La merveilleuse histoire de Mandy

I remember seeing this film, as a child, and have recently seen it again. Everything about it is memorable and it's an excellent example of British film making at its best. Given the sensitive subject matter, it could easily have turned out to be sentimental tosh. In reality, it is exactly the opposite, thanks in no short measure to a quality cast of first class actors. Jack Hawkins, Phyllis Calvert and Terence Morgan are first class, though the jewel in the film's crown is young Mandy Miller in the title role. Her portrayal is very moving and quite remarkable. Whilst so many of the scenes bring a lump to the throat, this superb film is an uplifting and positive experience. Not to be missed.

A decade before Arthur Penn's "the miracle worker" , "Mandy " is the story of a deaf girl (the scene when they discover their misfortune when Mandy is in her cradle is impressive);Like Helen Keller , Mandy was poisoned with protection, her father wanted to hide her,as though it were a shame ; the mother puts her trust in a devoted team , with a deaf doctor and an admirable teacher of children of special needs (Jack Hawkins ) ;although subject to gossips (a would be affair between the mother and the teacher )they 'll see it through ,and after the scene of the ball (smartly repeated twice),we know that Mandy has become a child like the others , who will make friends with other boys and girls .

When they realise that their daughter "Mandy" (Mandy Miller) isn't so responsive to sound, they take her to a physician who tells them that she is profoundly deaf, and will most likely never be able to learn to speak either. Parents "Christine" (Phyllis Calvert) and "Harry" (Terence Morgan) are determined to keep her with their family, so move into his parents large home in a still largely bombed out area of London. Her early years pose less of a problem for her caring family, but as she gets older and begins to become frustrated with her inability to react to the outside world and her playful contemporaries, they decide that perhaps some form of more formal education is required. They've heard good things of the slightly maverick "Searle" (Jack Hawkins) who is trying to use sonics to introduce the concepts of sounds to other children, and so they take her there. Never having been away from her parents though, she struggles to adapt - and that puts quite a strain on a marriage that is divided as to how best to proceed. This is one of those films that tugs at the heart strings. It's not sentimental, nor is it melodramatic - it just illustrates how an ordinary family struggles to deal with the stress of having a child who has to live her life differently amidst a society that is unaware of her disability. Sometimes that puts her at greater risk, or requires a greater patience from those around her. That very relentlessness is captured well here by both Calvert and Morgan, and there's also a sub-plot between Hawkins and his trustees (Edward Chapman) that demonstrates a clinical reluctance to challenge existing thinking and experiment with new methods. There is also a look taken at just how difficult is is for adults to maintain relationships when constantly frazzled, and at just how toxic gossiping tongues can be when nerves are frayed. Hats also have to come off to the young Miller, who delivers personably here and who elicits sympathy, yes, but also a degree of appreciation of her character's own courage as she strives to conform without having the faintest idea what it is that she is "missing". Thoughtful and at times provocative and it still has relevance seventy years later.

I have not seen this movie since I was a child, I am now 40 years old, but it still comes back to me. I loved this movie. I may have seen it twice as I remember it so well. I think it impressed upon me the ability children have to shine through adversity, and the need to believe that they really can make it, if given the right encouragement, in the right way, at the time that is right for them! I think it was a well acted and well thought out story line, with a heart rending performance by Mandy Miller. I would dearly love to see this movie again!

Remarkably this is only the eleventh review ever posted on the IMDb of this pioneering work on the subject of child psychology, representing both the apex of the Ealing drama and the directorial career of Alexander MacKendrick; which also continues writer Nigel Balchin's exploration of the role of the outsider aided by pellucid photography by Douglas Slocombe.

Once seen Mandy Miller (who you actually got to hear speak in 'The Man in the White Suit') is never forgotten; although the real tensions plainly reside in the tensions between the adults, which is probably in line with Ealing's equivocal view of the role of officialdom in general.