Hi again. I’m going to be covering Johnny Belinda in this segment of my review of Cape Breton Movies. You can find Part 1 here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-part-1-introducing-new-waterford-glace-bay and Part 2 here: https://capebreton.lokol.me/cape-breton-movies-p2-sydney-mines-is-an-international-sensation#InternalComments

Here is my updated list of Cape Breton movies. This list is intended to cover all feature films related to Cape Breton. This includes everything that can tell a little of the story of Cape Breton and doesn’t include movies that just used it as a set for some other place (Squanto, Book of Negroes).

- New Waterford Girl (Part 1)
- My Bloody Valentine (Part 2)
- Johnny Belinda (Part 3)
- Margaret’s Museum (at the library)
- The Bay Boy (got it)
- Going Down the Road (at library)
-Down the Road Again (at library)
- Sealed Cargo (have it)
- Marion Bridge (got it)
-The Legend of the Psychotic Forest Ranger (looking for it)
- Candy Mountain (bits and pieces on YouTube)
- Song Spinner (can’t find)
- The Third Walker (looking)
- Something About Love (1988) (looking)
- The Widow of St. Pierre (at library)

I’m still interested in hearing from you about other movies that should be included and of course getting your input on the stories associated with these movies.

So on with the review...

Johnny Belinda (1948) directed by Jean Negulesco

Johnny Belinda as a film just scratches the surface of Cape Breton as a setting in a story of rich characters. Released in 1948, introduced Cape Breton to the world seven years before the official opening of the Canso Causeway. The movie was inspired by a play by Elmer Harris which loosely tells the story of some activities that transpired in Dingwell Mills, PEI.

The movie starts out with a nice little narrative.

“The island of Cape Breton, the northeastern end of Nova Scotia is just a small chunk of land sticking out into the Atlantic. Roads haven’t been built through everywhere yet. You mostly have to come in from the sea. It needs an old hand to navigate through the shoals off-shore, especially during the storms that come up through the summertime. And the little lighthouse has saved many a life. The village isn’t much to shout about. Just a quiet peaceful place where the people are proud of their church built with their own hands and with what little money they could scrape up. Their farms don’t bring in much, but for a few months each year when the cod are running there is a lot of excitement. You should see the harbour then, alive with boats. They leave the women to take care of the potatoes and livestock, and put out to sea. Not many of them are luck enough to have their own boat, but they all get a share when the catch is paid for at the cannery. A fair-sized haul means everything. It means food for the long winter, new blades for tools, grain bought for cattle. That’s why we watch each vessel when she comes in, to see how low she sets in the water.”

Johnny Belinda shows a community as it struggles to get by, from the fishermen to the farmers. Everyone seems indebted to the merchant Paquet (played by regular 40s and 50s villain Dan Seymour). Early on we are introduced to two central characters; Locky McCormick (Stephen McNally), a young fisherman and newly arrived Dr.Robert Richardson (Lew Ayers), the protagonist of this story who is trying to integrate into the community and searching to do good in the world.
Like many other movies from this time (Casablanca, old Westerns, etc.) the lines of good and evil are drawn. The two men take very different paths.

Dr. Richardson is shown as a man of character and compassion. He gets asked by Aggie Macdonald (Agnes Moorehead) to help their cow give birth. Stella McCormick (played by Jan Sterling) warns the doctor that the rest of the community has nothing to do with the family and that they have no money, but the doctor remains unwavered in his pursuit to help whoever he can. Once he arrives on the farm he meets farmer Black McDonald (Charles Bickford) and his daughter Belinda McDonald (Jane Wyman). Belinda is described as being deaf and mute, but is an extremely hard worker and quick learner. The doctor takes an interest in teaching Belinda sign language. The two of them start a friendship with Belinda learning quickly to communicate, to the delight of her father. He takes her to the big town (Sydney?) to get her hearing checked out and discovers she is pregnant.

Locky’s story starts with his interest in Stella. He seems to be a bit of a charmer in town and lines up a date with her to the dance. A group of rowdy young people, including Lockey, stop at the McDonald farm to pick up grain. Locky becomes transfixed by Belinda. Although the town refers to her as “Dummy” and treats her as a monster, the doctor has brought out a different side to her that catches Locky’s eye. At the dance Stella rejects Locky due to his drunkenness. His path become much darker as he advances on Belinda at the McDonald farm and rapes her. He then spirals out of control as he murders Black McDonald to keep his dark secret hidden, and finally gets killed in a community plot to take baby Johnny away from Belinda.

The subject of rape was taboo in feature films before this movie was produced. The film was both critically acclaimed and controversial at the time.

Jane Wyman plays a sensitive, innocent and emotional Belinda. She won the Academy Award for best actress for this portrayal in 1948.

The Locky character is interesting as well. As most roles back then focus on “good” and “bad” characters his story takes a downward spiral from the honest hard-working fisherman we first meet.

Although set in Cape Breton it isn’t really clear to me where this all takes place. Doing some research it seems most of the movie was shot in northern California and it is unclear if anything was done on Cape Breton Island itself.

Johnny Belinda was remade in 1967 with Mia Farrow. I haven’ t seen that version but it would be interesting to know if it was filmed here on the island.

Lydia Dingwell, from which the story is inspired, was mute and deaf. Her fortunes turned around a bit after meeting a doctor who inspired her to learn sign language. Unfortunately her story is much more tragic, dying in poverty and buried in an unmarked grave in Dingwell, NS.

What I found out about Cape Breton watching this: The movie is riddled with community gossip and judgement. Several community members think that the doctor is the father of the baby, they comment on him not attending church, etc. This leads to some unfair decisions being made. I think there are several communities on the island where this type of thing occurs. It is easier to decide among a group of people what is happening then going to the source. This behaviour is not isolated to Cape Breton but it is certainly something that does happen on the island. Outsiders do find it hard to fit in. The doctor in this movie is unconventional, and people can’t relate to him in the community. It reminds me a bit of the discussion around doctors in Cape Breton that I initiated in this post a while back. https://capebreton.lokol.me/hey-cape-breton-doctors---what-can-we-do

All in all, this was a pretty cutting edge movie at the time, which allowed other movies to explore more controversial topics.

Chris Bellemore is a blogger from Ontario that moved to Cape Breton Island and is logging his experiences in this strange and wonderful place.
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