Johnny Belinda
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Movie Reviews of Johnny Belinda
Movie Review: Johnny Belinda
Summary: 5 Stars
Great movie often overlooked. Acting excellent, topic good, overall a movie not to miss.Movie Review: An Expressively Muted Wyman Peaks in a Vintage Warner Brothers Melodrama
Summary: 4 Stars
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".
Movie Review: Sign Language
Summary: 4 Stars
It is easy to see why Jane Wyman, with her limpid eyes and winsome smile, won an Academy Award as a deaf-mute in this adaptation of the play "Johnny Belinda." The Academy is known for succumbing to characters with mental or physical afflictions ("The Snake Pit," "Rain Man," etc.) When she kneels beside the body of her father (Charles Bickford) and signs The Lord's Prayer, her Oscar was a secret even Price-Waterhouse couldn't keep. The temptation to cynicism, however, is unwise.
The picture turns out to be quite affecting. Wyman and Lew Ayres, as the doctor who teaches her to communicate, do some of their best work in "Johnny Belinda." After the town bully (Stephen McNally) rapes Belinda, he and his wife (Jan Sterling) attempt to adopt the son (named Johnny) Belinda has by him. Director Jean Negulesco ignores the soap operatics and creates a rugged sense of place, an insular Nova Scotia seaside farming village. The black-and-white cinematography is invaluable here.
The supporting cast is fine, and there are memorable touches everywhere. In addition to Wyman's prayer for her father, there's Bickford's pride in his blossoming daughter, and her responses to life's vicissitudes. Agnes Moorehead is the tart-tongued but quietly sympathetic aunt. And Sterling, in her first major role, does not disappoint. What does disappoint is the perfunctory DVD release Warner Bros. has given the studio's own movie, a big hit with audiences in 1948.
Movie Review: A surprising film
Summary: 4 Stars
In the sense that..well, I had never seen it until TCMs presentation of it, Feb 25, and had assumed, incorrectly as it turns out, that it was an overblown melodrama with little real merit. Johnny Belinda seems to me that it is definitely worthy of the term classic, largely because of Jane Wyman but also because of its outstanding camera work. Wyman demonstrates a great sensitivity with a performance good enough to suggest that she was under utilized all those years. Given the subject matter, and the time it was produced, there has to be certain leeway given. It is not a film made for children and an intelligent adult viewing it now would pick up on its many subtleties. Belinda is not a backward dummy, as is implied by the majority of the townspeople. Rather it is they who are backward ''blessed'' as they are with all senses, but blocked minds, hearts and souls aplenty. Now, if I have a minor quibble with this film it would be that the great good fortune of motherhood for its own sake seems to be a whitewash for the crime perpetrated against Belinda. Are we to imply that having a baby, by any means, is the great absolver of sins? There is never any question of abortion, for instance. There is never any real examination about how Belinda feels about things, not until she is deep into the light of radiant motherhood. Still. It's a compelling and rather mystic film, and one that I imagine was quite controversial for its time.Movie Review: Powerful melondrama
Summary: 4 Stars
This dvd was purchased pretty much right after the passing of Jane Wyman. She actually still has the disctiction of winning the Oscar for not uttering a single word. Actually deaf actress Marlee Matlin actually did say a word when she won hers for "Children of a Lesser God." Would be an interesting double feature.
The plight of Wyman's character is quite poignantly betrayed. Charles Bickford goes through powerful changes as the father and Agnes Moorehead was never better. Lew Ayres is almost forgotten except for the fact he does have a healthy cult that includes Frank Zappa for being a pacifist during World War Two, a very unpopular thing to do back then.
Stephen McNally plays the villian who takes advantage of poor deaf Wyman and almost gets away with it.
This is a melodrama so not for everybody but for those who can handle a slow pacing, will be rewarded with rich charaterizations and great story line. It was nominated for 11 Oscars which shows how appreicated this movie was when it first came out.