Content deleted Content added
Srich32977 (talk | contribs) m Updated short description #article-change-desc Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit iOS app edit |
|||
(27 intermediate revisions by 20 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}{{about|the 1962 Arthur Penn film|other uses|Miracle Worker (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Miracle Worker
| image = MiracleWorkerPoster.JPG
| caption = Original poster
| director = [[Arthur Penn]]
Line 17 ⟶ 19:
| released = {{Film date|1962|7|28}}
| runtime = 106 minutes
| budget = $1.3 million
|gross = $2 million (US/Canada)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety-1963-01/page/n69/mode/2up?q=1963|magazine=Variety|date=9 Jan 1963|page=13|title=Big Rental Pictures of 1962}} Please note these are rentals and not gross figures</ref>
| country = United States
| language = English
Line 22 ⟶ 26:
'''''The Miracle Worker''''' is a 1962 American [[biographical film]] about [[Anne Sullivan]], blind tutor to [[Helen Keller]], directed by [[Arthur Penn]]. The [[screenplay]] by [[William Gibson (playwright)|William Gibson]] is based on his [[The Miracle Worker (play)|1959 play of the same title]], which originated as a 1957 broadcast of the [[television]] [[anthology series]] ''[[Playhouse 90]]''. Gibson's secondary source material was ''[[The Story of My Life (biography)|The Story of My Life]]'', the 1903 [[autobiography]] of Helen Keller.
The film went on to be an instant critical success and a moderate commercial success. The film was nominated for five [[Academy Awards]], including [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] for [[Arthur Penn]], and won two awards, [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] for [[Anne Bancroft]] and [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] for [[Patty Duke]], the latter of whom, at age 16, became the youngest competitive Oscar winner at the time.
==
Young Helen Keller
==Cast==
Line 42 ⟶ 46:
* [[William F. Haddock]] as 2nd Crone (uncredited)
* Helen Ludlam as 3rd Crone (uncredited)
==Production notes==
Despite Anne Bancroft's award-winning performance as Anne Sullivan in the Broadway production, [[United Artists]] executives wanted [[Elizabeth Taylor]] to be cast in this role in the film adaptation. However Arthur Penn (who had also directed the stage production) insisted on using Bancroft. As a result, the studio viewed the film as a risky prospect and granted Penn only a tight budget of $1,300,000 (of which $200,000 was spent in purchasing the rights to the play).<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Chaiken |editor-first=Michael |date=2008 |url=https://
▲Despite Anne Bancroft's award-winning performance as Anne Sullivan in the Broadway production, [[United Artists]] executives wanted [[Elizabeth Taylor]] to be cast in this role in the film adaptation. However Arthur Penn (who had also directed the stage production) insisted on using Bancroft. As a result, the studio viewed the film as a risky prospect and granted Penn only a tight budget of $1,300,000 (of which $200,000 was spent in purchasing the rights to the play).<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Chaiken |editor-first=Michael |date=2008 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Arthur_Penn/kb3a9Mkjc38C?gbpv=1&pg=PA32&printsec=frontcover |title=Arthur Penn: Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |page=32 |isbn=9781604731057}}</ref>
In addition, despite the fact that [[Patty Duke]] had played Helen Keller in the play, she almost did not get the part. The reason was that at 15 she was considered too old to portray a seven-year-old girl
For the dining room battle scene, in which Anne tries to teach Helen proper table manners, both Bancroft and Duke wore padding beneath their costumes to prevent serious bruising during the intense physical skirmish. The nine-minute sequence required three cameras and took five days to film.<ref>
The film was shot at [[Big Sky Ranch]] in [[Simi Valley]], California,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brooks |first=Nancy Rivera |date=1987-04-20 |title=Big Scene Change Planned for Famed Old Movie Ranch |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-20-fi-1203-story.html |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Middletown, New Jersey]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Whitty |first=Stephen |date=2014-07-12 |title=Family Viewing: 'The Miracle Worker' |url=https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2014/07/family_viewing_the_miracle_worker.html |access-date=2024-03-12 |website=NJ.com |language=en}}</ref>
==Reception==
In his review in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Bosley Crowther]] wrote: <blockquote>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 ... But because the physical encounters between the two ... seem to be more frequent and prolonged than they were in the play and are shown in close-ups, which dump the passion and violence right into your lap, the sheer rough-and-tumble of the drama becomes more dominant than it was on the stage ... The bruising encounters between the two ... are intensely significant of the drama and do excite strong emotional response. But the very intensity of them and the fact that it is hard to see the difference between the violent struggle to force the child to obey ... and the violent struggle to make her comprehend words makes for sameness in these encounters and eventually an exhausting monotony. This is the disadvantage of so much energy. However, Miss Bancroft's performance does bring to life and reveal a wondrous woman with great humor and compassion as well as athletic skill. And little Miss Duke, in those moments when she frantically pantomimes her bewilderment and desperate groping, is both gruesome and pitiable.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bosley |first=Crowther |date=May 24, 1962 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B04E6D91038E63ABC4C51DFB3668389679EDE |title=Screen: 'The Miracle Worker' Opens |work=The New York Times}}</ref></blockquote>
''[[TV Guide (magazine)|TV Guide]]'' rates the film 4{{frac|1|2}} out of a possible five stars and calls it "a harrowing, painfully honest, sometimes violent journey, astonishingly acted and rendered
''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out London]]'' wrote: <blockquote>It's a stunningly impressive piece of work ... deriving much of its power from the performances. Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft spark off each other with a violence and emotional honesty rarely seen in the cinema, lighting up each other's loneliness, vulnerability, and plain fear. What is in fact astonishing is the way that, while constructing a piece of very carefully directed and intelligently written melodrama, Penn manages to avoid sentimentality or even undue optimism about the value of Helen's education, and the way he achieves such a feeling of raw spontaneity in the acting.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/73246/The_Miracle_Worker.html |title=The Miracle Worker |work=Time Out London |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203100644/http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/73246/The_Miracle_Worker.html |archivedate=February 3, 2009}}</ref></blockquote>On review aggregate website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], ''The Miracle Worker'' has a score of 96% based on 26 reviews, with an average of 7.9/10.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Miracle Worker (1962) |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1013973-miracle_worker/ |accessdate=March 12, 2024 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref>
==Awards and honors==
Line 176 ⟶ 174:
** [[Anne Sullivan|Annie Sullivan]] – Nominated Hero<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/handv400.pdf |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains Nominees |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150527/http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/handv400.pdf |archivedate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
* 2005: [[AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores]] – Nominated<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf |title= AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees |publisher=[[American Film Institute]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150632/https://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf |archivedate=March 13, 2011}}</ref>
* 2006: [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers]] – #15<ref>{{cite web
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
==See also==
Line 190 ⟶ 191:
==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0056241|The Miracle Worker}}
* {{
* {{
* {{AFI film|id=23284|title=The Miracle Worker}}
Line 198 ⟶ 199:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle Worker}}
[[Category:
[[Category:The Miracle Worker|1962]]▼
[[Category:1960s biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American biographical drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Films about blind people in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about deaf people]]
[[Category:Films about educators]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Helen Keller]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance]]
▲[[Category:United Artists films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Arthur Penn]]▼
[[Category:Films scored by Laurence Rosenthal]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Films set in 1887]]
[[Category:Photoplay Awards film of the year winners]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
|