01 Mar The Search

The Search, WWII Movie starring Montgomery Clift

(1948) I was drawn to this movie because of Montgomery Clift.  It was Clift’s first movie to be shown, and he was good (in fact was nominated for an academy award) but the little boy was the real star.

Little Ivan Jandl was acting and singing as a student in Prague, Czechoslovakia when he was chosen by the director of this film to play the young character, Karel Malik.  Hollywood awarded him a special juvenile Academy Award for his performance.

The Czech boy and his mother both survive Auschwitz but cannot find each other after the war is over.  After running away from a UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) camp, he meets up with an American GI, Montgomery Clift, who takes him in.

Much of the movie is filmed in bombed out Germany.  It is all about the leftover children of Europe … homeless, hungry, stoic, and scared.  They are conditioned to follow orders without question.  Some of the children are played by actual war orphans.

Montgomery Clift was not at all the moody, haunting actor he became in later years.  He was dimpled, handsome, and a thoughtful temporary Dad.  Much like Jude Law in The Holiday, I thought.

You will remember the children.

THE SEARCH at amazon.com

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