GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

thejcowboy22 I always enjoyed movies featuring Lew Ayers. Just a straight sincere actor reading his lines with integrity, plausibility. I started watching the Dr. Kildare movies which were prominent during the late 1930's opposite veteran wheelchair bound actor Lionel Barrymore. Forthright and determined Mr. Ayers always got his message across in all his movies. Standing up for what's right at all cost. As for this film Johnny Belinda nestled in a Maritime setting with Cliffs,crashing waves and sprawling farms Dr. Robert Richardson (Lew Ayers)new to these parts is summoned into action because of a pregnant heifer despite not being a Veterinarian. Dr. Richardson notices off to side a quiet woman named Belinda after her Mother who died while conceiving her. Her gruff Father Black McDonald(Charles Bickford) tells the Doctor that shes dumb and has little intelligence. Black give her a book with instructions . The book is filled with symbols for each task. Black points to the particular symbol and Belinda follows the job to the letter. On the contrary the good Doctor protests that Belinda has a tremendous learning capacity and is not in the least a simple minded deaf girl. The Doctor takes Belinda under his wing and teaches her sign language as Black and his sister Aggie (Agnes Moorehead), are intrigued with the symbol for Butterfly. The McDonald's don't leave their farm very often but the Doctor starts taking Belinda to town as his affections grow for her as this lovely silent woman is absorbing everything in a short time. Meanwhile Dr. Richardson's secretary played by Jan Sterling has her fancies for the good Doctor as she resents the idea of deaf mute and Doc together. On another front loud mouthed and demonstrative Locky McCormick a regular customer of the McDonald's get's drunk while attending the town's Dance. Locky notices Belinda by the musicians feeling the music and lifting her skirt and dancing to the beats. That capture his attention as he follows her to her farm and rapes her. Belinda become despondent as Dr. Richardson gets her examined and he learns that she's pregnant and was raped. Rumors fly around this seaside village as rumors begin to get ugly and even murder is added to the story. Everything ends up at courthouse when a custody battle ensues. This picture has everything and captures the human emotions to the limit. Steven McNally who plays the town scoundrel Locky gives a credible performance. As a matter a fact the entire cast is worthy of outstanding performances which leaves this film instilled in my mind to this moment. An unforgettable film!

dougdoepke 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.!

jpdoherty 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!

Jem Odewahn 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.