Johnny Belinda

Belinda lives on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, deaf from birth and unable to speak. The town treats her as simple, and so does her father. A newly arrived doctor teaches her sign language and for the first time she can say something. Then a man from the town rapes her and she becomes pregnant. The film is remembered for getting that subject onto the screen in 1948. The Hollywood production code did not permit rape, and Johnny Belinda is generally credited as the first major picture to tell it without showing it. Jane Wyman spent six months at a school for the deaf and played the part with her ears sealed during filming. She won the Oscar for best actress, and the film took twelve nominations. Its flaw is that the courtroom and the pressure from the town slide into melodrama, and the ending resolves too neatly. The doctor also drifts toward the rescuer template. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Hollywood drama. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the subject handled harshly.