This 1962 version directed by Arthur Penn was even better. The style and the acting were better, and Patty Duke played a better Helen Keller.
I was wondering if this 1962 version was the first adaptation of the Helen Keller story. Just a bit checking, and there were at least two earlier versions. - Deliverance (1919) -- Available on YouTube. Look for it in the "Library of Congress" channel. - "Playhouse 90" The Miracle Worker (TV Episode 1957)
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Post by TheGoodMan19 on May 20, 2024 12:33:52 GMT
Excellent drama, I agree. Although the bits with Patty Duke screaming her head off are very aggravating. I can see modern audiences being put off by that. On a comparison, the one fault I have with Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde is Estelle Parsons constant banshee wail. She won an Oscar for screeching "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" for long stretches. The real Blanche Barrow thought so too. "That movie made me look like a screaming horse's ass.".
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Post by spiderwort on May 20, 2024 16:13:13 GMT
The first version of The Miracle Worker I saw was the TV movie starring Melissa Gilbert as Helen Keller, and Patty Duke as Anne Sullivan. I like that one. This 1962 version directed by Arthur Penn was even better. The style and the acting were better, and Patty Duke played a better Helen Keller. I was wondering if this 1962 version was the first adaptation of the Helen Keller story. Just a bit checking, and there were at least two earlier versions. - Deliverance (1919) -- Available on YouTube. Look for it in the "Library of Congress" channel. - "Playhouse 90" The Miracle Worker (TV Episode 1957) I had no idea about the 1919 version, Rufus-T . It would be an interesting one to see, though I doubt it can hold a candle to the 1962 version. As for the history of the '62 version, let me start by elaborating on the "Playhouse 90" version. That was the first presentation of William Gibson's play, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Teresa Wright and Patty McCormick. I would so love to see that one, but haven't been able to find it so far. It then went to Broadway with Penn directing, and this time starred Ann Bancroft and Patty Duke. It ran for 719 performances. Then it went to the big screen with Penn directing yet again and with Bancroft and Duke reprising their roles. Apparently he had to fight to get them, but thank God he did. What a long, wonderful ride that was for Arthur Penn and that project.
And I've never seen the TV movie, but I'd like to, just to see Duke play Annie Sullivan. I think that must have been a most interesting and challenging experience for her.
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