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September 17

What movie?

Sylvie Weil writes[1] about her father, the celebrated mathematician André Weil:

It is precisely André’s reputation of arrogance that makes one childhood memory so delicious: the terrifying, arrogant mathematician André Weil, a raincoat thrown over his pajamas, out in the rain, running around the dimly lit courtyard of a shabby motel somewhere in the American West, knocking at doors, desperately begging for a quarter. In our awful room with the two squeaky beds, my mother, my sister, and I had been watching a movie on the coin-operated television when we ran out of coins. André failed in his quest and we never got to know what happened to the beautiful young heroine who was going deaf.

Any idea what movie that could have been? Thanks. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 01:11, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Well, Sylvie was born in 1942 her sister Nicolette in 1946 (see André Weil#Life). If Nicolette was old enough to watch a movie, but Sylvie was still a child, this presumably happened between about 1954 and about 1962. I wondered if the date when coin-operated TV became available would help pin it down a bit, but it doesn't. In any case we don't know how old the movie was when it was shown on TV. Presumably it was released sometime in the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s, though. Now, an IMDB search for movies with the plot keyword "deafness" and the years 1930 to 1960 inclusive produces 46 titles (40 movies and 6 TV episodes). The 40 movies are:

The Expert (1932)
The Man Who Played God (1932)
The Old Dark House (1932)
Tom Brown of Culver (1932)
Dancing Lady (1933)
The Important Witness (1933)
The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)
Alias John Law (1935)
Man of the Moment (1935)
Love Begins at Twenty (1936)
The Life and Loves of Beethoven (1936)
Stranger Than Fiction, #57 (1938)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
Man of Conquest (1939)
No Place to Go (1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
Alias the Deacon (1940)
Calling All Husbands (1940)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Badlands of Dakota (1941)
Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day (1941)
And Then There Were None (1945)
Bring on the Girls (1945)
Monsieur Vincent (1947)
Out of the Past (1947)
Johnny Belinda (1948)
Flesh and Fury (1952)
Paula (1952)
Crash of Silence (1952)
Shield for Murder (1954)
Thursday's Children (1954)
Galawgaw (1954)
The Last Mouse of Hamelin (1955)
Barbara's New Shoes (1955)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
For the First Time (1959)
Blessings of the Land (1959)
El sordo (1959)
Elmer Gantry (1960)

I've linked two from that list, where the IMDB plot summaries mention that the deaf character is a young woman. If course, if the character is only going deaf, the movie might not have the keyword "deafness" at all. And that's all I have to say. --174.88.168.23 (talk) 04:06, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, thanks, I wouldn't have thought of using that IMDB approach. Cool ;) 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 09:01, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia also has an article List of films featuring the deaf and hard of hearing. WP:WHAAOE. --Jayron 32 15:33, 17 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Heh, thanks! None of those look like the right one though. Oh well, it was mostly idle curiosity that made me ask, rather than something I want to really spend time chasing down. If I found the right movie I had the idea of emailing Sylvie Weil through her web site, but maybe that would just have been annoying. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 21:07, 19 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]