A Child Is Waiting (1963)

A Child Is Waiting (1963) (DVD) (*)

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Language Selections:
Dutch ( Subtitles )
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )

Product Origin/Format:
Netherlands ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
100 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1963 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
John Cassavetes

Written By:
John Cassavetes
Abby Mann

Actors:
Burt Lancaster ..... Dr. Ben Clark
Judy Garland ..... Jean Hansen
Gena Rowlands ..... Sophie Widdicombe/Benham
Steven Hill ..... Ted Widdicombe
Paul Stewart ..... Goodman
Gloria McGehee ..... Mattie, Teacher
Lawrence Tierney ..... Douglas Benham
Bruce Ritchey ..... Reuben Widdicombe
John Marley ..... Holland
Bill Mumy ..... Boy counting Jean's Pearls
Elizabeth Wilson ..... Miss Fogarty, Teacher

Synopsis:

Psychologist Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of the Crawthorne State Training Institute, one of the first boarding schools for developmentally challenged children. Dr. Clark is sympathetic but demanding of his teachers and students. His approach of tough love is controversial. He takes a chance at hiring former aspiring concert pianist Jean Hansen as the school's music teacher, Miss Hansen who has no background in nursing, teaching or dealing with the developmentally challenged. She herself is trying to find her own place in life. She immediately bonds with autistic student Reuben Widdicombe, who she sees as needing special attention in light of his parents having not visited him since they enrolled him in the school two years earlier. The Widdicombes divorced shortly thereafter because of the pressures their relationship faced in dealing with Reuben. Dr. Clark sees Reuben as the type of child the most difficult with which to deal: Reuben understands just enough to realize that he is different and is often being rejected. Miss Hansen and Dr. Clark disagree on how best to get through to Reuben. Although Dr. Clark admits that his methods have not worked with Reuben, he also does not believe that Miss Hansen's approach of undivided attention is the answer. Through getting to know the Widdicombe's reasons for not visiting and she herself seeing the life of the adult disabled, Miss Hansen comes to an understanding of how she feels she can best help her students, Reuben included.

Produced by Stanley Kramer, A Child is Waiting is set in an institution for the mentally handicapped, with many actual residents playing supporting and bit roles. Doctor Burt Lancaster and instructor Judy Garland often find themselves at odds over teaching methods, with Garland preferring an intense one-on-one approach with her students. Bruce Ritchey, a non-developmentally challenged youth, plays the retarded son of Gena Rowlands and Steven Hill, whose intellectual and social progress becomes the focal point of the film. The most uplifting sequence in A Child is Waiting takes place during a play staged by the genuinely handicapped children for their parents; while director John Cassavetes gilds the lily with close-ups of the teary-eyed audience, the kids themselves are earnest, engaging, and totally devoid of self-pity. According to Stanley Kramer, Judy Garland left her best work in this film on the cutting room floor; whenever completing a scene in which she'd exercised professional restraint, she'd insist upon a retake, then resort to the sobbing and breast-beating that her fans had come to expect.

Jean Hansen comes to a school for disabled children to work there as a teacher. She becomes especially interested in young Reuben, an autistic boy whose parents have not visited him for several years. But the school principal, Dr. Clark does not appreciate her keen interest.

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 02 October, 2011.

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