Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This lean film adapted by William Gibson from his own stage play gets right down to business. This is not a biopic about Helen Keller or Annie Sullivan. We learn some background details about both that give their characters some context, but no more time than necessary is spent on them. Instead, this film is almost exclusively about Sullivan's time with Keller's family spent teaching Keller to communicate and her eventual breakthrough. It's an incredibly physical film -- since Keller couldn't hear, see, or speak, touch was the only sense through which she could communicate, and her family allowed her to slam, smack, and pound her way through life until she got what she wanted. Sullivan at first meets her at her own level, throwing her down into chairs, smacking her back when smacked herself, tackling her to the ground. Anne Bancroft, as Sullivan, and Patty Duke, as Keller, are sensational in these scenes and director Arthur Penn captures them with an insistent intensity. The whole film has an unsettling quality even when nothing unsettling is happening on screen, mainly due to Penn's decision to give the film the look and sound of a horror movie, with creepy, film-noir cinematography and eerie sound design.Bancroft and Duke both won Oscars for their performances, while the film brought nominations to Penn as Best Director, Gibson for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Ruth Morley for her black and white costumes.Grade: A

This wonderful, tear-jerking and eventually heartwarming, compelling true story of the early (the breakthrough) years of Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan, who stubbornly helps the belligerent violent child to overcome the frustration due to her handicaps (blind, deaf, and dumb) and learned to communicate (e.g. through sign language) is an essential biographical drama which earned Academy Awards for both Anne Bancroft (Best Actress Oscar on her first nomination) as Annie and Patty Duke (Best Supporting Actress on her only nomination) as Helen; both actresses were reprising their roles from the play, for which Bancroft had received a Tony Award.The film's director Arthur Penn (his first nomination), its screenplay (William Gibson's only recognition from the Academy) adapted from Keller's own book, and B&W Costume Design (also Ruth Morley's only) were also nominated for Oscars. Victor Jory plays Helen's stern father, Inga Swenson the loving mother that had spoiled her 'helpless' daughter to brink of institutionalization, and Andrew Prine plays the brother that sometimes suffered from a lack of attention.

The true story of Helen Keller, born deaf and blind. She was a vigorous advocate for social justice, and an inspiration to countless people around the globe.I remember as a young boy that "The Miracle Worker" was something of a sensation in 1962. It depicts the early life of Helen Keller and her relationship with teacher Anne Sullivan. It is that rare case where the lead roles were cast with the same actors as the Broadway play. The dinner table scrap is firmly embedded in Cinema lexicon. Oscars went to both Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, with 3 other nominations. The film was universally praised by critics. Directed by Arthur Penn, with ethereal, haunting cinematography by Ernesto Caparros."The room's a wreck, but her napkin is folded"

I really didn't expect much out of this, since everybody already knows the story of Helen Keller (or at least they think they do) and it's based on a popular stage play (by William Gibson, whose awful Two for the Seesaw I disliked just the week before), but, holy cow, did this film really move me deeply. I can't even say exactly why. I mean, it's a brilliantly made film, that's for sure. Arthur Penn, who went on to direct one of my very favorite movies, Bonnie & Clyde, just does a perfect job. The film is beautifully shot and directed without ever being showy. For a film based on a play, it's not particularly verbose. It uses moments of silence very well. Certainly one of the biggest reasons I liked it so much was Anne Bancroft's performance as Anne Sullivan. I'd rank it as one of the all-time great performances in film. Patty Duke is, of course, very good as Helen Keller, too (both actresses won Oscars), but Bancroft owns the movie. I guess I just never realized how difficult Sullivan's task was, and her passion and determination to teach Keller really involved me. Films do a lot for me, but, honestly, they hardly ever inspire me, but that big breakthrough moment at the waterpump, even though I knew it was coming, made me cry like a baby. I loved this movie.