Editing The Search (section)

==Reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]] of ''The New York Times'' gave the film high praise, calling it "an absorbing and gratifying emotional drama of the highest sort".<ref name="NYT">{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=EE05E7DF173FE770BC4C51DFB5668383659EDE&oref=slogin |title=The Search |newspaper=The New York Times (movies.nytimes.com) |first=Bosley |last=Crowther |date=March 24, 1948 |access-date=2008-04-26}}</ref> Crowther thought that Clift got "precisely the right combination of intensity and casualness into the role."<ref name="NYT" />

Anne Helen Petersen, writing for ''The Hairpin'' in 2012, commented that the film is "mostly forgotten today."<ref name="petersen 2012">{{cite web |last=Petersen |first=Anne Helen |date=September 5, 2012 |title=Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Long Suicide of Montgomery Clift |url=https://thehairpin.com/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-the-long-suicide-of-montgomery-clift-723bc6ef902f#.1pd8mu6vx |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107074534/https://www.thehairpin.com/2012/09/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-the-long-suicide-of-montgomery-clift/ |archive-date=November 7, 2023 |access-date=September 24, 2016 |website=[[The Hairpin]]}}</ref> Leonard Maltin gives the picture four out of four stars, saying that the "poignant drama...Beautifully acted and directed."

[[Clint Eastwood]] has stated that Clift's performance had a great influence on his acting career.<ref name="petersen 2012" />

Despite the critical acclaim, the film did not perform well on Broadway although was a solid financial success for the studio MGM.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety175-1949-07 |title=Variety (July 1949) |date=1949 |publisher=New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company |others=Media History Digital Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| last=Hift| first=Fred| date=February 20, 1957| title=Hard to Come in Offbeat| url=http://www.archive.org/stream/variety205-1957-02#page/n170/mode/1up| magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]| page=3| access-date=June 10, 2019| via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref>{{contradictory inline|date=March 2024|reason=In the production section, the same ''Variety'' magazine says it was a hit}}