- The Search
Infobox Film
name = The Search
caption =
imdb_rating =
director =Fred Zinnemann
producer =Lazar Wechsler
writer =Richard Schweizer (also story)David Wechsler (also story)Paul Jarrico Montgomery Clift Betty Smith
starring =Montgomery Clift Aline MacMahon Jarmila Novotna Wendell Corey Ivan Jandl
music =Robert Blum
cinematography =Emil Berna
editing =Hermann Haller
distributor =Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released =March 23 1948
runtime = 105 minutes
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
mpaa_rating =
tv_rating =
amg_id = 1:43357
imdb_id = 0040765"The Search" is a
1948 film directed byFred Zinnemann which tells the story of a youngAuschwitz survivor and his mother who search for each other across post-World War II Europe . It starsMontgomery Clift ,Ivan Jandl ,Jarmila Novotna andAline MacMahon .One oft cited feature of this film is that many of the scenes were shot amidst the actual ruins of post-war German cities, namely
Ingolstadt ,Nuremberg , andWürzburg . [cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040765/locations |title=Filming locations for The Search (1948) |publisher=www.imdb.com]Plot
The film begins in documentary style at a railway station. Trains bring homeless children (
Displaced Persons or DPs), who are taken by Mrs. Murray (Aline MacMahon) and otherUnited Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNNRA) workers to a nearby transit camp, where they are fed and cared for.The next morning, the children are interviewed by UNNRA officials to try to identify them and reunite them if possible with their families. One boy responds to all questions with, “Ich weiß nicht” (“I don’t know”). The boy is Karel (Ivan Jandl). He grew up in a well-to-do Czech family. The Nazis had deported his sister and doctor father, while the boy and mother were sent to a
Nazi concentration camp . They eventually became separated. After the war, Karel survived by scavenging for food with other homeless children.The next day, the children are split up into groups and loaded into trucks and ambulances to be transferred to other camps. The children in Karel's group are at first terrified because the Nazis often used ambulances to gas victims, but are eventually coaxed into the vehicle. During the trip, the smell of exhaust fumes causes the children to fear they are being gassed. They panic; Karel's friend Raoul manages to open the back door of the ambulance, and the children scatter in all directions. Karel and Raoul are chased by two of the UNRRA men. The boys try to swim across a river. Raoul drowns, but Karel survives by hiding in the reeds near the shoreline.
Later, Karel encounters an American army engineer, Steve (Montgomery Clift), who takes care of him. He starts teaching the boy English. Because Karel cannot speak at first, Steve names him Jim.
Once Jim feels more secure, he starts to remember his mother and the last time he saw her, near a fence in the concentration camp. He runs away one evening thinking the fence is nearby. Jim finds a fence at a factory, but cannot find his mother among the workers going home.
Steve eventually finds Jim and tells him that his mother is dead (Steve has reason to believe she had been gassed) so he will stop searching for her. He also informs Jim that he is going to try to adopt him and take him to America to start a new life there.
As it turns out, Karel's mother, Mrs. Malik (Jarmila Novotna) is not dead. In a parallel story, she has been searching for her son. She begins working for Mrs. Murray at the same UNRRA camp where her son had been processed. After a while though, she resigns to resume her forlorn search for Karel.
That same day, Steve leaves the boy at the UNRRA camp because he has a job waiting for him in America. He hopes to send for the boy once the paperwork is completed. Mrs. Murray remembers the boy from when he was there before; she begins to suspect that Jim is Mrs. Malik’s son. She hurries to the train station to bring Mrs. Malik back, but is too late. The train has already left. Then, she sees Mrs. Malik on the train platform; she had changed her mind and decided to stay. Mrs. Murray arranges for her to greet the newest group of children.
The film ends with Jim joining the group. Mrs. Malik begins to organize the children and bids them to follow her. Jim walks past without recognizing her. Mrs. Malik almost makes the same mistake, but then turns and calls, “Karel!” and the boy and his mother are reunited.
Cast
*
Montgomery Clift as Ralph "Steve" Stevenson
*Aline MacMahon as Mrs. Murray
*Jarmila Novotna as Mrs. Hanna Malik
*Wendell Corey as Jerry Fisher
*Ivan Jandl as Karel Malik / "Jim"
*Mary Patton as Mrs. Fisher
*Ewart G. Morrison as Mr. Crookes
*William Rogers as Tom Fisher
*Leopold Borkowski as Joel Markowsky
*Claude Gambier as Raoul DuboisAwards and nominations
Academy Awards
Wins
*Special Juvenile Academy Award "for the outstanding juvenile performance of 1948 in "The Search" - Ivan Jandl
*Best Story -Richard Schweizer andDavid Wechsler Nominations
*Best Actor in a Leading Role - Montgomery Clift
*Best Director -Fred Zinnemann
*Best Writing, Screenplay - Richard Schweizer and David WechslerOther
Wins
*
BAFTA UN Award
*Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Richard Schweizer
*Golden Globe Special Award for Best Juvenile Actor - Ivan Jandl
*Golden Globe Award for Best Film Promoting International UnderstandingNominations
*
Directors Guild of America Award - Fred Zinnemann
*Venice Film Festival Golden Lion - Fred ZinnemannReception
Bosley Crowther of the "The New York Times " praised it highly, calling it, "an absorbing and gratifying emotional drama of the highest sort".cite web |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=EE05E7DF173FE770BC4C51DFB5668383659EDE&oref=slogin |title=The Search |publisher="The New York Times" (movies.nytimes.com) |author=Bosley Crowther |date=March 24 1948 |accessdate=2008-04-26] Crowther thought that Clift got "precisely the right combination of intensity and casualness into the role".Clint Eastwood singled out Clift's performance as the one that had the greatest influence on his own acting career. [cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:43357~T1 |title=Allmovie Review |publisher=Allmovie |author=Michael Costello |accessdate=2008-04-26]References
External links
*tcmdb title|id=938|title=The Search
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