If John Singer could, he'd tell you about his inner world of beauty and dignity. But the card he holds must speak for him. "I am a deaf-mute. I read lips and understand what is said to me. Please do not shout." In the performance that earned him an Oscar nomination and New York Film Critics Award as 1968's Best Actor, future Academy Award winner Alan Arkin is Singer in this film of Carson McCullers' acclaimed first novel. When he moves to a sleepy Southern town to be near his hospitalized friend (Chuck McCann), a brain-damaged man-child, Singer's silent kindness draws to him others broken in body and spirit. Playing some of those others in a prime ensemble are Cicely Tyson, Percy Rodriguez, Stacy Keach and fellow Oscar nominee Sondra Locke.