Product Details

• Actors: Marilyn Clark, Brian Corcoran, Frederick Draper, Judy Garland, Steven Hill
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM /UA Home Video
• VHS Release Date: April 1, 1992
• Run Time: 145 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301965876
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,029 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 1963 film, directed by John Cassavetes, features Judy Garland's last dramatic performance. She plays a teacher at an institution for the retarded who ultimately can't contain her own urge to help, to the detriment of her young charges. Burt Lancaster gives a strong performance as the head of the institution, trying to balance fiscal responsibility and administrative duties with a caring nature. But it's a constant struggle between the urge to do the right thing and the politics of an uncaring state. One of Cassavetes's most mainstream efforts, it includes actual handicapped children as extras, which was considered daring at the time. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BUYERS BEWARE! BOOTLEG OFFERING, September 16, 2008

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Child Is Waiting (DVD)

This film has not been issued on DVD. This listing was created by a bootlegger, selling home-made copies.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical persective on disability, May 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: A Child Is Waiting [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As a professor of special education who prepares future teachers to work with children with disabilities, this film caught my attention for a number of reasons. Aside from the wonderful cast and director, the film includes children with various disabilities performing as extras with speaking and acting roles. This is remarkable for that time period. The film also provides a glimpse at the attitudes and beliefs that were quite prevalent in the 1960s and that are still sometimes found among mainstream society today. The idea that children with disabilities had to be protected from society and that parents experienced unconsolable grief for a lifetime contrasts with many of the attitudes and practices that we see today. In fact it was the parents of children with disabilities from the 1950s and 1960s who advocated for the changes we see today where children are fully included in mainstream schools and community life. It is a wonderful film for illustrating both the evolution and the persistence of segregating individuals with disabilities . Most young adults today who are preparing to be teachers cannot understand why many parents gave up their children with disabilities. This film provides a glimpse into the prevailing opinions of professionals at that time. While there was an emerging belief that these children were educable, this was tempered with the need to shelter and protect them from the world. It is also a useful demonstration of what teaching methods and priorities existed in the past when children with disabilities would spend a lifetime away from mainstream society.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judy Garland, August 7, 2006

By 

C. Wilson (SCAPPOOSE, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Child Is Waiting [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the greatest moments in cinema history is Judy Garland
leaning into the car to welcome the young boy's arrival.

I cry everytime I see that scene.
She appeared close to tears herself,my god what a performance.

Pure cinema magic.

Yes,it is dated the way they treated folks,but believe it or not,it was accurate for the time !