User reviews

Belinda (Wyman) lives in a small fishing village with her father (Bickford) and her aunt (Moorehead). She has one slight problem though. She's deaf and her guardians never really taught her how to understand and associate with the outside world.

That all changes when a doctor (Ayres) comes to town. He takes a liking to Belinda and begins to teach her sign language. She learns how to read lips and ends up being a very good pupil. But when the doctor goes away on business, he returns to Belinda and finds a shocking discovery while taking her to a doctor in another town.

Stephen McNally and Jan Sterling are supporting characters and they give fine performances. But the real stars here, are the four ones that were nominated for Oscars. Agnes Moorehead is one of the most interesting and mysterious characters, Charles Bickford is the one that you'll be rooting for, Lew Ayres will make you feel special, and Jane Wyman will give you one of the greatest performances of the '40s and possibly of all time.

The film was nominated for twelve Academy Awards. This is a fantastic thing for any film. Sadly, it was only awarded the Oscar for Best Actress. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if it had had more of a success like it should have had.

Every great actress has one signature role, the film for which she's forever identified because of the amazing impression she leaves on the screen. Rosalind Russell has Hildy Johnson in "His Girl Friday," Judy Garland has Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz," and Jane Wyman has Belinda MacDonald in "Johnny Belinda." Without saying a word, Wyman speaks volumes as the lonely deaf mute who learns about love and tenderness from doctor Lew Ayres as well as fear from bully Stephen McNally. She shines in every scene and creates one of the most touching characterizations ever put on screen. Moments such as her discovery of music and her sign-reading of the Lord's Prayer are beautifully done with a skill exceeding those of the best silent screen stars. Her Oscar was richly deserved.

Wyman, though, is not alone in creating this great film. Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead and Jan Sterling all give complex, layered performances that make each character believable and memorable. And "Johnny Belinda" would probably not be as powerful or moving without the exceptional black-and-white photography and Max Steiner's lovely score, one of his finest, which underscores every moment. Warner Bros. deserves extra credit for taking on a delicate subject (the rape of a deaf character was hardly typical screen fare in the 1940s) and handling it in a tasteful manner.

Ultimately, the movie is a showcase for Jane Wyman who rightly became Warner Bros.' top female star upon its release. She and the film are unforgettable.

To me the Academy Awards are much more a matter of industry politics than real artistic achievement. Here, however, that's definitely not the case. Wyman's deaf mute is one of the more moving portrayals that I've seen in some 60-years of movie watching. She manages to express more with her eyes alone than most actresses do with their entire emoting. Thanks to Wyman, it's a rare glimpse into a delicate soul, though I do hope she wasn't being paid by line of dialog.

In fact, the entire cast is outstanding, though visually McNally and Sterling approach caricature in his dark looks and her blonde cheapness. Of course, the topics of rape and a wedlock baby were pretty explosive stuff for the Production Code of the time, but the writers handle the material deftly. At the same time, the murder of MacDonald (Bickford) is often overlooked in terms of the Code. After all, the murder goes unrecognized in the courtroom accounting and in that sense goes unpunished even in an expanded moral sense.

Something should also be said about director Negulesco's compelling visual compositions. Happily, so many of the interior frames are arranged richly in detail, while the moody landscapes reflect a perceptive artistic eye. All in all, we get both an atmospheric fishing village and a series of eye-catching visuals both of which expertly complement the storyline.

No need to echo more aspects of this much-discussed film, except to say that Hollywood managed here to overcome one of the industry's biggest pitfalls—a kind of soap opera that's truly touching without being sappy. Thank you, Warner Bros.!

Those eyes. Those eyes tell the story of love, loneliness, and a soul who wants to give and feel needed. The story of deaf-mute Jane Wyman goes beyond what most of today's movies could ever do. Agnes Moorehead (who should have won the Oscar) and Charles Bickford are simply wonderful, with Jan Sterling, good as the lady in love with the kind doctor. The scenes between Belinda and her father are very touching. I love the scenes between Belinda and the doctor, as they communicate and she learns the words for tree and day, etc. Seeing this always makes me want to know more about sign language. It's not only an entertaining movie, but the viewer learns what it's like to be in Belinda's world. This film shows how we are all connected to each other and how the most important message isn't merely conveyed in words. Those who have not been blessed to see this masterpiece need to right the wrong and buy this DVD today, and see Jane Wyman at her Oscar-winning best.

This is a great storytelling and movie-making rolled into one and I can see why it was up for so many Academy Awards in its day (when they rewarded the best movies.)

Jane Wyman seems to get the most attention here but I was totally impressed not only with her but all the actors, the director and the photographer. All excelled in this film, I thought - a great effort all-around.

Wyman and Lew Ayers were terrific in the leads, playing endearing characters who were easy to become involved with and root for in this story. Wyman, like Dorothy McGuire in "The Spiral Staircase" (1945) and Alan Arkin in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" (1968), plays a deaf mute effectively with haunting, expressive facial features. I hope people don't overlook Ayers' extremely warm performance as the doctor who truly cares for this woman. Ayers plays a very decent man and does it with a lot of dignity.

Charles Bickford was powerful, too, as Belinda's father and ditto for the always-entertaining Agnes Moorhead, playing Belinda's sister. I can't leave out the "villains," either: Stephen McNally, who really looks his part, and his reluctant bride Jan Sterling, an underrated classic-era actress.

Jean Negulesco's direction provided numerous interesting low and high-angle camera shots and cinematographer Ted McCord made the most of it, including some great facial closeups. To be honest, I am not familiar with either of these two names but I was very impressed with their work here. Oh.....having Max Steiner doing the music didn't hurt, either!

The film gets a little melodramatic at times but it's never overdone. The story flows nicely. No scene - pleasant or unpleasant - overstays its welcome. You get a cohesive blend of heartfelt sentiment, romance, drama and suspense. In addition, the DVD transfer of this film is magnificent. I would like to have seen some behind-the-scenes features with the disc, but the film was so good I am not complaining.

The movies had been talking for 20 years when Johnny Belinda came out in 1948. Those first Oscars were awarded for silent films and it took 20 years for another Oscar to be awarded for a performance without a single word of dialog.

Jane Wyman, who for the first ten years or so of her film career, played a lot of second leads, proves she could have competed with Mary Pickford or Gloria Swanson in the silent era, got an Oscar for her career role as Belinda McDonald. Belinda is a deaf mute who gets raped and impregnated by the town lout and because of what she is, she can neither name her attacker or speak out against the small minds that inhabit the town she lives in.

The story takes place in one of the Canadian isles off Nova Scotia and it begins with the arrival of a new doctor, Lew Ayres in town. One night he gets a call for a veterinary problem from farmers Charles Bickford and his sister Agnes Moorehead. While there he meets Bickford's mute daughter, Jane Wyman.

It's a rough life on that farm which doesn't yield much for creature comforts. Rough of course for Wyman, but also rough for Bickford who brought his sister in to help raise the child after his wife died in childbirth with Wyman. They're hard people, but they have a tender side also which is brought out as the film develops.

Johnny Belinda brought home a flock of Oscar nominations, for Ayres as Best Actor, for Bickford as Best Supporting Actor, for Agnes Moorehead as Best Supporting Actress, for the film itself, for Director Jean Negulesco. But only Wyman got the prize on Oscar night.

The closest performance I can think of to Wyman's in more modern times is that of Hilary Swank as trans-gender Brandon Teena. Swank hasn't the education to articulate her feelings either just as Wyman doesn't until Ayres teaches her to sign, still an audience made of statues will understand and be moved.

In addition to those already mentioned, look for fine performances from Stephen McNally as the lout and Jan Sterling as his wife.

But most of all look to be terribly moved by Jane Wyman.

This is one of the films which you have to see, simply because it's such a superbly made movie, and it's fine if you want to shrug it off, later on, as sentimentality without substance. It's emotionally compelling, acted to a crisp all around, filmed beautifully, and although there really isn't all that much to it (it's not a film that raises questions, but it didn't set out to raise questions), you're in good hands from the beginning, and can settle back for some old-fashioned story-telling.

The late Jane Wyman's performance won her a very deserved Oscar, and although the film is quite sentimental in places, and tends to tie up all the lose ends a little too tidily, if you can put aside your twenty-first century cynicism for a little while and let the film spin the yarn for you, you'll be absorbed and carried along with emotional satisfaction.

Mostly you just have to see it for all the superlative acting, and the eloquence of Wyman's silence, which is a stunning tour-de-force.

Maudlin and enjoyable film with emotion, deep feeling and and intense drama. It deals with a compassionate doctor : Lew Ayres meets a deaf mute girl called Belinda : Jane Wyman and he cares for the young woman, as he helps her learn and communicate. Things go wrong when she is unfortunately raped.

A very good film about an innocent deaf mute girl and her relationship to a kind doctor, besides, an illegitimate baby who was born for a violation, subsequently tension builds as the baby's father goes back to claim the child. There is also an adequate depiction of the hard life in a coastal Nova Scotia fishing-farming community. Nice and attractive version based on the novel written by Elmer Harris. Main and secondary cast are frankly well. Jane Wyman plays carefully the deaf mute girl whose acting transformed her career, giving a splendid portrayal, and deservedly she won Academy Award and Gloden Globe 1949. Lew Ayres plays allrightly an extremely good physician. Supporting cast is pretty good as the nasty Stephen McNally, Jan Sterling, Agnes Moorehead and special mention for the upright father perfectly played by Charles Bickford. It had a remake 1982 Tv by Anthony Page with Richard Thomas, Rosanna Arquette, Dennis Quaid, Candy Clark.

It contains an atmospheric and evocative cinematography in black and white. Classy and senstive musical score by the great composer Max Steiner. This superior soap opera that became known as The Wyman Weepies was stunningly directed by Jean Negulesco and it won various Oscars and Golden Globes as best actress, drama and film. Negulesco was an elegant and brilliant filmmaker who made notorious films with penchant for Musical, Comedy and Drama, such as : The invincible six, The best everything, Daddy long legs, Three coins in the fountain, How to marry a millionaire, Titanic, Phone call from a stranger, A woman's world, Three came home, Road house, Humoresque, among others. Rating 7.5/10. Better than average.

Infuriating picture about a deaf mute in a fishing village who is raped and gives birth to a son. This is the kind of movie wherein the heroine is not only an outcast amongst the townspeople, but who has only one lone person supporting her (a noble doctor). The gossipy biddies and the rapist himself are all against the girl and band together to take her child away. It's like "Heidi" for grown-ups. Jane Wyman gives a sympathetic, Oscar-winning lead performance, but she is nearly defeated by the ridiculousness of this contrived plot, not to mention the pedagogic direction which is occasionally condescending to us in the audience--as if we were all Sunday school students. ** from ****

The former star of the Dr. Kildare films, Lew Ayres, was put on the outside of the film industry after he filed to be a Conscientious Objecter during WWII. Most people seem to ignore the fact that even tho' he did so, he also signed up to serve in the most dangerous duty on the battlefield, as a Medic and as a Chaplin's Assistant. Lew was sent to the South Pacific, New Guinea and the Phillipines, all hot spots. That shows a lot of heroism to me.

"Johnny Belinda"(1948) starred Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Agnes Moorehead and Charles Bickford, with Jan Sterling and Steven McNally. They make a well-rounded cast for a for an excellent movie.

Jane portrays a deaf mute, Belinda, who tho' bright but has no one to teach her to communicate. Lew is Doctor Richardson, who comes to town to help the people of the Isle of Cape Breton. They are stand-offish and he is rejected. Belinda and the Doctor become friends and he begins to teach her to use sign language and give her other instructions.

While the Doc is away on a trip, Belinda is raped by one of the towns 'upstanding' folk. When the Doc returns he takes her to be examined by another doctor who fills him in that she is expecting. Of course, Doc Richardson is blamed.

Jan Sterling, who tries to seduce the Doc and Steven McNally, as the brute, add to this cast and the movie.

And you've got to see how this situation is handles.

Jane Wyman won the 1948 Oscar. Lew Ayres, finally, got the kind of part he deserved. And, the fans, received a movie worth watching.

This is to some great degree a Scottish film, since most of the characters have Scottish names and even speak with a Scottish accent, and the location is Nova Scotia in Canada. Also the general mentality is more Scottish than anything else, and the environment could have been the Hebrides in the closeness of the ever present threats of the sea and the vast almost desolate grounds of the wild flat islands. But that is just the frame of the drama.

Many films have been made on the subject of the hardships of gravely handicapped or invalid people, preferably girls, like Arthur Penn's "The Miracle Worker" 1962, the film with Louis Jouvet on André Gide's best novel "The Pastoral Symphony", Siodmak's "The Spiral Staircase", "Mandy", "David and Lisa" - the list is endless, and it is practically without exceptions in the fathomless interest and high quality treatment of human vulnerability and sensitivity. Jean Negulesco's screening of "Johnny Belinda" is one of the very best examples.

There was a flood of Oscar nominations in 1948, but I don't think anyone would have disagreed with awarding that year's Oscar to Jane Wyman and the best film of the year. It is so startlingly real and convincing all the way, the realism is total, and the drama couldn't be more gripping.

A deaf and mute girl gets raped by a bully and gets pregnant by the way as the worst possible complication for a case like hers in a small village of provincial prejudice and gossips. Fortunately there is a gentleman doctor at hand, who with delicate diplomacy gets the better of the situation.

Lew Ayres didn't make many pictures, and he is almost only remembered for this one and "The Dark Mirror" two years previously with Olivia de Havilland as twin sisters, one of them psychotic, another tricky situation. Lew Ayres is such a winning and sympathetic character, that he could well have made another Ronald Colman, but these two great noir pictures he made was quite enough to establish his reputation for good.

Charles Bickford as the farmer and Agnes Moorehead as his wife add to the poignancy of the drama, both play characters with limitations, which serve only to enhance the power of their performance. Also the other villagers are quite convincing and real, and there is much in this film reminding of the Norwegian war drama "The Edge of Darkness" with Errol Flynn as another fisherman, although that's a completely different story, but the environment and mentality are the same.

In brief, this is a timeless drama of incapacity and weakness and the struggle to overcome the complications therein. Jean Negulesco directed many outstanding films, but this was maybe the very best one.

Most of the previous posts were on the mark. I thought every aspect of the movie was magnificent. A great deal of thought, care, and attention went into the production and filming of "Johnny Belinda." Wyman was unforgettable. Everyone else in the cast--down to the smallest role--was superb. The black and white cinematography is stunning, and the location work (I'm assuming the film was not shot in the studio) pays off handsomely. Costuming, props, sets--there's not a false note anywhere. The acting, screenplay, and direction all meld beautifully so that one of the film's greatest achievements is that it never becomes maudlin.

Wyman's Oscar was greatly deserved, but "Johnny Belinda" should have won several more. Throw a dart at the cast and credits list--wherever the dart lands will be a worthwhile Oscar winner.

The reviewer who hailed this as a "forgotten masterpiece" nailed it perfectly. Not only do they "not make 'em like this any more," they only very rarely did before. This is a film crying out to be rediscovered.

JOHNNY BELINDA (Warner Brothers, 1948), directed by Jean Negulesco, is not exactly the one about an individual character named Johnny Belinda, but that of Belinda MacDonald, a deaf mute girl who gives birth to a child she calls Johnny. Although quite confusing in regards to name reference, there's nothing confusing about the dramatic theme taken from a 1940 stage play by Elmer Harris that served not only as one of the finest movies from the 1940s, but a poignant and touching performance by Jane Wyman.

As the story unfolds with off-screen narration about of the residential workers in Cape Breton Island off Nova Scotia, Canada, the plot leads towards its introduction of Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres), a young medical doctor whose taken up residence in the area, with Stella Maguire (Jan Sterling) acting as his secretary who has a secret crush on him. One evening, Aggie (Agnes Moorehead), a poor farm woman living with her brother, Black MacDonald (Charles Bickford), comes to Richardson's home for assistance with her pregnant heifer. During the delivery, Richardson notices a quiet girl in the darkness, Belinda (Jane Wyman), McDonald's daughter, holding a lantern. Told by her father that she's a deaf mute, the doctor takes it upon himself devoting his time educating Belinda in teaching her sign language and lip reading. A quick learner, Belinda proves herself a capable student. One night as her father takes Aggie to visit with her sick sister, Belinda, home alone, is approached by the drunken Locky McCormick (Stephen McNally), one of her father's steady customers, who takes advantage of the situation by making his attack on "the dummy." Afterwards, MacDonald, who notices daughter acting strangely, advises Richardson for help. Feeling Belinda depressed in her own quiet world, he decides taking her to the city for a medical examination. Discovering from the doctor (Jonathan Hale) of Belinda's pregnancy, Richardson does everything in his power to make her life more easier. After giving birth to her boy, Johnny, matters become more complex as the gossiping villagers, believing Richardson to be the father, put him locally out of medical practice and discontinue purchasing wheat from the MacDonalds.

With changing tastes in regards to types of movies audiences wanted to see during the post World War II years, tough and graphic "film noir" suspensers and/ or Technicolor musicals were the prime factors of the time. For its melodramatic theme and doses of sentiment, JOHNNY BELINDA seems like an outcast from the silent film era. Jane Wyman's Belinda, whose sensitive portrayal and fragile face could very well have been the sort of role awarded to Lillian Gish under D.W. Griffith's direction had such a product been possible in the twenties. JOHNNY BELINDA does parallel somewhat with Griffith's silent classic, WAY DOWN EAST (1920) set in a poor rural community with a tragic heroine (Gish) who falls victim of gossip after giving birth to a child fathered by a cad. JOHNNY BELINDA, goes a step further with its child-like deaf girl who falls victim of rape, a sequence handled quite discreetly.

Regardless of Academy Award nominations for Lew Ayres (Best Actor); Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead (with Scottish accents down to the rolled Rs) in the supporting category, the most worthy award went to Wyman whose convincing character portrayal without uttering a single sound ranked one of the best accomplishes ever captured on screen. Once seen, it's hard to forget such key scenes as Belinda's rhapsodic discovery of music at the village dance; the tapping of her feet to the "felt" musical beat; her facial expression of happiness, sadness fear and courage; the reciting the Lord's prayer completely in sign language at her father's funeral; Belinda's tense trial for murder, and Max Steiner's unforgettable musical score. Ayres is a natural as the kind doctor, a role reminiscent to his "Doctor Kildare" portrayal in the medical film series for MGM (1938-1942), with mustache adding to his mature features. Stephen McNally does exceptionally well as the most unsympathetic character, along with Jan Sterling, in her motion picture debut, as his bride whose crucial scenes coming much later in the screenplay.

With several TV adaptations to JOHNNY BELINDA over the years, the most recent being the 1982 remake with Richard Thomas and Roseanna Arquette, the original remains quite a moving and unforgettable experience if movie watching. Distributed to home video in the 1980s, and years later on DVD, it's commonly presented on Turner Classic Movies. As JOHNNY BELINDA paved the way for Jane Wyman with better leading roles ahead, nothing can really compare to the one as the quiet girl. (****)

When I realized Johnny Belinda was going to be a film about a doctor who was reaching out to a deaf/mute girl, I was instantly connected with the story in an emotional way. Seeing the development of her character was marvelous, and Jane Wyman did an amazing job with the role. I also loved that they didn't have Charles Bickford play the typical heartless redneck, but he proved to be a loving father who actually celebrated his daughter's advancement. It made sense that the rest of the community might be slower to accept her as anything more than a simpleton, since all of these ideas were new at the time, and only her family were able to work with the doctor to learn some sign language.

The story of Johnny Belinda is a tough one to take, because this movie doesn't shy away from some darker moments. While we don't have to see the awful details, we get close enough to let our imaginations fill in the gaps. I had quite the emotional journey as I went from delighted with some of the story to appalled by other parts. I also had a tough time trying to unravel the doctor as a character. Lew Ayres plays him well, and I certainly liked him, but his role in the film was an enigma. The ending felt wrong for some reason, as if a studio mandated a certain ending that wasn't congruous with the rest of the film up to that point. Aside from some minor issues like that, I was fully captivated by Johnny Belinda even when it was tough to watch.

There are very few films that have literally brought tears to my eyes. They must be films of uncompromising emotional power. Films like Magnolia, The Passion of the Christ, and now Johnny Belinda.

It is the story of a deaf and dumb young woman named Belinda. Treated as an unintelligent workhorse all her years, Belinda's life changes forever when a lonely new doctor moves into her small coastal Nova Scotian port town. He takes an immediate liking to her and, proving to her family that she is not the "dummy" they think, he teaches her to read lips. But after a drunken sexual assault leaves her pregnant, rumors begin to fly throughout the small town, and both Belinda and her loved ones must fight for what's right.

The performances are wonderful. Of course, Jane Wyman simply steals the show in her Oscar-winning performance. She brings an incredible heart, warmth, and emotional resonance to the character of Belinda, and she does it without ever saying a word. The rest of the cast is marvelous as well, especially Charles Bickford, who lovingly portrays Belinda's father, and Stephen McNally, who turns Belinda's attacker into one of the most easy to loathe characters ever put on celluloid – yet the film still brilliantly keeps him at the level of a realistic personality – no one is a caricature.

Director Jean Negulesco brings an understated visual beauty to the film reminiscent of the silent ages, when one had to use aesthetics to make up for the lack of aural stimulus. Every shot is a perfectly composed work of art, turning every moment of Belinda into a masterwork of lighting and raw, majestic nature. The seaside settings are utilized so well that they put Johnny Belinda in league with such legendary jaw-droppers as L'Avventura and Black Narcissus.

But this film is much more than just visual appeal. It is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, often simultaneously. There are so many thought-provoking themes to gnaw on in Johnny Belinda - the way people view the handicapped, the bonds of parenthood, the power of rumors, the justification of violence as self-defense, and overall morality and humanity. Even the film's setting could be considered an allegory on Belinda – the brutal waves of the ocean constantly pounding against the serene shores.

The film is also, as I mentioned before, emotionally overwhelming. While it certainly has a focused narrative, Belinda is foremost a progression of feelings, and they are so well conveyed that I was simply overcome with joy, pain, heartbreak, and hope. While the film is often described as a melodrama, it is far from a soap opera. There are no miraculous moments of sudden verbal triumph for Belinda, no ridiculously overacted moments of teary-eyed abandon – Johnny Belinda is a terribly real experience. There are aspects of the story that remain unresolved – not loose ends, but difficult problems that would most likely also remain unresolved in reality.

However, I don't want to give the impression that Johnny Belinda is depressing. I felt uplifted and rapturous just as often as I felt overcome by grief and fear. I felt so much for these characters and I wanted so sorely for things to turn out a certain way – but I won't reveal whether they do or not. I will say that the film ends on a note of nearly unbearable poignancy, and this is the moment that massaged my tear ducts.

My only complaint concerning the film is Max Steiner's score. He is perfectly suited for epic films like King Kong and Gone With The Wind, but here it feels somewhat over-dramatic and occasionally awkward. He tends to play up the melodramatic angle and spot score in a ubiquitous manner, which simply doesn't fit with a film like Johnny Belinda. Still, it tends to work more often than not, and it is not a major enough problem to work seriously to the film's detriment.

This picture is a true gem. It has been unavailable for years, but thanks to Warner Brothers, it finally has a DVD release, and the restoration is simply glorious – it more than does justice to this cinematic treasure. Do yourself a favor and see Johnny Belinda.

I was drawn to "Johnny Belinda" primarily to see how a film made in 1948 would tackle the subject matter of rape and unmarried pregnancy, and the answer was....pretty frankly.

Jane Wyman won her Oscar for playing the deaf mute Belinda who pulls from resources of strength no one gives her credit for having when the small-minded town she lives in decides she isn't capable of taking care of her infant child, the product of a sexual assault perpetrated by one of the townsmen. The film isn't especially long, but it sure covers a lot of ground, starting with a kind doctor (Lew Ayres) opening up a new world to Belinda when he teaches her how to communicate through sign language and culminating in her trial for murder. Along the way, expert character actors like Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead deliver terrific performances, and Jan Sterling, one of my all-time favorites, shows that not all the townspeople are completely hard-hearted when she's faced with the prospect of separating a mother from her child.

"Johnny Belinda" cleaned up in terms of Oscar nominations in 1948, earning a whopping twelve. But Wyman's Best Actress win was the only award the film actually took home. It nabbed nominations for Best Picture, Best Director (Jean Negulesco), Best Actor (Ayres), Best Supporting Actor (Bickford), Best Supporting Actress (Moorehead), Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction (B&W), Best Cinematography (B&W), Best Film Editing, Best Dramatic/Comedy Score, and Best Sound Recording. Incidentally, it was only the second movie at the time (the first being "Mrs. Miniver") to be nominated for Best Picture, Director, all four acting awards, and writing.

"Johnny Belinda"'s condemnation of small-mindedness feels newly relevant in today's social and political climate. I'm not sure whether to be depressed by that knowledge (ugh, will nothing ever change?) or comforted by it (well at least generations of people before me have experienced the same thing).

Grade: B+

On the surface, this highly regarded movie, (12 Oscar nominations, though only one win for Wyman), might seem to be little more than a lurid melodrama, but scratch beneath and you'll actually find a scathing scrutiny of life in a small, cloistered community and early markers for societal issues such as single-parenthood, bullying, discrimination against the disabled, victim shaming and rape. Markers mind you, not out and out campaigns for social improvement, at least not overtly, but one would like to think that this serious content opened the eyes and ears of at least some of its widespread audience back in 1948, when it was a big commercial success.

Set in a small community in turn of the 20th century Nova Scotia, whose connection to my homeland might explain some of the very approximate attempts at a Scottish accent by the likes of Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead, the plot revolves around Jane Wyman's deaf-mute young woman, Belinda who is demeaningly christened "Dummy" by everyone, including her doughty widowed father and crusty old spinster aunt Bickford and Moorehead with whom she shares farm accommodation. Not that they give her preferential treatment, quite the reverse as, being younger than they, she's given the lion's share of the heavy lifting jobs going.

Things change when a smooth but conscientious doctor, Lew Ayres comes to town and reaches out to Belinda, learning her sign language and lip-reading to encourage her to reach out from behind her invisible walls and connect with society. Unfortunately, society at large connects with her in the loathsome person of the local big-shot, Locky, played by Stephen McNallly, who ruthlessly rapes the defenceless girl and in so doing, impregnates her. So traumatised is she by her experience that she mentally blocks out recollection of the incident, no one is brought to justice for the crime and indeed she's the one who's shamed by the self-styled "principled" citizens of the town, including a sanctimonious shop-keeper and a terrible trio of old, gossiping women who more belong around a witches cauldron. Rumours even circulate that Ayres might be the father, but while he does out of pity offer to marry the girl after she has her child to reduce her local infamy and she clearly loves him, it's in a way he can't reciprocate.

The rapist however can't let alone and decides he wants the child for himself, figuring he can trick his newly-wed wife into getting Belinda to sign adoption papers over young Johnny in their favour. When Belinda's dad gets wind of what he did to his daughter, he confronts Locky, who he's never liked, resulting in a cliff-top fight from which only one walks away. Still Locky persists in his aim, climaxing in a second confrontation with Belinda and her child at the farmhouse which ends with a gunshot.

Well directed by Jean Negalescu in the appropriate noir fashion, (filtered light, dark closeups, darker secrets abounding) and well acted by Wyman, Ayres, Bickford and even, och aye, Moorehead, this is satisfying period noir which probably broke down some barriers both in Hollywood and beyond back in its day.

I had always heard of this film and of Jane Wyman in it, who won an Oscar. I then saw the film and wondered, why did she win? Her work was sweet and simple and competent, but certainly not of Oscar caliber. Also, the film was the overly sentimental and sugary Reader's Digest/Hallmark type of film-making that was so common in the family-worshiping 40's. I never liked that sappy way of storytelling so did not think the film was very good either. Some famous films of those years were made in that soap opera way but few of them hold up at all well with today's much more sophisticated audiences. It was a simpler and more innocent time then, yes, but many truly good films were made as that was the heyday of noir. This was not one of the good ones.

After a bit of research into a possible reason why Wyman won I found an obvious reason....she had lost a baby recently and resulting public sympathy for her won out over the superior work of others, exactly like Liz Taylor's public sympathy Oscar win years later following her near death from pneumonia. Neither one deserved to win. Check Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, or Dustin Hoffman in Rainman for actors who truly deserved their wins in stories about the handicapped. What a giant difference between their work and Wyman's in this film.

The story about a Nova Scotia fishing village around 1900 was interesting early on but was soon made about as unrealistic as it could possibly be, as it hinged on one incredulous point.....Wyman's deaf and mute character was viciously raped and made pregnant but she was never pushed or forced to "communicate" who the rapist father of her bastard child was! That obvious exposure would have ruined the trumped-up plot that the film depended upon. There is no way that outrageous act would ever happen in that area at that time and be swept under the rug in those days of strict religious and social conformity and personal integrity. The entire plot hinged on keeping the rapist's identity a secret until the end, and that plot phoniness ruined the story's credibility to me. Actually, it was all pretty unsophisticated film-making even for those days and not at all convincing throughout.

Best things about it.....the beautiful Northern California coast standing in for Nova Scotia, and the "sign" teaching of Wyman's character by the doctor so she could communicate, but then she never used it to tell anyone who the criminal father of her child was! That dumb story line really insulted the audience's intelligence.

So, in the end, Wyman got the publicity and the award, but the work of Lew Ayres as the doctor, Charles Bickford as her father, and Agnes Morehead as her aunt in their roles was superior to hers but was not awarded. Overall, I think this film and Wyman's work are very overrated and hardly watchable in this modern film-making era where we are much less accepting of the excessive use of sappy story sentimentalism.