The Miracle Worker

I am SO proud of Disney for presenting us with movies with emotion, heart, and feelings, and not just another talking animal, or silly kids picture. On the heels of "Selma, Lord Selma", and "Ruby Bridges", comes this re-telling of the classic story of deaf, & blind Helen Keller, and her courageous teacher, Anne Sullivan.

Still not sure if the story was actually NEEDING another modern version, I gave it a chance because I love the story. I was very pleased and impressed with the acting talents of the two leads, and I enjoyed the gentle and touching way Disney presented them. a wonderful story (no doubt) but an even more wonderful presentation. Does it outdue the original? NEVER. Nor did "The Parent Trap" outdue it's original, but both versions are worthy of your attention. And this is no exception. A gem of a movie. Share it with your family.

And thanks AGAIN, Disney. You are slowly restoring my faith in your "family films" again.

This story is just screaming to be a fine movie. What is better subject matter for a presentation by signs, than a story of presentation by signs. And there has been a moderately successful film made in 1962, at least it had the weight of trembling actors.

This version has been Disneyfied in predicable ways: dumbed, cleaned and sweetened accordingly. But oddly enough for a film about blindness, it is blazingly bright and colorful. I think this is a simple accident of what Disney knows about how TeeVee bleaches colors.

And it has two actors who have done well in fine films. Nominally, they are supposed to have a huge metaphysical tussle, here more of a staring contest. David Strathairn's presence in 'Limbo' is really something you need to see. Any one of tens of thousands could have done what he does here.

Alison Elliott just blew me away in 'Wings of a Dove.' This woman has enough power to suggest what is suspected of the 'real' Anne, that much of the intelligence of her student was imposed. This would have been fertile stuff for an intelligent film. Oh well, at least she does something.

That can't be said for the Helen here who is little more than the dolls in this story. Would have made more sense if that Anne redactor layer was mined.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I came across this remake of the 1962 classic with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke on WE television and was very, very impressed, both with Hallie Eisenberg, who played Helen, and with Allison Elliott, who played Annie Sullivan. I had, of course, seen the original black and white, but was pleasantly surprised with this remake of the original film. Hallie is an amazing young actress. It was beautifully filmed as well, and I always enjoy seeing David Strathairn, who played Helen's father. What an amazing story of the relationship between Helen Keller and the woman who taught her how to relate to the world around her, even those this child was locked in darkness without sight, sound or speech. A beautiful, moving remake with wonderful acting.

I came across the video of this movie and had to rent it. The story of "The Miracle Worker" is timeless and is always worth a look. This version, however, absolutely PALES to the 1962 version! Hallie Kate Eisenberg seemed too calm, especially during the so-called temper tantrums which were unconvincing, not to mention that her clothes made her look more like a polished doll. She seems too cutesy with the ruffles and bows and dimples and would have fared better in a remake of a Shirley Temple classic. The only performance really worth seeing is that of Alison Elliott who did an excellent job portraying Annie Sullivan, complete with the Irish brogue done to a "T". Nevertheless, if you really want to see a more accurate version of this movie, rent the version from 1962 with INCREDIBLE performances by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, who was nothing short of OUTSTANDING in her portrayal of Helen Keller - totally believable!

This very vanilla and completely unnecessary remake (the 2nd) of the 1962 film does manage to achieve some solid dramatic moments, but much of Gibson's play has been overly softened and sentimentalized to achieve what passes as "family entertainment" these days. This is one time when smoothing out all the rough edges for the sake of the children (or is it for the over-concerned adults?) has a negative impact.

The original play and movie are not absolute masterworks: some of Gibson's writing is too melodramatic and the supporting characters have few dimensions (not helped by the overacting of Victor Jory and Inga Swensen in the '62 film). But the taut direction of Arthur Penn and the sheer intensity of the Bancoft-Duke pairing resulted in an extraordinarily effective piece nonetheless.

Here we have the good Alison Elliott as Sullivan and Hallie Kate Eisenberg as a too-scrubbed-clean Helen (when one character remarks at how clean she is after Sullivan has her to herself for a week, you really don't see a difference). Eisenberg is competent, but not moving. Hers is a Helen that would work well in a Disney animated version of the story.

Elliot fares better, but the mediocre direction and script undermine her at times. In trying to give the other characters some added dimensions not in the play, the teleplay feels the need to konk us over the head about some of their issues. When confronted about his jealousy of Helen, half-brother James actually says, "If Helen gets better, who else can I blame for my unhappiness?" Yikes. Lucas Black looks very uncomfortable saying that clunky line, and you can't blame him.

David Strathairn should have better things to do than play Captain Keller, and his performance has little energy or impact. Kate Greenhouse as Kate Keller loses her southern accent after less than a minute and is rather amateurish at times.

Another vote to stick with the original. I've never seen the 1979 remake - which I gather is better than this one.