A Patch of Blue (1965)

A Patch of Blue
Directed by Guy Green
Written by Guy Green from a novel by Elizabeth Kata
1965/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Selina D’Arcy: I didn’t want you to come back to Earth. I wanted you to make love with me. [/box]

First-rate performances raise a touching, if predictable, story a notch.

Selina D’Arcy (Elizabeth Hartman) is an 18-year-old blind girl who lives in squalor and chaos with her prostitute mother Rose-Ann (Shelley Winters) and grandfather Ol’ Pa (Wallace Ford).  She lost her sight at age 5 in an accident caused by Rose-Ann.  Since then, the two have completely isolated her from the world and treat her as a virtual slave who must earn her way by stringing beads.  She has never been to school and not been taught such basics as how to cross a street or make a telephone call.

The kindly man she works for offers to take her to the park.  There she happens to meet Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), who takes pity on her and begins to show her the ropes. The joy of finally having a friend quickly turns to love on Selina’s part.  But the racial divide raises its ugly head when Rose-Ann discovers the relationship.

I enjoyed this very much.  It suffers a bit from some tentativeness in its attitude to the interracial relationship but that could be expected from the time.  The performances are all excellent.

Shelley Winters won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.