Disabilities of any type can make life more challenging, and many films have been made about individuals with physical or mental limitations who have coped with these difficulties to lead full and productive lives. Movies offer a powerful medium for raising awareness of the roles played by the disabled in our communities, and some have increased public awareness and understanding. Others, unfortunately, have been exploitive and alienating, dealing in stereotypes and doing little to promote understanding.

TCM takes a look at Disability in the Movies with two nights that exemplify how Hollywood has treated the topic in the first three decades of filmmaking, plus the documentary, CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion (2018). This overview of the subject and both nights are co-hosted by Jenni Gold, the writer/producer/director of the documentary.

Gold, who has muscular dystrophy and has used a wheelchair since the age of seven, has two BA degrees from University of Central Florida's film school and has been creating shorts, movies and TV shows for more than 25 years.

With CinemAbility, Gold offers a perceptive and sometimes humorous look at movie portrayals of disability over the years. The film is hosted by Jane Seymour, with commentary by a number of other A-list actors and filmmakers including: Ben Affleck, Adam Arkin, Peter Bogdanovich, Beau Bridges, Geena Davis, Richard Donner, Ken Howard, James Keach, William H. Macy, Garry Marshall, Marlee Matlin and Gary Sinese.

Below is the lineup of the films screening on TCM.

The Unknown (1927) is directed by Tod Browning and stars Lon Chaney, an actor celebrated for his painstaking preparations in playing disabled men. Here he plays an armless knife-thrower who is in love with carnival girl Joan Crawford. Paul Desmuke, armless in real life, collaborated with Chaney in some scenes in which Chaney's upper body and face were blended with Desmuke's feet as they manipulated objects including knives. As reflected in CinemAbility, Chaney delivers a masterful, poignant performance that was beloved by audiences of the day.

Freaks (1932) also was directed by Browning and became his most notorious film, flopping at the box office and effectively ending his career. In this case, the carnival sideshow performers had real deformities and disabilities, and audiences were shocked and alienated. In later years, Freaks remained controversial in some circles but was re-evaluated and became a cult film. One modern reviewer noted that it "manages to frighten, shock and even touch viewers in ways that contemporary viewers missed."

Bride of Frankenstein (1935), director James Whale's follow-up to his original Frankenstein (1931) film, again stars Boris Karloff as the monster. Aside from what may be the most elaborate handicap in film history--the monster's body pieced together from corpses --another character has the disability of blindness. O.P. Heggie plays an old, blind hermit who is portrayed as the most humane character in the movie; because he is not repelled by the monster's appearance, he can "see" his virtues more clearly.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) stars Charles Laughton as Quasimodo, a character with one of the most famous deformities in literature and cinema. The film, directed by William Dieterle, is based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo and centers on Quasimodo's conflict with the archdeacon of Notre Dame (Cedric Hardwicke) over a beautiful woman (Maureen O'Hara).

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is a drama produced in the aftermath of World War II that deals with readjustment problems of returning servicemen. Among them is the character played by Harold Russell, a real-life veteran who had lost both hands during a training accident in 1944. Russell plays his role with such realism and sensitivity that he won two Academy Awards - one as Best Supporting Actor and the other an honorary award for "bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." The movie won seven other Oscars including Best Picture, Actor (Fredric March) and Director (William Wyler).

Johnny Belinda (1948) earned an Oscar for Jane Wyman in the role of a deaf mute who is raped and, unable to communicate what has happened, faces scandal because she has become pregnant. Jean Negulesco directed the film, based on a Broadway play which was in turn based on an actual incident on Prince Edward Island.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), an emotionally affecting film version of the Carson McCullers novel, features deaf-mute characters played by Oscar nominee Alan Arkin and Chuck McCann. In a small Southern town, Arkin's character reaches out to other troubled souls including a teenaged girl (Sondra Locke, also Oscar-nominated). Robert Ellis Miller directed.

Children of a Lesser God (1986), an adaptation of a play by Mark Medoff, stars an Oscar-winning Marlee Matlin, the only deaf performer so honored to date. She plays a young woman who works as a janitor at a school for the deaf and becomes romantically involved with a new teacher (William Hurt). This film version of the Mark Medoff play is directed by Randa Haines and is notable as the first movie since the 1926 silent You'd Be Surprised to feature a deaf actor in a major role.

by Roger Fristoe