Helen Keller the Miracle Continues 1984 Tv Movie on Dvd
'HELEN KELLER, THE MIRACLE CONTINUES'
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April 26, 1984
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THE relationship between Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, her teacher, was a special one, the first years of which have been dramatized powerfully in William Gibson's ''Miracle Worker.'' The play ended with that magical moment when young Helen, blind and deaf, made the connection between the word ''water'' being spelled into her hand by Annie and the real pump water flowing over her other hand.
The later years were no less fascinating. With Miss Sullivan's dedicated assistance, Miss Keller graduated from Radcliffe and became a world-famous author and public personality. This is the period covered in Operation Prime Time's ''Helen Keller, the Miracle Continues,'' a television movie, starring Mare Winningham as Helen and Blythe Danner as Anne, which is being repeated on Channel 11 tonight at 8 following its Monday premiere.
These were far from being placidly easy years. There were tensions not only between the two women and the rest of the world but also between themselves. John McGreevey's script, based on the Joseph P. Lash book ''Helen and Teacher,'' does touch on some of the more controversial and unpleasant aspects of their lives but the overall production is insistent on being reassuringly inspirational. If things begin to look a bit peculiar, the camera's focus suddenly goes soft, some violins begin playing in the background and the dialogue supplies a bit of comforting uplift. The ''miracle'' will continue, evidently, no matter what.
The fierce strength of the relationship between Helen and Anne is established at the outset as a Mr. Gilman (Alexander Knox) in Cambridge, Mass., is accused of wanting to take over Miss Keller's education for his own gain. Helen's mother (Vera Miles) is summoned and, finding her daughter distraught at the thought of leaving Annie, firmly dismisses the professional educator. A triumphant Annie declares, ''No power on earth could ever separate Helen and me.''
While publicly Helen and Annie prove to be continuing sources of inspiration, their private lives are marked by prolonged bouts of unhappiness. Annie's marriage to John Macy (Perry King) is a disaster. He is the editor provided by The Ladies Home Journal to help Miss Keller write a series of articles that will later form the basis for a book. He is charming and witty and seemingly devoted to Annie, but she is too tied to Helen to spare much time for him or their marriage. Meanwhile, Helen is also beginning to long for romance in her life but when it appears, in the person of young Peter Fagan (Jeff Harding), both her mother and Annie sabotage a plan for an elopement. Later, for reasons of financial support, Annie convinces Helen to go on a vaudeville tour with lectures about her struggles against adversity.
There is much, then, that is questionable, if not horrifying, about the personal life of Helen Keller. But this television film is bent on putting the best possible interpretation on everything. Everybody, with the possible exception of the increasingly alcoholic Macy, is made to appear as sympathetic as possible. When Annie is at her most domineering, Miss Danner can emphasize the woman's own frailties of failing eyesight and consumptive tendencies. Miss Winningham has little more to do than look vulnerable and puzzled, occasionally speaking with what sounds like an East European accent being filtered through clenched teeth. And Helen's mother hovers in the background as some mysteriously protective figure.
Even the shabby vaudeville escapade is given a veneer of lofty inspiration. The customers at the theater are remarkably proper, dressed as if they were attending a formal tea. After Miss Keller delivers her message of hope (''Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much''), the audience rises for one of those stirring ovations so dear to the heart of show business. A triumphant Annie throws her arms around the performer, declaring, ''Helen, I love you.'' Even those viewers militantly determined to be moved by all of this will find it difficult to avoid some nagging questions about the rosy interpretation of events.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/26/arts/helen-keller-the-miracle-continues.html
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