As good as the story was, I had a difficult time with one aspect of it. At no time following the rape of Belinda McDonald (Jane Wyman) was it ever explained to her how it was possible for her to have a baby. I know, she was an adult that should have known about the birds and the bees, but the story took extra pains to portray her as a 'dummy', and both her father and aunt for the longest time treated her as less than a full human being capable of learning and understanding. Actually, that was another problem I had with the story as well. It didn't take long for Doc Richardson (Lew Ayres) to demonstrate to Black McDonald (Charles Bickford) that Belinda was a sensitive person who could learn to sign, understand the alphabet and write on her own. But all prior to that time, father McDonald treated his daughter like a second class citizen and an employee of the household. His sudden turn when first called 'father' by Belinda seemed like too sudden a change of character for someone who harbored such severe feelings for so long.
Be that as it may, the story is one of courage and compassion, and one which could have been made maudlin in the hands of a less skillful director. Many reviewers call Ms. Wyman's performance here as the best of her career, and though I haven't seen that many of her pictures, I would agree that she did a remarkable job here. Her capability with signing, along with Lew Ayres, added a much needed degree of plausibility to make the story a credible one. What perhaps was a bit too coincidental for things to work out satisfactorily was the shooting death of Locky McCormick (Stephen McNally), who was never called to account for the horrific rape of Belinda. If his wife Stella (Jan Sterling) had not 'cracked' at the trial, both the lives of Belinda and the doctor would have been irreparably damaged. That was as far as the story would go to admit that Stella had been in love with Doctor Richardson the entire time he lived in Cape Breton.
Be that as it may, the story is one of courage and compassion, and one which could have been made maudlin in the hands of a less skillful director. Many reviewers call Ms. Wyman's performance here as the best of her career, and though I haven't seen that many of her pictures, I would agree that she did a remarkable job here. Her capability with signing, along with Lew Ayres, added a much needed degree of plausibility to make the story a credible one. What perhaps was a bit too coincidental for things to work out satisfactorily was the shooting death of Locky McCormick (Stephen McNally), who was never called to account for the horrific rape of Belinda. If his wife Stella (Jan Sterling) had not 'cracked' at the trial, both the lives of Belinda and the doctor would have been irreparably damaged. That was as far as the story would go to admit that Stella had been in love with Doctor Richardson the entire time he lived in Cape Breton.