The Search
149815
220721104
2008-06-21T06:54:10Z
79.6.86.51
{{Infobox Film
| name = The Search
| image = The_Search_poster.jpg
| caption =
| imdb_rating =
| director = [[Fred Zinnemann]]
| producer = [[Lazar Wechsler]]
| writer = [[Richard Schweizer]] (also story)<br>[[David Wechsler]] (also story)<br>[[Paul Jarrico]]<br>[[Montgomery Clift]]<br>[[Betty Smith]]
| starring = [[Montgomery Clift]]<br>[[Aline MacMahon]]<br>[[Jarmila Novotna]]<br>[[Wendell Corey]]<br>[[Ivan Jandl]]
| music = [[Robert Blum]]
| cinematography = [[Emil Berna]]
| editing = [[Hermann Haller]]
| distributor = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| released = [[March 23]] [[1948]]
| runtime = 105 minutes
| language = [[English language|English]]
| budget =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
| mpaa_rating =
| tv_rating =
| amg_id = 1:43357
| imdb_id = 0040765
}}
{{otheruses}}
'''''The Search''''' is a [[1948]] film directed by [[Fred Zinnemann]] which tells the story of a young [[Auschwitz]] survivor and his mother who search for each other across post-[[World War II]] [[Europe]]. It stars [[Montgomery Clift]], [[Ivan Jandl]], [[Jarmila Novotna]] and [[Aline 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]], and [[Würzburg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040765/locations |title=Filming locations for The Search (1948) |publisher=www.imdb.com}}</ref>
==Plot==
The film begins in [[Documentary film|documentary]] style at a railway station. Trains bring homeless children ([[Displaced Persons]] or DPs), who are taken by Mrs. Murray (Aline MacMahon) and other [[United 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 [[Nazism|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 Dubois
==Awards and nominations==
===Academy Awards===
====Wins====
*Special Juvenile [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] "for the outstanding juvenile performance of 1948 in ''The Search''" - Ivan Jandl
*[[Academy Award for Best Story|Best Story]] - [[Richard Schweizer]] and [[David Wechsler]]
====Nominations====
*[[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor in a Leading Role]] - Montgomery Clift
*[[Academy Award for Directing|Best Director]] - [[Fred Zinnemann]]
*[[Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay]] - Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler
===Other===
====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 Understanding
====Nominations====
*[[Directors Guild of America Award]] - Fred Zinnemann
*[[Venice Film Festival]] [[Golden Lion]] - Fred Zinnemann
==Reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]] of the ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised it highly, calling it, "an absorbing and gratifying emotional drama of the highest sort".<ref name="NYT">{{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}}</ref> Crowther thought that Clift got "precisely the right combination of intensity and casualness into the role".<ref name="NYT" /> [[Clint Eastwood]] singled out Clift's performance as the one that had the greatest influence on his own acting career.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:43357~T1 |title=All Movie Guide Review |publisher=[[All Movie Guide]] |author=Michael Costello |accessdate=2008-04-26}}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
*{{tcmdb title|id=938|title=The Search}}
{{Fred Zinnemann Films}}
{{Commonscat|The Search (film)|The Search}}
<!-- Montgomery Clift -->
{{DEFAULTSORT:Search, The}}
[[Category:1948 films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:Black and white films]]
[[Category:Drama films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Fred Zinnemann]]
[[de:Die Gezeichneten (1948)]]
[[it:Odissea tragica]]