Harrison's Reports (1962)

82 HARRISON'S REPORTS June 2, 1962 "The Miracle Worker" with Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory, Inga Swenson, Andrew Prine (United Artists, Current; 107 mins.) GOOD. This harsh, turbulent, violently emotional story made its transition to the screen, from the stage, with all of the upper-echelon talent of the latter coming along as a sort-of safeguard that what made it into a Broadway hit, will make of it an even bigger success as a movie talent-wise. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke (who played the leads) and playwright William Gibson, producer Fred Coe and director Arthur Penn were there when the cameras got rolling in New York and in a little town in New Jersey. The latter for locales. But, it failed to come off as one of the better pictures of the year because of the vast difference between story telling on a stage, and the same principles of delineation as applied to the cameras. The harshness, furious action, animal-like ferocity that played itself out quite movingly on the stage, making it devoid of an audience's emotional upset rose to heights of rigorous, uncompromising severity that left one as tired out as the protagonists and almost as spent when the film was over. This tortuous battling between the self-sacrificial teacher (Anne Bancroft) and her young, lost charge (Patty Duke) consumes a greater portion of the running time of the movie. The plight of this speechless, sightless, hearless child is a pitiful one to behold. Upon it was the suffering, the strange bewilderment that she herself (Patty Duke) within the regions of her own mind couldn't understand. It brought on a physical rebellion almost beyond control. There was little laughter in her young life. The cameras didn't seem to find it necessary to stop for a fleeting moment to look at this strange world she found herself in with soulful eyes, though screened from the sights that stretched beyond, as big as young robins awakening to the wonders of compassion, tenderness and physical help that were flowing from her elders. Director Penn in his onslaught on the emolument of sledge-hammer harshness didn't stop for a brief interlude or two to allow the audience to warm up to the basic tenderness of the lost girl; or to develop the kind of sympathy for the youngster that you would have liked to. This all, however, shouldn't discount the fact that both Miss Bancroft and the Duke child don't come through with powerful performances. So does the assertive, czaristic Victor Jory. Inga Swenson lends a poignantly touching kind of portrayal to the role of the mother. Photography, good. Anne Bancroft, trained in a school for the blind, takes on the arduous job of caring for little Helen Keller (Patty Duke) . For all the family's resignation to hopelessness, Miss Bancroft refuses to give up and allow the youngster to be shunted off to a school for retarded children. The work of bringing new meaning of life and hope to the inwardly tortured and outwardly violent young girl is a most difficult one. Beset by beatings, battles and other manifestations of innocent hatreds and the rebellions of the confused young, Miss Bancroft, little by little, begins to gain control of her charge. The youngster is beginning to see life through the medium of communication (with word-transmission by finger). There is hope that things are going to be easier for everybody, especially for the blind, deaf and dumb little girl. The miracle, like a blessing from God, is beginning to work, and on that spiritually uplifting note the film ends. Produced by Fred Goe; directed by Arthur Penn; screenplay by William Gibson from Gibson's play of the same name. General patronage. "Zotz!" with Tom Poston, Julia Meade, Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Cecil Kellaway (Columbia, June; 87 mins.) POOR. As you enter the projection room, you're "paid off" with a half-dollar size wooden amulet that is not yet acceptable as the coin of the realm. It's out of this worthless piece of hieroglyphical "what'szotz" that William Castle, whose forte is this kind of off-beat plunderings into the unknown, has tried to make a case of motion picture entertainment. The results add up to the sum total of his story symbol, the worthless coin. It's a sad case of poor story structure; uneven, almost amateurish direction; and the kind of "what's-zot" acting that you may expect from Thespians (Tom Poston-Julia Meade) who rose to their strange prominence (??) via the route of television. Transmitted to the screen the Tv talent has been found wanting as has been noted in several recent film releases. In any event, for all the professional stuff, deep knowledge of coins, their archaeological significance and expeditionary pilgrimages the whole mess is supposed to come out as a comedy. But, at the expense of a corny (and old) deduction, this comedy is nothing to laugh about. The whole undertaking is a little on the sad side, and you know the synonym for "sad" in this case. Photography, fair. So, Tom Poston, a professor, in a small California college receives a coin from a far-away expedition in progress. The hieroglyphics add up to one word, "Zotz!" All kinds of unbelievable things happen at the mention of the word. Verily, its mention gets Poston, and those who possess the valued coin into all sorts of trouble, many of it bordering on downright danger. Poston goes to Washington to demonstrate the power of the coin. In the middle of a dinner Poston is whisked off in a plane. Yes, he's been taken over by the commies. With his niece and Julia Meade already in commie captivity, Poston tries to fast-talk himself out of the dangerous predicament. But, one strong, dependable ally stands ready to help him. "Zotz!" He shouts the word, the tables turn, everybody makes a break for freedom, the Reds are arrested, and there you have it. After the Washington feting, all Poston wants is to go back to his little college in California. Also going back, is another professor of the same college. now his wife, Miss Meade. Produced and directed by William Castle; screenplay by Ray Russell from the novel by Walter Karig. General patronage. "Escape from Z ah rain" with Yul Brynner, Sal Mineo, Madlyn Rhue (Paramount, June; 93 mins.) FAIR. This is a cops-and-robbers tale cleaved out of the shifting sands of the Arabian deserts; the lonely outposts; the brooding dunes along the oil routes of a land that is a strong pawn in the bargaining with the western democracies. The cops are the