Johnny Belinda (1948) on Netflix
Belinda MacDonald cannot hear or speak, and her family on a Nova Scotia farm calls her Dummy. A newly arrived doctor, Robert Richardson, finds her intelligent and teaches her sign language.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.7/105,869 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Belinda MacDonald is a young deaf-mute woman on a Nova Scotia farm, where the household keeps cattle and sheep and grinds wheat into flour at a small mill. Her father, Black MacDonald, and her aunt Aggie call her Dummy and resent her. Dr. Robert Richardson, a physician new to the town, sees that she is intelligent and teaches her American Sign Language; she learns to read, and he comes to care for her. Stella, the doctor's secretary, is drawn to him, but he does not return the feeling, and she comes to resent Belinda and the doctor. Locky McCormick, a customer of the mill who is dating Stella, meets Belinda when he stops at the farm.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Johnny Belinda (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jane Wyman prepared to play the deaf-mute Belinda by studying for six months at a school for the deaf and shooting the entire film with her ears sealed in wax to blot out every noise but percussion sounds; the role won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- Rape had previously been prohibited by the Motion Picture Production Code, and Johnny Belinda is widely considered the first Hollywood film for which that restriction was relaxed since the code took effect in 1934, which made the film controversial when it was released.
- The story grew out of an incident near playwright Harris's summer residence at Fortune Bridge, Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island, and the title character was based on the real-life Lydia Dingwell (1852-1931) of Dingwells Mills, Prince Edward Island.
