Main Cast: Phyllis Calvert, Jack Hawkins, Terence Morgan, Mandy Miller, Godfrey Tearle
Release Year: 1952
Country: UK
Run Time: 93 minutes
Plot
Released in Britain as Crash of Silence, Mandy is a straightforward story about a handicapped child's efforts to adapt to a normal world. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. Her desperate parents enroll her in special education classes. It's a slow, uphill climb, but by film's end Mandy is talking and playing happily with non-impaired children. A well-intentioned effort, Mandy unfortunately falls prey to corniness, save for the thoroughly convincing performance by child actress Mandy Miller (who was not deaf). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Mandy was a 1952Ealing Studios film, based on the book The Day Is Ours by Hilda Lewis, with screenplay by Nigel Balchin and Jack Whittingham, and direction by Alexander Mackendrick and Fred Sears. Another title for the film was Crash of Silence. The film was released in the US as The Story of Mandy.[1]
Harry and Christine Garland have a deaf-mute daughter, Mandy. As they realise their daughter's situation, the parents enroll Mandy in special education classes to try to get her to speak. They quarrel in the process and their marriage comes under strain. There are also hints of a possible affair between Christine and Searle, the headmaster of the school for the deaf where Mandy is enrolled. Eventually, the training succeeds to the point where Mandy says her own name for the first time.
