Johnny Belinda | 
| Director: Jean Negulesco
Actors: Jane Wyman, Lew Ayres, Charles Bickford, Agnes Moorehead, Stephen Mcnally
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $2.99
You Save: $16.99 (85%)
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 15291
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, Dvd, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARD67677D
ISBN: 1419817132
UPC: 012569676770
EAN: 9781419817137
ASIN: B000BYA4JC
Theatrical Release Date: September 14, 1948
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Jane Wyman won a Best Actress Oscar for her strong performance in this touching drama of a deaf-mute girl (Wyman) and a doctor (Lew Ayres) who works closely with her. The story (based on Elmer Harris's play) seems intent on dumping one grievance after another onto the poor character, from rape to community pressure to give up the resultant baby, plus a terrible loss sustained somewhere in there as well. But Wyman and director Jean Negulesco manage to make the film more than the sum of its perils, and the texture and atmosphere of the town is particularly effective. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
A compassionate doctor gives a deaf-mute girl the gift of communication through his hard work and dedication. When the girl is raped the rustic people of the town feel the doctor is the culprit. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/31/2006 Starring: Jane Wyman Charles Bickford Run time: 102 minutes Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Reality Plus April 9, 2009
Richard C. Idoux (APO, AE United States)
You will marvel at how the cast carries out the twists and turns of this movie to make you a believer. On the windswept, rocky fields of the MacDonald farm in Nova Scotia, a young deaf mute girl lives her life, her afflication mistakenly viewed as mental deficieney. However, a new Doctor in town becomes interested in her case and seeks to help her break out of her silent prison. Jane Wyman plays the yourg girl, perfectly portraying this characters longing to break out of this prison of isolation into the light of knowledge and success.
 A Wonderful All-Around Film March 1, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
This is a great storytelling and movie-making rolled into one and I can see why it was up for so many Academy Awards in its day (when they rewarded the best movies.)
Jane Wyman seems to get the most attention here but I was totally impressed not only with her but all the actors, the director and the photographer. All excelled in this film, I thought - a great effort all-around.
Wyman and Lew Ayers were terrific in the leads, playing endearing characters who were easy to become involved with and root for in this story. Wyman, like Dorothy McGuire in "The Spiral Staircase" (1945) and Alan Arkin in "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" (1968), plays a deaf mute effectively with haunting, expressive facial features. I hope people don't overlook Ayers' extremely warm performance as the doctor who truly cares for this woman. Ayers plays a very decent man and does it with a lot of dignity.
Charles Bickford was powerful, too, as Belinda's father and ditto for the always-entertaining Agnes Moorhead, playing Belinda's sister. I can't leave out the "villains," either: Stephen McNally, who really looks his part, and his reluctant bride Jan Sterling, an underrated classic-era actress.
Jean Negulesco's direction provided numerous interesting low and high-angle camera shots and cinematographer Ted McCord made the most of it, including some great facial closeups. To be honest, I am not familiar with either of these two names but I was very impressed with their work here. Oh.....having Max Steiner doing the music didn't hurt, either!
The film gets a little melodramatic at times but it's never overdone. The story flows nicely. No scene - pleasant or unpleasant - overstays its welcome. You get a cohesive blend of heartfelt sentiment, romance, drama and suspense.
In addition, the DVD transfer of this film is magnificent. I would like to have seen some behind-the-scenes features with the disc, but the film was so good I am not complaining.
 Poor thing! May 1, 2008
ADRIENNE MILLER (TENNESSEE)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Johnny Belinda starring Jane Wyman is a gentle and important film. Wyman gave the performance of her career (she won the Oscar for best actress)she is so vulnerable and real as a mute who is raped and no one believes her. Parts of the film are dated and overblown but Johnny Belinda is still a good film, check it out sometime.
Remarkable performance from Wyman March 20, 2008
Stephen Reginald (Chicago, IL United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Jane Wyman rightly became a movie superstar with her Academy Award-winning performance in this film. Belinda is a deaf mute young woman who is thought of as "the dummy" by her family and the local townspeople in the Canadian fishing village in which she was born and raised. A young doctor (Lew Ayres) believes Belinda isn't dumb at all and thinks he can help improve her life by teaching her sign language. Belinda proves to be a good student, surprising even her own father (Charles Bickford). As the doctor continues to open up new worlds to Belinda a bond forms between them. All of Belinda's new-found joy and discovery is shattered by the dispicable act of a local fisherman and town bully (Stephen McNally). For a film from this time period, Johnny Belinda tackles some pretty tough territory. Artistically, it holds up rather well, with many of its scenes filmed on location. Apart from Wyman's tour de force performance, the cast also includes great performances from Bickford, Agnes Morehead as Belinda's aunt, and Jan Sterling as Lew Ayres's maid and the object of her unrequited love. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, Johnny Belinda is a film that has stood the test of time.
A surprising film February 26, 2008
Michael Lambert (Louisiana)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
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