Johnny Belinda (1948)

Johnny Belinda (1948) (DVD) (*)

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(Expected in Stock in 3-6 weeks)

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Golden Globes
Oscar Academy Awards
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Italian ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Italy ( PAL/NTSC/Region 0 )

Running Time:
102 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 1948 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Jean Negulesco

Written By:
Irma von Cube
Allen Vincent

Actors:
Jane Wyman ..... Belinda McDonald
Lew Ayres ..... Dr. Robert Richardson
Charles Bickford ..... Black MacDonald
Agnes Moorehead ..... Aggie MacDonald
Stephen McNally ..... Locky McCormick
Jan Sterling ..... Stella McCormick
Rosalind Ivan ..... Mrs. Poggety
Dan Seymour ..... Pacquet - Storekeeper
Mabel Paige ..... Mrs. Lutz
Ida Moore ..... Mrs. McKee
Alan Napier ..... Defense Attorney

Synopsis:

After years of dumb-blonde and best-friend roles, Jane Wyman proved her skills as a dramatic actress - and won an Academy Award in the bargain - in Johnny Belinda. Adapted from a stage play by Elmer Harris, the story takes place in Nova Scotia, where deaf-mute Belinda (Wyman) leads a lonely existence on the hardscrabble farm of her father Black Macdonald (Charles Bickford) and her aunt Aggie (Agnes Moorehead). Newly arrived doctor Robert Richardson (Lew Ayres) takes a special interest in Belinda, vowing to ease her road in life by teaching her sign language. Despite initial resistance from her father and aunt, Belinda quickly learns how to communicate with others, opening a whole, wonderful new world for her. But things take a sorry turn when local lout Locky (Stephan McNally) corners poor Belinda after a village dance and rapes her. If the ending seems a bit ambiguous, it is because director Jean Negulesco intended it that way, allowing the viewer to draw his or her own conclusion regarding Belinda's future relationship with her mentor Dr. Richardson. Upon accepting her Oscar, Jane Wyman commented on the fact that she accomplished this feat through the simple expedient of "keeping my mouth shut." But there is nothing simple or facile in Wyman's astonishing performance as Belinda, which far outclasses the actresses who repeated the role in the two TV remakes. Also worthy of praise is the lush musical score by Max Steiner, one of his best post-Casablanca efforts.

Dr. Robert Richardson, a dedicated young general practitioner, seeks to establish himself in an isolated fishing village on Cape Breton Island off the Nova Scotia coast. The population is poor and the struggling physician generally gets paid for his efforts in barter. When he meets Belinda McDonald, a young deaf mute callously dismissed by family and neighbors as 'the dummy,' he alone senses her innate intelligence. He overcomes the initial skepticism of her flinty, gruff father and indifferently cold aunt, who operate a hardscrabble grist mill and farm, and devotes himself to teaching the young girl sign language and lip-reading. Hopes are even raised that she might even eventually qualify for a medical procedure that might improve her condition. Her optimism is crushed, however, when she raped by Locky McCormick, a brutish local fisherman. Traumatized, she is unable to communicate the outrage to her family, who are baffled and angry when they learn she is pregnant. The local gossips blame the doctor, and he and the McDonalds become pariahs, unable to earn a living in the provincial village. Matters come to a head when McCormick and his new wife pressure the local council to declare Belinda an unfit mother and declare them the baby's legal guardians.

In a small fishing village on the island of Cape Breton, Dr. Robert Richardson takes an interest in a sweet deaf mute named Belinda. He teaches her sign language and lip reading, and she soon falls in love with him. When Belinda is left alone one night, she is raped by the town bully, Locky MacCormick. When Robert takes her to see a doctor, it is discovered she is pregnant...

This product was added to our catalog on Friday 13 December, 2019.