Johnny Belinda (1948 film)
{{Short description|1948 American film}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Johnny Belinda
| image = X-johnnybelindalenda48-jjp.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Jean Negulesco
| producer = Jerry Wald
| based_on = {{based on|Johnny Belinda
1940 play|Elmer Blaney Harris}}
| screenplay = Allen Vincent
Irma von Cube
| starring = Jane Wyman
Lew Ayres
Charles Bickford
Agnes Moorehead
| music = Max Steiner
| cinematography = Ted McCord
| editing = David Weisbart
| distributor = Warner Bros.
| released = {{film date|1948|09|14}}
| runtime = 102 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| gross = $4.1 million (US/ Canada rentals){{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety173-1949-01#page/n45/mode/1up|title=Top Grossers of 1948|magazine=Variety|date=January 5, 1949|page=46|via=Internet Archive}}
$6,987,000 (worldwide)
}}
Johnny Belinda is a 1948 American drama film, directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the 1940 Broadway stage hit of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The play was adapted for the screen by writers Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube.
The story is based on an incident that happened near Harris's summer residence in Fortune Bridge, Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island. The title character is based on the real-life Lydia Dingwell (1852–1931), of Dingwells Mills, Prince Edward Island. The film dramatizes the consequences of spreading lies and rumors, and the horror of rape. The latter subject had previously been prohibited by the Motion Picture Production Code. Johnny Belinda is widely considered to be the first Hollywood film for which the restriction was relaxed since its implementation in 1934, and as such was controversial at the time of its initial release.{{citation needed span||date=October 2024}}
The film stars Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead, Stephen McNally, and Jan Sterling. Wyman's performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress; she described it in 1968 as her "most creative" role and reported, "I studied for six months in a school for the deaf, and did the whole movie with my ears sealed in wax to blot out every noise but percussion sounds. I still remember the sign language."Reed, Rex. "OK, So It's Not 'Johnny Belinda'." New York Times, 6 October 1968, D19.
It was filmed on location in Fort Bragg, California.{{cite web|last1=Landazuri|first1=Margarita|title=Johnny Belinda (1948)|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/578/johnny-belinda#articles-reviews|website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=March 3, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111205175943/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/578/Johnny-Belinda/articles.html |archive-date=2011-12-05 |url-status=live}}
Plot
Belinda MacDonald is a deaf-mute young woman living on Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada. She is befriended by Dr. Robert Richardson, a physician who recently moved to town. The doctor realizes that, although she cannot hear or speak, Belinda is very intelligent. She lives on a farm with her father, Black MacDonald, and her aunt, Aggie MacDonald. The family raises cattle and sheep and makes a living grinding wheat into flour at their small mill. Her father and aunt call Belinda "Dummy" and resent her because her mother died giving birth to her. Dr. Richardson teaches Belinda sign language, and she learns to read. Over time, his affection for her grows.
Dr. Richardson's secretary, Stella, is attracted to him, but the doctor does not reciprocate her feelings. After Stella figures out that he is attracted to Belinda, she starts to resent both of them.
One of the family's customers, Laughlin "Locky" McCormick, meets Belinda when he stops by the MacDonald farm. Locky is dating Stella at the time. He gets drunk, goes to the farm where Belinda is alone, and rapes her. This results in her pregnancy. Belinda gives birth to a boy, whom she names Johnny. The people in town shun the MacDonald family and Dr. Richardson, as they gossip that he must be Johnny's father. Dr. Richardson tells Black that he is willing to marry Belinda in order to quiet town gossip. Black rejects this idea, as he believes that Dr. Richardson does not truly love Belinda. Boycotted by locals, the doctor leaves the community and takes a position in a Toronto hospital. He writes to Belinda suggesting he will return for her and Johnny.
Locky goes to the MacDonald farm under the pretense of purchasing ground barley but really wants to get a look at baby Johnny. He boasts about the infant, saying, "spittin' image of his father," revealing to Black that he is the father of the child. Black follows Locky and threatens to expose him to the town. They have a fight on a seaside cliff, and Locky throws Black off the cliff into the sea, killing him. Town gossip calls it an accident and does not suspect Locky. They celebrate his wedding to Stella.
Belinda and her aunt Aggie try to operate the farm but struggle to pay the bills. Farmers boycott their flour mill. The town, at the urging of Locky, declares Belinda unfit to care for the child and awards him to Locky and Stella. They come to take Johnny. Belinda makes Stella realize that she is a smart and competent mother who will never give up her baby. Stella tells Locky that the mother should keep Johnny, but he demands the baby, telling his wife that it is his son. When he goes to retrieve the boy, Belinda kills him with a shotgun. She is arrested and goes on trial for murder. At the trial, Dr. Richardson testifies that she was protecting her property and family. The court dismisses this as the doctor's love for her and is ready to sentence Belinda to execution, but Stella blurts out that Locky had confessed the truth about the rape to her on the day he was killed. Belinda is set free, and she, Johnny, Dr. Richardson, and Aggie leave together.
Main cast and characters
Image:Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda trailer.jpg|Jane Wyman
as Belinda MacDonald
Image:Lew Ayres in Johnny Belinda trailer.jpg|Lew Ayres
as Dr. Robert Richardson
Image:Charles Bickford in Johnny Belinda trailer.jpg|Charles Bickford
as Black MacDonald
Image:Agnes Moorehead in Johnny Belinda trailer.jpg|Agnes Moorehead
as Aggie MacDonald
Other cast members
{{Cast listing|
- Stephen McNally as Locky McCormick
- Jan Sterling as Stella McCormick
- Rosalind Ivan as Mrs. Poggety
- Dan Seymour as Pacquet
- Mabel Paige as Mrs. Lutz
- Alan Napier as Defense Attorney
- Barbara Bates as Gracie Anderson
- Monte Blue as Ben
- James Craven as Interpreter
- Franklyn Farnum as Man on Jury
- Al Ferguson as Man Reciting Lord's Prayer
- Frank Hagney as Man Reciting Lord's Prayer
- Creighton Hale as Bailiff
- Jonathan Hale as Dr. Horace M. Gray
- Lew Harvey as Man Reciting Lord's Prayer
- Holmes Herbert as The Judge
- Douglas Kennedy as Mountie
- Colin Kenny as Man Reciting Lord's Prayer
- Snub Pollard as Man on Jury
- Richard Walsh as Fergus McQuiggen
- Ian Wolfe as Rector
- Ida Moore as Mrs. McKee
- Frederick Worlock as Prosecutor
- Charles Horvath as Church Attendant
- Blayney Lewis as Dan'l
- Alice MacKenzie as Farm Woman
- Larry McGrath as Man Reciting Lord's Prayer
- Ray Montgomery as Tim Moore
- Jeff Richards as Floyd McQuiggen
- Joan Winfield as Mrs. Tim Moore
}}
Reception
=Box office=
The film was a huge financial success, earning $4,266,000 domestically and $2,721,000 foreign.
The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1948.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18142723 |title=The Third Man As Popular Film Of Year. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 December 1949 |access-date=4 March 2013 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
=Critical reaction=
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that while some of the scenes "were pretty lurid, especially towards the end," that "the best of the film is absorbing, and Miss Wyman, all the way through, plays her role in a manner which commands compassion and respect."{{cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/10/02/archives/the-screen-in-review-jane-wyman-gives-a-sensitive-performance-as.html |date=October 2, 1948 |title=The Screen in Review; Jane Wyman Gives a Sensitive Performance as Deaf-Mute in 'Johnny Belinda' |work=The New York Times |page=11 }} William Brogdon of Variety called it "somber, tender, [and] moving," with Wyman's performance "a personal success."{{cite magazine |last=Brogdon |first=William |url=https://archive.org/details/variety171-1948-09/page/n127/mode/2up |date=September 15, 1948 |title=Film Reviews: Johnny Belinda |magazine=Variety |page=15 |via=Internet Archive }} John McCarten of The New Yorker thought the screenplay was "far superior" to the script of the original play, and that the actors were "all convincing, particularly Jane Wyman, who is cast as the badgered heroine."{{cite magazine |last=McCarten |first=John |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/10/09/1948-10-09-111-tny-cards-000029161 |date=October 9, 1948 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=The New Yorker |pages=111–112 |url-access=subscription }} The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a memorable film in which Jane Wyman's performance as Belinda is outstanding."{{cite journal |date=September 1948 |title=Johnny Belinda (1948) |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=15 |issue=177 |page= 128 }} "A powerful dramatic entertainment," wrote Harrison's Reports. "The direction, acting, and photography are of a superior quality, but the outstanding thing about the picture is the exceptionally fine performance by Jane Wyman, an acting job that will undoubtedly make her a foremost contender for the Academy Award."{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/details/harrisonsreports30psha/page/150/mode/2up |date=September 18, 1948 |title='Johnny Belinda' with Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres and Charles Bickford |magazine=Harrison's Reports |page=151 |via=Internet Archive }}
Content aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 91% "Fresh" rating based on 10 out of 11 surveyed critics giving the film a positive review.{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1011176_johnny_belinda |title=Johnny Belinda |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=February 9, 2023 }}
=Accolades=
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2005: AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores – Nominated{{cite web |title=AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores Nominees |url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/100Years/scores250.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110313150632/https://www.afi.com/Docs/100years/scores250.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2011 |access-date=2016-08-06}}
Later versions
The film was remade first as a 1967 television movie starring Mia Farrow as Belinda, Ian Bannen as her doctor, and David Carradine as the rapist, and in 1982 as another TV remake with Rosanna Arquette as Belinda and Richard Thomas as the VISTA worker. Also, live versions aired on the US network NBC on October 13, 1958, as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series{{Cite news|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Magazines/Archive-BC-IDX/58-OCR/1958-10-20-BC-OCR-Page-0022.pdf#search=%22belinda%22|title=Broadcasting Magazine|date=20 October 1958|access-date=1 January 2017|via=americanradiohistory.com}} and on Australian television in 1959 as part of the Shell Presents series.{{cite web |date=October 30, 1960 |title=Australian TV is growing up |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UHxWAAAAIBAJ&pg=940,515986 |access-date=14 May 2018 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{noteslist}}
Further reading
- Leff, Leonard J. "What in the World Interests Women? Hollywood, Postwar America, and 'Johnny Belinda.'" Journal of American Studies 31#32 (1997), pp. 385–405. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27556286 online]
- {{cite book|last=Schuchman |first=John S. |title=Hollywood Speaks: Deafness and the Film Entertainment Industry |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0252068508}}
External links
{{Commons category|Johnny Belinda (film)}}
- {{IMDb title}}
- [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/johnny-belinda-am24905 Johnny Belinda at AllMovie]
- {{TCMDb title}}
- {{AFI film}}
- {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
- {{IBDB title|1014}}
{{Jean Negulesco}}
{{Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Drama}}
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American films based on plays
Category:American Sign Language films
Category:Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners
Category:Films about deaf people
Category:Films about disability in Canada
Category:Films based on works by American writers
Category:Films directed by Jean Negulesco
Category:Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award–winning performance
Category:Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe–winning performance
Category:Films produced by Jerry Wald
Category:Films scored by Max Steiner
Category:Films set in Nova Scotia