Editing The Search

{{Short description|1948 film by Fred Zinnemann}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{for-multi|the remake|The Search (2014 film)|other uses|}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = The Search
| image          = The_Search_poster.jpg
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Fred Zinnemann]]
| producer       = {{ill|Lazar Wechsler|de}}
| writer         = [[Richard Schweizer]]<br />{{ill|David Wechsler (writer)|de|3=David Wechsler (Autor)|lt=David Wechsler}} (collaborator)<br />[[Paul Jarrico]] (additional dialogue)
| starring       = Montgomery Clift<br />[[Aline MacMahon]]<br />[[Jarmila Novotná]]<br />[[Wendell Corey]]<br />[[Ivan Jandl]]
| music          = Robert Blum<!--- not the politician --->
| cinematography = [[Emil Berna]]
| editing        = [[Hermann Haller (film editor)|Hermann Haller]]
| studio         = [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| distributor    = [[Loews Cineplex Entertainment|Loew's, Inc.]]
| released       = {{Film date|1948|3|23}}
| runtime        = 105 min.
| country        = United States<br />Switzerland
| language       = English
| budget         = $250,000<ref>{{cite web| url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/27613-THE-SEARCH| title=The Search| website=AFI Catalog| access-date=13 December 2021}}</ref>
| gross          = $850,000 (domestic rentals US)<ref name="var">{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|date=13 July 1949|url=https://archive.org/details/variety175-1949-07/page/n75/mode/1up?q=%22domestic+gross%22|title=Inside Stuff-Pictures|page=20}}</ref>
}}

'''''The Search''''' is a 1948 American film directed by [[Fred Zinnemann]] that 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 Novotná]] and [[Aline MacMahon]].

Many scenes were shot amidst the actual ruins of the postwar German cities [[Ingolstadt]], [[Munich]], [[Nuremberg]] and [[Würzburg]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040765/locations |title=Filming locations for The Search (1948) |website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref> Filming took place between June and November 1947, first on location in Germany and then at a studio in [[Zürich|Zurich, Switzerland]] for interior scenes. Although released in the United States in March 1948, the film was not released in Britain until May 1950. Its European premiere was held at the [[Empire, Leicester Square]] in [[London]] on November 2, 1949 in aid of the [[National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]], with [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] in attendance.

Jandl's performance was recognized with a special juvenile [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]. However, the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|communist government of Czechoslovakia]] would not permit Jandl to travel to the United States to collect the Oscar and a [[Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe]] award that he had also won. Zinnemann accepted the Oscar on Jandl's behalf and the awards were delivered to Jandl in [[Prague]].

==Plot==
[[File:Montgomery_Clift_in_The_Search_trailer.jpg|thumb|Montgomery Clift in ''The Search'' trailer]]
In [[Allied-occupied Germany]] after World War II, trains transport homeless children ([[Displaced Persons]]), under the care of Mrs. Murray and other [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]] (UNRRA) workers, to a transit camp where they are fed and protected. The next morning UNRRA officials begin the challenging process of identifying the children and reuniting them with their surviving families, if any.

A young boy named Karel responds "''Ich weiß nicht''" ("I don't know") to all questions. He grew up in a well-to-do Czech family. The Nazis deported his sister and their father, a physician, while Karel and his mother were sent to a [[Nazi concentration camp|concentration camp]]. Karel bears a tattoo, number A24328, and it is suggested that the A stands for [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]]. They were separated and, after the war, Karel survived by scavenging for food alongside other homeless children.

The next day the children are loaded into trucks and ambulances for transfer to other camps. The children in Karel's group are terrified at first because the Nazis often used ambulances to kill victims via poison gas but eventually they enter the vehicle. During the trip the children panic at the smell of exhaust fumes. Karel's friend Raoul forces open the back door and children scatter in all directions. Karel and Raoul try to swim across a river to escape from UNRRA men. Raoul drowns but Karel hides in the reeds.

As it turns out Karel's mother, Mrs. Malik, is alive. In a parallel story she has been searching for her son. One camp she reaches appears at first to have a Karel Malik, but it turns out to be a Jewish boy who appropriated the name after it was unclaimed during a roll call, fearing retribution if he was recognized as Jewish by his real name. Mrs. Malik continues her search, eventually reaching Mrs. Murray's camp, where she is told that her son has drowned.

Meanwhile Karel encounters Steve, a [[United States Army]] engineer, who cares for him. Because Karel cannot recall his name Steve calls him Jim. Steve teaches the boy English and begins the very long process to take the boy back with him to America.

When Karel sees another young boy interacting with his mother, he starts remembering his own mother and the place where he last saw her, through a fence in the concentration camp. He runs away one evening thinking that the fence is nearby. Karel finds a fence at a factory but cannot find his mother among the workers going home. Steve eventually finds Karel and tells him that his mother is dead, as he has reason to believe she was gassed when she arrived at Auschwitz. He also lets Karel know that he is trying to adopt him and take him to America to start a new life there.

Mrs. Malik ends up working for Mrs. Murray at the UNRRA camp. After a while she resigns to resume her nearly hopeless search for Karel. Mrs. Murray begs her to stay because she is so good with the children.

That same day Steve takes the boy to the UNRRA camp before leaving for America. He hopes to send for the boy once the paperwork is completed. Mrs. Murray remembers the boy. Suspecting that Jim is Karel, she hurries to the train station to bring Mrs. Malik back, but her train has already left. Then she sees Karel's mother walking toward her with the latest trainload of displaced children. She saw them being unloaded from a train, changed her mind and decided to stay.

At the UNRRA camp Steve tells Karel to join the crowd of new arrivals. Mrs. Malik tells the children to follow her. Karel walks past, neither recognizing the other at first. Then Mrs. Malik swings around and calls, "Karel!". The boy and his mother are reunited as Mrs. Murray and Steve look on.

==Cast==
* [[Montgomery Clift]] as Ralph "Steve" Stevenson
* [[Ivan Jandl]] as the boy Karel Malik / "Jim"
* [[Aline MacMahon]] as Mrs. Murray
* [[Jarmila Novotná]] as Mrs. Hanna Malik
* [[Wendell Corey]] as Jerry Fisher
* 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
* Avigdor (Victor) Murik, as the children's teacher in the Jewish Orphans Scene

==Production==
MGM paid $300,000 for the film outright and were rewarded when it became a solid box office success earning over $850,000 in rentals in its first year.<ref name="var"/>

==Reception==

In ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1948, critic [[James Agee]] wrote, "Awfully well intended and sometimes sweet or touching, but pathetically mild and unimaginative{{nbsp}}... "<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol.1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust</ref> [[Leonard Maltin]] gave the film four of four stars: "Poignant drama{{nbsp}}... Beautifully acted and directed{{nbsp}}... "<ref>Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide - Third Edition 2015 {{ISBN|978-0-14-751682-4}}</ref> British critic [[Leslie Halliwell]] stated, "Vivid semi-documentary post-war drama which falls down in its elementary dramatics but sends audiences home wiping away tears."<ref>Halliwell's Film Guide, 7th Edition 1987 ISBN 0-06-016322-4</ref> Critic [[Pauline Kael]] wrote, "{{nbsp}}... Clift gives the movie{{nbsp}}... a shot of excitement. His gestures and vocal rhythms and his emotional rapport with the child are different from the acting that moviegoers had been familiar with; he's sensitive and engaging in a new stylized, yet realistic, way{{nbsp}}... The emotion got to many viewers, even  though the manipulated suspense and the sentimental softening prevent the film from doing anything like justice to its subject."<ref>Kael, Pauline - ''5001 Nights at the Movies'' 1991 ISBN 0-8050-1366-0</ref>

==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 {{ill|David Wechsler (writer)|de|3=David Wechsler (Autor)|lt=David Wechsler}}

====Nominations====
* [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] - [[Fred Zinnemann]]
* [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor in a Leading Role]] - Montgomery Clift
* [[Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay|Best Writing, Screenplay]] - Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler

===Other===
* [[9th Venice International Film Festival]] special OCIC Commendation. The OCIC jury gave this commendation because "by its inspiration and its quality, this film contribues to spiritual progress and the development of human values". OCIC critic Johanes wrote that this film excelled in emotional power.<ref>Johanes. "The Venice Film Festival". p.33. in ''International Film Review''. Brussels. 1949.</ref> 
====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
* [[9th Venice International Film Festival]] [[Golden Lion]] - Fred Zinnemann

==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}}

==Radio adaptation==
''[[The United States Steel Hour#Theatre Guild on the Air|Theatre Guild on the Air]]'' presented ''The Search'' on March 9, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Montgomery Clift and [[Fay Bainter]].<ref>{{cite news| last1=Kirby| first1=Walter| title=Better Radio Programs for the Week| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2470060/the_decatur_daily_review/| newspaper=The Decatur Daily Review| date=March 16, 1952| page=44| via=[[Newspapers.com]]| access-date = May 23, 2015}}</ref>

==Remake==
A [[The Search (2014 film)|remake of the same name]] was released in 2014, moving the action to the [[Second Chechen War]]. The film was written and directed by [[Michel Hazanavicius]] and stars [[Bérénice Bejo]] and [[Annette Bening]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|The Search (film)|The Search}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-search-am14807 ''The Search'' at AllMovie]
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{AFI film|27613}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}

{{Fred Zinnemann}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Search}}
[[Category:1948 films]]
[[Category:1948 drama films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Fred Zinnemann]]
[[Category:Films set in Germany]]
[[Category:Films shot in Germany]]
[[Category:Films that won the Academy Award for Best Story]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films]]
[[Category:English-language Swiss films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Switzerland]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]