Touches You

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Superb film with Phyllis Calvert as the mother who knew that her deaf mute child needed instruction rather than being kept away from other children.Calvert is joined by an excellent cast to show how deaf mute children need that guidance, understanding, love and devotion if they are to succeed.What makes this an extraordinary film is that we're not only working with the child, but trying to put down the vicious gossip of an affair between her teacher and the Calvert character. Here there is not only a misunderstanding, but a vicious plot by a head in the school who doesn't like teacher Jack Hawkins, and with the help of the former's vicious secretary, schemes so that he can rid of Hawkins.One can never forget the fear in the child who was played so well by Mandy Miller. She was absolutely terrific in evoking the emotions of a child in a silent world.

This film has a resonance for me as I too was 6 years old in 1952 being born in 1946 the same age as Mandy Miller was when she performed her signature film of a little deaf girl.I vaguely remember my parents talking about this film then but now at 63 this was the first time I had seen it.I have to admit my eyes were damp the whole way through as I too can remember the many bomb sites then around London, the old taxis & cars, the ladies fashions, what my primary school was like in my second year and playtime with fellow infants.It is not often I award 9/10 for a film but this was one such occasion.The whole cast, director, producer. scriptwriter and production crew performed admirably and of course Mandy Miller's central role was wholly believable.The film did not lapse into mawkish sentimentality once but kept a realistic grip throughout so that one sensed it was almost a documentary but kept the dramatic emphasis together."The heavy" Mr Akland, was played by Edward Chapman a role he played in "Gone to Earth" (1949) as a hypocritical church deacon. In Mandy he tries to stir up trouble by suggesting and trying to prove the mother Christine (Phyllis Calvert) and Searle (Jack Hawkins) are having an affair, for jealous professional reasons.To show Edward could also play comedic roles he is more famous in the UK for playing the hapless foil Mr Grimsdale to Norman Wisdom in the latter's 1950s comic films.Similarly the actress Marjory Fielding who plays Mrs Garland the mother of Mandy's father Harry (Terence Morgan), belayed her very stagey style of acting seen in "Quiet Wedding" (1941) and acted in a low key modern idiom (for 1952).Godfrey Tearle as her husband Mr Garland had obviously aged 17 years since 1935 when he had played the traitor in Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" with Robert Donat & Madeline Carroll (still the best version of this film).As a chess player who also played by correspondence in the 1960s, I was naturally intrigued by the arrival of one of his opponents moves which was PXP en passant.Mandy recognised the "P" sound from the chess scorecard after her extensive deaf help given gratis by Mr Searle (an excellent role for Jack Hawkins) the principal of the deaf school in Manchester.This was the abiding proof Mr Garland needed to take the initiative between his son Harry & Searle to show the beneficial effect on Mandy's speech patterns from the specialised help given to her.I would also like to place on record the wonderful real deaf children who were selected by the producers to participate in the film who made the experience so convincing.The producers gave this deaf school a vote of thanks in the opening credits.

I have not seen this movie since I was a child, I am now 40 years old, but it still comes back to me. I loved this movie. I may have seen it twice as I remember it so well. I think it impressed upon me the ability children have to shine through adversity, and the need to believe that they really can make it, if given the right encouragement, in the right way, at the time that is right for them! I think it was a well acted and well thought out story line, with a heart rending performance by Mandy Miller. I would dearly love to see this movie again!

The Mandy of the title truly is the star of the film, as almost all of the adults underplay their scenes with her to help her shine brighter. When Mandy's parents find out she is deaf, they have differing ideas on what to do next. Mother, Christine, wants to send Mandy to a special school for deaf children so she can learn to read and write - and perhaps speak - and be as much like other children as possible. But her father, Harry, is somewhat ashamed of his daughter and would rather keep Mandy hidden away at his parents' house with only a governess to teach her the finger alphabet. After seeing how she reacts with other children, Christine realises that for Mandy's sake she must get her to the school, and leaves Harry. Watching Mandy's progress in the school provides some fascinating insight into ways of teaching and, contrary to Harry's thoughts, she does progress, with help from headmaster Searle. A second storyline is developed here as people increasingly believe that Christine is having an affair with Searle, when in fact they are both only interested in the good of the child.A real "four tissue" movie, 10/10.