Johnny Belinda (1948)

My Review

Jane Wyman delivers the role of a lifetime in “Johnny Belinda.” Her riveting performance as a deaf-mute girl who is raped and put on trial for murdering her attacker earned Wyman the Best Actress Oscar, the only win out of the movie’s twelve nominations. This was one of the first films to deal with the subject of rape.

The screenplay by Allen Vincent and Irma von Cube was based on the 1940 Broadway play of the same name by Elmer Blaney Harris. The film contained excellent production values, including the cinematography by Ted McCord. It was filmed in Fort Bragg, where the beautiful central California coast doubles for the film’s setting in Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. “Johnny Belinda” was the fourth highest grossing film of 1948 for producer Jerry Wald and Warner Bros. Pictures.

Director Jean Negulesco (“Three Coins in the Fountain” 1954) did a great job of guiding the talented cast to success. Jane Wyman had quite the “plain Jane” look as Belinda MacDonald, perhaps going without makeup. Co-stars include Charles Bickford as her father, Agnes Moorehead as her aunt, Lew Ayres as her doctor, Alan Napier as the defense attorney, Monte Blue as a local, Ian Wolfe as Rector, and Holmes Herbert as the Judge.