A Child is Waiting Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: A Child is Waiting
Year: 1963
Director: John Cassavettes
Country: US
Language: English

Old Hollywood is best known for escapism. The glitz and glamour that fill the screen often take us far from the mundane suburbia in our lives and into worlds we couldn't dare dream. For example, Wizard of Oz took us over the rainbow. Even James Cagney's Gangster pictures filled an imaginative void in our lives. Few American films embraced realism and built a foundation on discussing real issues that plagued families. A Child is Waiting was one of the rarities. 

Psychologist Dr. Matthew Clark (Burt Lancaster) is the head of the Crawthorne State Training Institute, one of the first boarding schools for developmentally challenged children. He takes a chance at hiring former aspiring concert pianist Jean Hansen (Judy Garland) as the school's music teacher. She immediately bonds with autistic student Reuben Widdicombe, who she sees as needing special attention. 

Disabilities and mental health issues are rarely discussed with any sincerity in Hollywood even today. The child in this film isn't a Rain Man savant, nor does he have the wisdom of Tom Hank's Forrest Gump. He is a fairly accurate depiction of how a typical autistic child looks & acts like, although we must not consider "autism" a blanket term, as it does affect individuals differently. Producer Stanley Kramer, fresh out of his Oscar Winning Judgement at Nuremburg, has made a rather important and poignant picture in A Child is Waiting.

 Stanley Kramer had long been immersed in the subject of psychology and had wanted to make this picture for a great number of years. He felt that, to make an honest depiction, this would need a lot of planning, research and exposure. He hired a number of autistic children as extras, in the hope that the rest of his cast would empathize with their project. Unfortunately hiring Judy Garland may not have been the best choice. Her well known substance abuse problems took a hit to production, which would often have to be delayed due to her inability to cope with the pressure of being the star. 

A Child is Waiting sometimes borders on Sirk-esque melodrama, but thankfully doesn't stray too far to the absurd. It is a reflecting, revealing and even somewhat controversial picture that remains rather relevant to this day.