Customer Reviews

Love Is Never Silent

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been looking for Love Is Never Silent for a long time. I finally found it on DVD. I recorded it on when it came out on TV, but recorded over it. I loved it when I was a child when the movie was first shown. I still love it as an adult. It's a great story about a hearing child with deaf parents in the 1930s and 1940s America.

We waited a long time for this to come out...Teachers of Deaf Culture/ Sign Language ...this is a MUST SEE for your class. Beautifully done, one of Hallmark's Best!

One of the best made for TV movies ever made. It won the Emmy for best TV movie in 1985. Perfect in every way.

"Love is Never Silent" has been a vital part of my curriculum for many many years. This story, adapted from portions of Joanne Greenburg's work, "In this Sign," depicts, vividly, the battle for understanding between the Deaf and Hearing worlds. I have the original recorded version, from television, which I have used all these years. I am so excited to now have this amazing story in DVD format.

"Love is Never Silent" is a must see for anyone interested in, working with/in, or in any other way associated with the Deaf Community.

Love is NEVER silent.

I have been waiting since 1985 for this movie to come out. This is such an excellent movie based on having deaf parents and hearing children. What it was like to grow up in a hearing world, when deaf people were looked down on. This came out right after we found out my nephew was deaf at 18 months old. It helped us deal with it a little better. This is a wonderful family movie.

I've been waiting a long time to purchase 'Love is Never Silent' on dvd. I remember seeing it on TV in December 1986.

In the tradition of 'It's a Wonderful Life', 'Love is Never Silent' is a very cumulative movie in which it prepares the viewer for the emotional scene near the end of the film. It's certainly one of the most gut wrenching scenes I've ever seen on TV.

Mare Winningham is second to none in her role as Margaret. Since her parents cannot hear, Margaret is their 'bridge' to the hearing world. Ed Waterstreet and Phyllis Frelich are quite convincing as the manipulative, deaf parents. Sid Ceasar is perfect as the kindly neighbor and friend. Cloris Leachman makes a rare departure from comedy, and clearly demonstrates her tremendous skills in drama.

I highly recommend this excellent movie. Mare Winningham learned sign language for the role (which is an impressive accomplishment).

One of the best TV movies ever made? Yes, I'd agree.

Perfect in every way? No way. Not one of the dozen or so reviews mentioned the GLARING omission of any captioning. This DVD is not pure shovelWARE; there's a "Making of" extra feature and some production notes so how on earth can Hallmake be so lame as to not provide for captioning???? Come on, this is a movie about the deaf community for Pete's sake! The movie begins with a voice over and there are scenes where lip reading is not possible. So what were they thinking?! I'd give it a 5 star if it had captioning but its really annoying without it.

PS, I am hearing (not deaf).

This movie very realistically protrays the family life of a hearing child with two deaf parents, played by actors who are deaf. It tugs at your heart and really opens your eyes to how difficult life can be for those who cannot hear.

Mare Winningham plays a girl who is the ears and voice for her family. Her brother dying in an awful accident early on in her life leaves her as their only link to the hearing world. When she comes of age, she must deal with the struggle to balance the responsibility she feels for her parents and the desires of her own heart.

I remembered this movie from 25 years ago and was thrilled to find a copy in DVD. A family movie that can open up great conversation regarding those we view as handicapped and how we can understand their dilemmas and be open to making their lives a little easier.

Adults, teens, tweens ... a movie I recommend for all.

I have been looking for this movie for years. It's based on a book who's name escapes me (I believe it is titled, In This Sign). What was fascinating about the book was that it was written by someone who did not grow up in the deaf community, yet she was able to capture it's essence and the basic distrust the deaf community, especially in the time it was set, has for hearing people.

The mother and father are played by two actors well known in the deaf community (Phyllis Frelich and Ed Waterstreet who are real life spouses. I believe they founded Deaf West Theater in California). Interestingly, Mare Winningham also played Helen Keller in another television production which was also excellent. Winningham does a decent job as the daughter, but I wish they had gotten someone with better fluency as she would have had if she were a child of deaf parents and had been their interpreter all her life (someone like Louise Fletcher who has deaf parents and was actually introduced to acting by an aunt who taught her to speak according to IMDB. And, yes, hearing children of deaf parents may have some speech problems as they may not be hearing speech at home as very young children. That aspect is part of the storyline in the book if not the movie. Although at 51 Louise would have been too old. She was born in 1934). Lou Fant also appears as an interpreter when the mother character retires from her job. He is a child of deaf parents and a well known teacher of sign language and story teller.

It's a story about a family with two hearing kids - a boy and a girl with two deaf parents and their trials and tribulations at the hands of hearing people and because of misunderstandings due to their inability to communicate with the hearing world and it's misperceptions of deaf people, but also deaf people's misperceptions of hearing people. Although they are quite fluent in their communication with each other in their little family unit. At one point, the little brother dies and the little girl has to act as interpreter for her parents as they make funeral arrangements. She feels embarrassed and ashamed of them. They make some attempt to appear more hearing-like (the dad briefly wears an old fashioned hearing aid, which provides no benefit. But he thinks it will please his daughter and only makes her feel more embarrassed and alienated from her classmates). She is able to escape for brief moments when she befriends a neighborhood storekeeper who has a radio.

After many years of saving, they are able to move out of their poor apartment and move into a little house. The daughter meets a serviceman and brings him home to dinner. Cloris Leachman plays his mother and adequately shows the discomfort hearing people have when they are around deaf people do not know sign and don't know how to communicate with them. There is awkwardness as the parents must entertain these strangers and the daughter straddles the hearing world and the deaf world. There is a tender scene when she confronts the parents about what life has been like for her and how she felt about having to act as interpreter and adult because everyone treats her parents as though they are the children and she is the adult as they must communicate to them through her.

I may have mixed some of the storyline with the book, but they are good read and a good watch. Although the book and the movie are somewhat romanticized versions of what hearing people think it is to be deaf in a hearing world. The couple is portrayed as being confused on many accounts and perhaps that may have been true in those earlier part of the last century.

As an interpreter for the deaf with ties to the deaf community I love this movie! It's my favorite movie EVER.