1965 - A PATCH OF BLUE, a dated interracial love story.

A young blind girl sitting in the park is befriended by a black man who helps her deal with her hellish home life and teaches her independence.  Their relationship begins to develop and grow.

This film is well made and well acted.  The racial aspects of the love story are obviously dated for today  but it was the mid 1960's after all.  The acting by the two leads is at a high level.  Sidney Poitier gives his usual excellent performance.  The blind girl played by Elizabeth Hartman in her first film is very sensitive and vulnerable.

The director was Guy Green who in a previous career in film was a noted cinematographer who had worked with Michael Powell and most notably David Lean.  Green was responsible for photographing some of Lean's greatest 1940's films such as Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and In Which We Serve.  Green moved over to direction in the 1950's and relocated to Hollywood in the 1960's.  A Patch of Blue was a very personal project for Green, he controlled the story rights and wrote the screenplay.

 

Elizabeth Hartman perfectly captured the isolation and vulnerably of the blind girl.  Hartman was a talented performer but had a troubled personal life where she struggled with depression and ultimately committed suicide.  

 Sidney Poitier was a black actor in Hollywood who had been working since the 1950's.  He was considered a "safe" performer for white audiences.  This was a role he understandably got very tired of playing and who could blame him.   He certainly didn't sign up to play a token black character throughout his profession.  Later in his career Poitier moved into film direction with some success.

There's nothing particularly wrong or bad with this film but the story is very old fashioned.  If you can accept that it's a good drama.

The running time is 105 minutes.