KnitFlix: The Miracle Worker (1962)

Directed by Arthur Penn. Starring Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke.
Both Bancroft and Duke won Academy Awards for their performances in this film adapted from the stage play about Helen Keller (blind and deaf since infancy) and Annie Sullivan, the woman who taught her how to communicate with the world. The awards are well-deserved: each actress brings a poignancy and rawness that is rarely seen onscreen. A dinner scene, in which Keller tries to teach Sullivan who’s boss, is as funny as it is heart wrenching. 106 minutes. Unrated.