"Kings Row" with Ronald Reagan, Bob Cummings and Ann Sheridan

Put aside your political leanings for an hour or so and watch one of the greatest films ever made. No kidding. Anyone who claims that Ronald Reagan couldn't act has never seen this film. In it, he portrays the scion of a well to do family who falls in love with a girl from the other side of the tracks. All throughout the film he is accompanied, and later comforted, by his best friend, played with great emotion by Robert Cummings.

The story centers around five different children a small railroad town, which, as in most railroad towns, is composed of two sides of the track. One is well to do, while the other side is composed of the very people that make the town work. The blue collar side. The story is set around the turn of the century in 1900.

Parris Mitchell (Bob Cummings) and Drake McHugh (Ronald Reagan) are the best of friends, both have lost a parent and their bond with one another is unbreakable. Parris dreams of studying medicine under the guidance of Dr.Tower (Claude Rains)who is also the father of Cassie, the object of Parris' affections.

Drake plans to go into business when he receives his full inheritance. Until then, he is somewhat of the town playboy, squiring his lady friends about town, much to the dismay of some of the more "proper" citizens. In short, he is not well liked, though he is likeable.

When Parris moves to Vienna to study psychiatry, Drake is left at home, pursuing his many lady friends before finally falling in love with the daughter of the town's other physician, Dr. Gordon (Charles Coburn) who does not approve of the match. When Drake suffers a horrible railroad accident, Dr. Gordon amputates Drake's leg without cause, assuring that he will not marry his daughter. The scene in which Drake awakens after the amputation is one of the finest pieces of acting ever recorded, as Drake realizes what has happened and screams out, "Where's the rest of me!?" This line would go on to serve as the title of Ronald Reagan's first auto-biography.

As the movie plays out, the secrets of the town are uncovered one by one, and a portrait of a small American town is changed forever. As for just what happens to the two friends, Parris and Drake, as well as the women they love, you will have to watch this stunning film to find out.

The movie garnered 2 Oscar Nominations, one for Sam Wood as Best Director, and the other for Hal B. Wallis of Warner Brothers, for Best Picture. If you are a film buff and have never seen this film, you are missing an absolute classic.

"Johnny Belinda" with Jane Wyman and Lew Ayres (1948)

I hadn’t seen this film in over 30 years; until I watched it again last night. It still retains the ability to unsettle the viewer. Jane Wyman; who plays the role of Belinda; won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a young woman whose mother died during her birth and was also left “deaf and dumb”; which was the term at the time for being born with the inability to speak or hear.

The film was originally a Broadway play of the same name in 1940 by Elmer Blaney Harris. It was rewritten; though not too much; for the screen by Allen Vincent and Irma von CubeIn addition to the Ocsar for Best Actress Award in the film version for Ms. Wyman, this film garnered 11 other Academy nominations; including Best Actor and Actress Awards for all 3 of the co-stars, as well as one for the Director Jean Negulesco.

The film was a groundbreaking one; one of the first to call attention to not only rape, but to people born with disabilities and the misunderstanding of those afflictions. Prior to this film these subjects had been off limits to film makers since the 1930’s and the advent of the Motion Picture Production Code, started by the industry to police itself in the wake of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal.

The film stars Jane Wyman as Belinda McDonald; Charles Bickford as her father, Black MacDonald, and Agnes Moorehead   as his sister, Aggie MacDonald. Lew Ayres plays Dr. Robert Richardson, a kindly physician who has had some heartbreak in his life and comes to a small fishing village on Cape Breton Island off the east coast of Canada to reassess his own life.

There he meets Black McDonald when he is summoned to the farm to help with the birth of a calf. While there he meets Belinda and sees that she is deaf and unable to speak. He approached her father about trying to teach her but the old man can’t really see any purpose to it. But he does get the old man’s permission to use the pond on the farm to fish as payment for delivering the calf. This brings him into further contact with Belinda; whom everyone calls “The Dummy.” He is determined to change that. Introducing Belinda to sign language she is able to learn how to lip read. Her father is so astonished that he agrees to let the Doctor continue with his efforts.

The doctor has an assistant in his office, Stella, who is in love with the doctor, who is not interested in anything but being a doctor. She is engaged to the town’s braggart, Locky McCormick; played by Stephen McNally. When he sees the doctor teaching Belinda to dance he is aroused by her beauty; which he has never noticed before. When the dance is over he sneaks back and rapes her. She tells no one of the attack.

As her condition becomes obvious the townsfolk begin to talk. When Belinda gives birth to a healthy boy she names Johnny, the town begins to act on their suspicions and shun the doctor, who they believe to be the father. The Doctor realizes the shame which will forever surround the girl and her child and so he offers to marry her. Her father, thinking the offer is made out of pity, declines to let him.

Locky goes to the farm to make a purchase of some grain and Blacky hears him talking to the baby and admitting that he is the father. The old man follows Locky off the farm with the intent of conflict and is killed by the other man to hide the secret.

Shortly after the murder of Blacky; as the 2 women struggle to keep the farm solvent; the local Morals Committee decides that Belinda and Aggie are not fit to care for the child without Blacky around. Further, they decide that the baby must be taken from Belinda, and then she is to be driven from the town she has shamed. Stella and Locky; who have by this time married; offer to adopt the baby and the Committee agree s to this.

It is while attempting to take the baby away from Belinda that Stella realizes the immorality of separating a mother from her child. When she tells Locky of her change of heart he admits to her that the child is his. She is horrified but remains silent. When Locky goes back inside to take the baby Belinda is waiting with a shotgun and kills him.

The ensuing trial pits the morality of the town against the reality of the actions of Locky. When he attacked and raped Belinda he relinquished the bonds which bound him to civilized society. The jury finds Belinda innocent and she is given back her child.

One of the more interesting things about the film is that is based on an actual case which took place by the author’s summer home in Fortune Bridge, Prince Edward Island. The real life Belinda was a woman named life Lydia Dingwell of Dingwells Mills, Prince Edward Island.

Whether your tastes run to drama, history, fiction, religion or law; this film will rivet you to the screen as you watch it unfold. More than that, you will find yourself thinking about Belinda; and the plight of those like her; long after the last frame has shown on your screen. I think that was the intent. This is a film with much to say.

Ronald Reagan and the Redistribution of Wealth

Got a piece of mail from a Republican candidate for State Senator in NC; I won’t say his name; and it opens with a very familiar quote from Ronald Reagan; a man who would be horrified at what has happened to his “conservative movement.” The quote is as follows;

“Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the Democrats believe that every day is April 15^th.”

Okay, let’s examine those words. They are designed to leave the impression that all republicans are patriotic and all democrats are tax and spend freeloaders. Think about it; if you believe in using your taxes as a way to fund programs you are actually being fiscally responsible.

This is very unlike the Republicans, who wail on about the ills of “redistribution” of the wealth; all while they vote for tax breaks they know we cannot afford. Those tax breaks are paid for with the money from the social programs which have been paid for by the taxes which they are exempt from. Sounds like redistribution of the wealth to me; just in the wrong direction!

It was a slick piece of mail with but one flaw; it made me think…

For the record; I am an unaffiliated voter.

"My Father at 100" by Ron Reagan

Don't dismiss this book. Whether you loved him or hated him, and there seems to be no middle ground on that score, Ronald Reagan was arguably one of the most influential Presidents to come down the pike since Roosevelt. His presidency set the stage for many of the divisions that still divide the nation today over economics, as well as foreign policy. He was, and will always remain, a controversial man.

Ron Reagan, his eldest son, sheds new light on Ronald Reagan the man, as he explores for himself just who his father was. He travels back to the places his Dad lived and worked, from the small town years in Illinois to Hollywood, and then on to Washington and the Presidency, Mr. Reagan paints a candid portrait of his Father. He talks openly of their political differences, as well as some of his Dad's shortcomings, without rancor. He is deeply interested in just who his Dad was.

Going as far back as the year 1014 and the Battle of Clontarf, he shows his family's surprising link to the Kennedy clan, who were at that time the Cennotig clan. He then moves quickly forward to the 1800's and from there on to his own Father's extraordinary life.

I admit to having mixed feelings about the Reagan Presidency. On the one hand his foreign policy changed, for the better, the way in which we, as a nation, were perceived overseas at the time. I can attest to this, having spent the later half of the 1970's at sea, with the Russians harassing us everywhere. The moment Reagan took office in 1981, this ceased. He put the teeth back into our military at a time when it was sorely needed.

His domestic policy was a different story, slash and burn seemed to be the order of the day. During his second term I was a working father, and sometimes it felt like he was working against me.

So, though I was reluctant at first to pick up this book, I found it to be an engaging memoir, with just enough history thrown in to make it a very interesting read. As I said, don't dismiss this one. It's actually worth reading.