Johnny Belinda (1948) User Reviews (78)

A Richly Conceived Masterwork!

[jpdoherty · 9/10 · 30 September 2009]

Warner Bros. JOHNNY BELINDA (1948) is yet another highly regarded and unforgettable Hollywood classic offering from its Golden Age! From the exemplary performances to the brilliant low key monochrome Cinematography to its arresting music score JOHNNY BELINDA quite rightly deserves a revered place in the history of the Hollywood film! From a successful play by Elmer Harris it was stylishly written for the screen by Irmgard Von Cube and Allen Vincent and strikingly directed by Jean Negulesco.

The story centers on a drab and shabby deaf mute girl Belinda MacDonald (Jane Wyman giving the performance of her life) who with her father (Charles Bickford) and her aunt (Agnes Moorhead) endeavour to eke out a livelihood on a post war Nova Scotia farm. She is befriended by a young doctor (Lew Ayres) who takes her under his wing to teach her sign language. Later the girl is brutally raped by an unscrupulous villager (Stephen McNally) becomes pregnant and has a child. Throughout her predicament she is supported by the compassionate doctor. Finally when the baby's father tries to take the child for himself Belinda kills him. She is arrested for murder but when it comes out who the rapist was and that she killed only out of defence of her baby she is exonerated. Wyman is quite stunning as the hapless girl and rightly deserved the Acadamy Award she received for her adroit performance! Excellent too was Charles Bickford in his nominated role as Belinda's father and even better was Agnes Moorhead (sporting a perfectly clipped Scottish accent) who won a nomination as Belinda's erstwhile crusty aunt Aggie. Nominated also was genius Cinematographer Ted McCord whose wonderful coastal imagery at Mendocino and Pebble Beach locations in California were nothing short of breathtaking!

Another stunning aspect of this exceptional motion picture is the music by the great Max Steiner! There is a distinctive Scottish flavour permeating the score which aptly points up the Nova Scotia setting. For instance in the marvellous Main Title the composer makes reference to Robert Burns' "O Poorith Cauld" as well as the Canadian national song "Maple Leaf Forever" which is altogether very appealing when heard over the film's beautiful aerial shot of the pretty fishing village at the opening of the picture. The highlight of the score is, of course, the winsome and thoroughly engaging lullaby the composer wrote for the infant Johnny. First heard when the doctor informs Belinda "you're going to have a baby" and then when the child is born. This inspired hum inducing theme - the score's most memorable tune - is then heard throughout the rest of the film soaring to uplifting beauty in the closing scene. Other splendid cues are for the moving sequence where Belinda recites The Lord's Prayer in sign language at the wake of her slain father and in stark contrast the music for the violent rape scene where stabs of screaming and shrieking strings, in their topmost register, drive home the brutality of the moment. This was the genius that was Max Steiner! Ever the consummate dramatist and film's emphatic musical commentator! 1948 was a banner year for the indefatigable composer! Besides JOHNNY BELINDA - which garnered him an Acadamy Award nomination - he also scored ten other pictures which included such masterworks as "The Adventures Of Don Juan", "Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" and "Key Largo".

JOHNNY BELINDA was remade three times for television in 1967, 1969 and again in 1982. Each version was quickly dismissed and are now totally forgotten unlike Warner's awesome 1948 original which has and will continue to stand the test of time!

Just terrific--what a great old film!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 March 2007]

I have an unusual insight into this film that the average viewer won't have--my own daughter is deaf and we are a bilingual family--using sign language routinely in our home. However, despite this, I generally don't like films about handicapped people as often they just seem trite or contrived. That's why I actually expected not to like JOHNNY BELINDA--I incorrectly assumed it was a film that would make deaf people look noble or too sympathetic to be real. Wow was I wrong!! Instead, I saw that the film was exceptionally well-made in every way and was a great film regardless of your background. Plus, for 1948, it was an amazing film that dared to push the envelope of the Production Code. Although there is the general notion that the Code was 100% rigid and never allowed films to take risks, this film is a prime example that the Code COULD be in place and delicate topics such as rape could be addressed in American films. For this, it deserves kudos for being a brave and ground-breaking film.

I also was happy to see that when Belinda (Jane Wyman) was taught sign language, the signs that the doctor (Lew Ayers) haltingly taught her were nearly perfect. Ayers was NOT supposed to be an expert but in the film he learned many signs from a book--and that's exactly how he signs. While slow (which is to be expected), he and Wyman use actual signs and they could easily be read and understood (something NOT true in many films showing sign language).

Now as I alluded to in the first paragraph, the film isn't an overly saccharine in how it portrays deafness but is amazingly realistic--even using politically incorrect terms such as "dummy" or showing that many treated deaf people like they were mentally feeble! As far as the acting goes, Belinda's father (Charles Bickford), Belinda and the doctor play their parts very well--the writing was great and couldn't have been better and all three had the best performances of their careers. However, the writers also were exceptionally brave and deserve a huge round of applause, as the film chooses to address the vulnerability of a deaf person circa 1900--as Belinda is raped and becomes pregnant. Because she only just learned to communicate, she has no idea WHAT happened to her and cannot explain it to those who care about her! How all this is worked out is super-compelling and make this a great film--nearly deserving a score of 10. I think all too often films are given 10 and since I rarely do so, consider this before you see the film--it probably would have gotten a 10 if I wasn't such an old crank!

The Whole Cast is Amazing

[ctrout · 9/10 · 22 February 2005]

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.

Wyman's finest hour

[Dan-13 · 10/10 · 13 February 2006]

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.

Touching Without being Sappy

[dougdoepke · 7 January 2013]

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.!

A Wonderful All-Around Film

[ccthemovieman-1 · 10/10 · 31 January 2008]

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.

Silence Yields Oscar Gold

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 28 January 2007]

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.

Jane Wyman's Finest Hour

[JLRMovieReviews · 10/10 · 7 April 2009]

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.

Agreeable and sentimental weepie about a small town physician who befriends a deaf mute girl

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 10 May 2020]

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.

An "Essential"

[Tahhh · 10/10 · 11 September 2007]

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.

An Expressively Muted Wyman Peaks in a Vintage Warner Brothers Melodrama

[EUyeshima · 7/10 · 9 April 2006]

Jane Wyman's poignant, justly acclaimed performance as an isolated deaf-mute girl is the best thing about this old-fashioned 1948 Warner Brothers melodrama. Generally undervalued as an actress even though she bounced easily from sassy musical comedy chorines to long-suffering Douglas Sirk matrons, Wyman brings a touching authenticity to a character who through the kindness of a country doctor, finds liberation in her newly found ability to communicate. In what is probably his best film, director Jean Negulesco should be given credit for coaxing such a fine performance even though the actress at 34, is a mite mature for the role.

The plot centers on kindly Dr. Richardson, who pays a house call to help deliver a calf for the irascible Black McDonald. There he notices Black's daughter Belinda, who is unable to hear or speak. Treated more like a mule by her family, she engenders the ridicule of the small town that refers to her dismissively as "The Dummy". The good doctor takes a platonic interest in Belinda and teaches her sign language and lip reading, and through the magic of Hollywood, she not only becomes adept but transforms into an attractive young woman curious about the world around her. There is a lovely scene where she watches the locals dancing, feels the resonance of a fiddle being played, and starts to dance as well. Unfortunately, she attracts the attention of Locky McCormick, a local ne'er-do-well who rapes and impregnates her. Scientologists will likely rejoice at the implied silent birthing scene. The film ends on a far-fetched, heavy-handed note, but the turn of events is not enough to ruin the movie.

Longtime character actor Lew Ayres is a bit too passive and overly sincere as the well-meaning doctor, but one has to put some of the blame on the rather simplistic screenplay by Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube. Unsurprisingly, veterans Charles Bickford as Black and especially Agnes Moorehead as his taciturn sister Aggie are expert in their roles. Jan Sterling overplays the role of the doctor's smitten secretary, though Stephen McNally is appropriately despicable as Locky. Set in rural Nova Scotia, the townsfolk are portrayed in unfortunate broad strokes to reflect their small-mindedness, especially as they try to take the baby away from Belinda. The Mendocino coast provides a scenic replacement for Nova Scotia, and it's captured well in Ted McCord's crisp black-and-white cinematography. But see the movie for Wyman's masterful turn - that's really what keeps it from being dated hokum. The extras on the 2006 DVD are skimpy - the movie's original trailer and a vintage short released the same year, "The Little Archer".

Superb performances all round in this wonderful classic gem

[jem132 · 9/10 · 4 October 2008]

I found this to be a very interesting film for the 40's for it's strong subject matter, and the performances. Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Oscar here, and she's superb (though I still would have given the nod to De Havilland for "The Snake Pit", but that's strictly my opinion). Lew Ayres underplays beautifully. I would love to see some appreciation for this actor, I thought his performances in this, "The Dark Mirror" and "All Quiet On The Western Front" were all natural, subtle yet exemplary. Bickford and Moorehead are quite wonderful, and not forgetting Jan Sterling and Stephen McNally...did this typecast him forever as villain? I'm sure it did...

I also thought it was beautifully told. There are many moments it could have slipped into pure melodrama, but there is a level of restraint to Jean Negulesco's work. I also found it to be deeply honest, and I loved the relationship between Belinda and the doctor. Instead of just inviting sympathy for her plight, we are also intrigued by his loneliness and how he needs her to help him, too. Their scenes together, particularly near the end, are very touching.

Engaging Drama of Small Town Dynamics.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 11 May 2008]

It's hard to believe now, but when this was released in 1948 it was considered a movie strictly for adults, too shocking for kids and teens. Today of course we see it differently. Life is rough on this Newfoundland farm, run by the MacDonalds -- Charles Bickford and his sister Agnes Moorehead. Jane Wyman, as Belinda, is Bickford's deaf, simple, sweet daughter. Lew Ayres is the compassionate local doctor who teaches Belinda sign language. Steven McNally is a rugged and impulsive farmer who marries the blond Jan Sterling, who has a crush on the doc. A little complicated, eh? Too bad for her, but despite Wyman's inability to speak and hear, Wyman looks mighty attractive in her own simple way. She's got her hand on a fiddle during a polka, beginning to understand what music is, and she moves her feet from side to side in a dainty, tentative way. This attracts the testosterone-driven and drunken McNally who follows her home and rapes her in the barn. (In 1948, it would have been an "assault" or an "attack".) Wyman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy, Johnny, whom Wyman and her family learn to love.

The small town is full of small minds. Gossip abounds, just like today's internet. Is the doctor responsible? He's been spending a lot of time at the MacDonald farm. Pretty soon, things get worse for the troubled family. Bickford is killed by McNally, although everyone believes the death was the result of a solitary accident. Wyman and Moorehead are denied credit at the store. The doctor's trade falls off and he's forced to move to a far-away city. Here's how the community mind-set works. Two elderly ladies are discussing a third who "had her arteries cut out." "Oh, no!," exclaims one of them, "It wasn't her ARTERIES -- it was" -- and she leans over and whispers into the other's ear.

In the end, the town passes an ordinance or something that gives McNally and his wife custody of the child. McNally seems to regard the child more as a possession than an object of affection. He enters the MacDonald farmhouse, brushes Belinda aside, and rushes upstairs to grab the kid. She shoots him in the back and at the murder trial, Belinda has little to say (or sign) except, "I want my baby." McNally's wife breaks down and admits that McNally was the brutish heavy in the whole business. Belinda is free to leave the court with her baby and marry the now-returned Doctor Ayers.

The photography is genuinely striking and Max Steiner's score is as plain and appealing as Jane Wyman's Belinda, who smiles through every crisis and is never angry at anyone. The location is boldly evoked, although what's evoked looks more like the Monterey peninsula than Cape Breton. There's not a sour performance in the lot. Agnes Moorehead is memorable in a role that requires her to project a wide range of emotions. McNally isn't really evil. He's just weak and selfish. Lew Ayres' role is a stereotype. He's the good man, the guy the audience wants to see married to Belinda.

If this sounds like the kind of romantic drama you often find on LMN, that's because it is. At least the themes are the same. Production values are higher. The execution is far superior, far more mature, "adult" -- but not in the 1948 sense.

I don't know why the title of the film is "Johnny Belinda." The name is never used in any dialog. Johnny is the baby, and Belinda MacDonald is the mother. If anything, it should be "Johnny MacDonald." But in Hollywood during the 1940s there were a spate of movies, mostly poor, the titles of which used the construction "Johnny" Something -- "Johnny O'Clock," "Johnny Apollo", "Johnny Eager", "Johnny Lucky," "Johnny Angel," "Johnny Chiliastic," "Johnny Bricoleur," "Jonny Satyriasis" "Johnny Solipsistic." Well, okay, I made some of them up, but the trend was real.

Good cast and production at the mercy of an asinine story

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 12 August 2005]

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 ****

It wears well.

[john-mcc2 · 6 December 2004]

Am 79 years old. Saw it at age 23. Saw it again on TV tonight.It is still a stunning film, the black and white cinematography could not be achieved by many of today's a.s.c. people. Anybody can shoot color.

She was poignant in every scene. The northern California coast doubles nicely for Nova Scotia from whence my maternal ancestors emigrated.

I have difficult time seeing Lew Ayers not in a German soldiers uniform but he was wonderful in this as he was in "All Quiet..." Bickford is always Bickford but in this he is truly in character. And who can deny Moorehead? Direction is flawless as is the casting. The score is gripping.

"It is hard to get born, and it is hard to die."

[clanciai · 10/10 · 1 December 2017]

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.

Magnificent in every respect

[17268 · 10/10 · 31 October 2005]

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.

"It's hard to get born and it's hard to die."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 16 September 2018]

As good as the story was, I had a difficult time with one aspect of it. At no time following the rape of Belinda McDonald (Jane Wyman) was it ever explained to her how it was possible for her to have a baby. I know, she was an adult that should have known about the birds and the bees, but the story took extra pains to portray her as a 'dummy', and both her father and aunt for the longest time treated her as less than a full human being capable of learning and understanding. Actually, that was another problem I had with the story as well. It didn't take long for Doc Richardson (Lew Ayres) to demonstrate to Black McDonald (Charles Bickford) that Belinda was a sensitive person who could learn to sign, understand the alphabet and write on her own. But all prior to that time, father McDonald treated his daughter like a second class citizen and an employee of the household. His sudden turn when first called 'father' by Belinda seemed like too sudden a change of character for someone who harbored such severe feelings for so long.

Be that as it may, the story is one of courage and compassion, and one which could have been made maudlin in the hands of a less skillful director. Many reviewers call Ms. Wyman's performance here as the best of her career, and though I haven't seen that many of her pictures, I would agree that she did a remarkable job here. Her capability with signing, along with Lew Ayres, added a much needed degree of plausibility to make the story a credible one. What perhaps was a bit too coincidental for things to work out satisfactorily was the shooting death of Locky McCormick (Stephen McNally), who was never called to account for the horrific rape of Belinda. If his wife Stella (Jan Sterling) had not 'cracked' at the trial, both the lives of Belinda and the doctor would have been irreparably damaged. That was as far as the story would go to admit that Stella had been in love with Doctor Richardson the entire time he lived in Cape Breton.

The Quiet Girl

[lugonian · 10/10 · 23 January 2010]

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. (****)

Tough to watch but well-told story

[blott2319-1 · 7/10 · 21 October 2020]

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.

One minor flaw in an otherwise superb film

[lrrap · 9/10 · 24 August 2020]

And that would be the slightly "abridged" feeling to the final courtroom scene and the very last shot.

Director Negulesco's beautiful pacing and handling as he builds the tender relationship between Jane and Lew Ayres is a wonder to behold. Ditto the carefully wrought interaction between them, Charles Bickford and Agnes Moorehead, which unfolds naturally and with complete conviction (the sign of an excellent script, also).

Great cinematography and production design, and Max Steiner's colorful and expertly crafted score.

However, after so much beauty and perfection in the dramatic shape of the film, I felt it needed about another 5-6 minutes to build tension and resolution near the end: leading up to the trial, the trial itself, and just a tad more time for us to all relax, rejoice, and revel in the very final moment. And I think this problem is reflected in the very last measures of Max Steiner's score. Steiner THOROUGHLY understood the way in which the PACE and TEMPO of his music could affect the emotional impact of a scene; why, I wonder, did he choose to ACCELERATE the tempo of his lovely main theme as the carriage headed for the new home in the last shot? This speed-up definitely seemed to work AGAINST the sense of joy at the end; if anything, the music should have slowed down a bit and become more GRAND as "THE END" appeared on screen. Something seems too hurried and almost casual.

This is a fairly common structural problem with film scripts: emotionally compelling films that are designed with great care and detail, which then seem somewhat hurried toward the end, thus undercutting the big emotional payoff we're all waiting for.

Another example: "Roman Holiday" which spends TONS of time getting to the actual holiday, only to leave us feeling a bit shortchanged in the developing love between Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, so necessary to the heartbreak of the final scene.

Two films that get it absolutely RIGHT in terms of the pace and shape of the script, totally justifying the flood of emotion at the end: "It's a Wonderful Life" and Disney's "Pollyanna" (1960).

All of this is, of course, my own opinion and, considering the overall greatness of "Johnny Belinda" as a film, is a relatively minor complaint.

A wonderful film. LR

Frank Subject Matter in 1948

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 20 December 2016]

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+

Silent Shunning

[Lejink · 8/10 · 25 July 2020]

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.

Three people in a sea of stereotypes

[Irie212 · 7/10 · 4 July 2015]

The performances by the principle actors-- Jane Wyman as deaf mute Belinda, Charles Bickford as her father, and Lew Ayres as the doctor-- are flawless, and the writing of their characters raises this film above the level of melodrama-- or, rather, almost does.

"JOHNNY BELINDA" is based on a true and tragic story that took place in on Prince Edward Island, back before the automobile. The movie (and the original stage play) radically fictionalizes one episode in the life of Lydia Dingwell-- rape and subsequent pregnancy--using it to make points about morality. The screenplay ends well before the rest of Lydia's story is told: she died in poverty, and is buried in an unmarked grave near a lot of other Dingwells in a cemetery in Bay Fortune, PEI.

Those details do not matter to the film, of course, which is fiction. No such harsh reality flavors the screenplay, but an understanding of hardship does. It is expressed, unfortunately, only by those three characters. All the rest of cast -- even Agnes Moorehead as Belinda's spinster aunt-- are reduced to playing stereotypes of the shallowest order.

I want to forgive it, because the movie was not an easy one to get through Hollywood's rose-colored lenses. No doubt the writers had to wrap the story of rape and murder in the most simplistic black-and- white terms possible, and the most pious. At one point, Wyman actually delivers the entire Lord's Prayer in sign language, surrounded by mourners, at her father's deathbed. Even her Oscar-winning performance could not lift that prolonged scene above the level of tedium.

Such compromises, of course, inevitably compromise the overall quality of the film. What could have been a great movie-- it rises to greatness because of Wyman in particular, and elements of the screenplay-- is more like an historic artifact of Hollywood as it struggles out of the censorship of the Hayes era. But "Johnny Belinda" is only step in the right direction-- a baby step following a rape.

Sappy and sentimental ; typical of 40's "family" films

[bobbobwhite · 5/10 · 7 December 2005]

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.