 |
Deaf Major 
|
|
|
TITLE |
Flesh and Fury (1952) |
|
DISABILITY |
Deaf
Speaking Impaired |
|
NOTES |
Curtis plays
fighter who happens to be deaf and speaking |
|
impaired.
There's a blond after him and his money but then |
|
along comes
a classy reporter and there are three of them in |
|
Not a good
start to this film. Curtis decides to become a |
|
fighter
because he can't hold down a decent job. When he's |
|
successful a
'gold-digging' stereotype blonde is after his |
|
money in the
guise of looking out for his interests. During this |
|
period the
dialogue goes way over the top and the music |
|
Curtis
unable to speak and apparently without any form of |
|
communication, though he can lip read, is totally inexpressive
|
|
with his
hands and face. And when his girlfriend is speaking |
|
it's to the
audience rather than him. |
|
Then a
reporter arrives who is able to use sign language |
|
because her
father was deaf. At first Curtis doesn't appear to |
|
understand
but then he tells her that he does know sign but |
|
doesn't use
it because people laughed at him and called him |
|
Of course he
falls for the genteel reporter and when she takes |
|
him home
there is for a moment a whole new world opened |
|
up to him.
Though how she feels about his world of boxing |
|
At the end
of a winning fight there is a quick edit to a school |
|
for the deaf
where he learns that an operation on the auditory |
|
nerve gives
him a chance of hearing again. (Familiar territory |
|
here). After
the operation he goes to a school to learn to |
|
speak. A big
surprise this because the tone of the film has |
|
been such
that one expects him to start speaking |
|
In a
melodramatic twist he finds all this talking business too |
|
much and
goes back to the blonde. Warned by his doctor he |
|
will risk
losing his hearing if he fights, he does fight, flails |
|
around in
the rink because he's distracted by the noise of the crowd.
Providentially a blow to his head and he loses his
hearing again and wins fight (novel twist). But his hearing
returns by the end of the film.
|
|
Notes
|
|
