Never Fear

Plot summary

Carol Williams (played by Sally Forrest) is a beautiful young dancer with a promising career, struck down with and crippled by polio. Williams' dance partner and fiancé, Guy Richards (played by Keefe Brasselle), wants to see her through her illness, but Carol struggles with dealing with her recovery and prefers to go it alone. Her father (played by Herb Butterfield) takes her to the Kabat-Kaiser Institute for rehabilitation, where she meets fellow patients in recovery. One of the patients that inspire Carol's recovery is Len Randall (Hugh O'Brian in his first movie role). Only by allowing others to share her grief is Ms Williams able to pull herself together and go on with her life.

Cast

Production

Ida Lupino had contracted polio herself in 1934. She suffered the same fevers, pains and fears as did her lead character. She, too, was filled with dark thoughts and she, too, worried that she would never walk again. The major symptoms lasted only briefly and Ms. Lupino was left with minor problems in a leg and a hand. She remained a supporter of causes to fight the disease. The film Never Fear was released in 1949 at the height of the polio fear and outbreak.

The rehabilitation scenes were shot at the Kabat-Kaiser Institute in Santa Monica, California. Many of the actors used were actual rehab patients at the institute and the scenes are realistic and informative. There is a particularity touching scene of wheelchair square dancing with Sally Forrest and Hugh O’Brian’s characters dancing with each other in a group of actual wheelchair dancers.

Reception

The film was not popular because of the subject matter and did not make money for Filmakers, Lupino's production company. Variety reviewed it thus: "As written by Ida Lupino and Collier Young, the screenplay was psychologically sound in dealing with the emotional ups and downs of polio victims, and it is equally convincing as a documentary of treatment with effective shots of physical therapy".

Soundtrack