Johnny Belinda

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