KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

richard-1787 Montgomery Clift got an Academy Award nomination for his role in this movie. I don't really know why. The role is poorly written, and not very sympathetic. Clift does a decent but unremarkable job with it.On the other hand, the young boy who plays the real lead in this movie is an astoundingly good actor, and holds your attention for every moment he is on screen. You truly believe that you are seeing the real thing, and not a fine young actor, when he is on. He is definitely the best thing in this movie.Not far behind him is Jarmila Novotna. Novotna had been a major opera singer first in Berlin and Vienna and then, in the 1940s, at the Metropolitan Opera. She isn't well remembered today because her heyday coincided with the period when few operatic records were made in this country. But she was a well-known and highly admired soprano of her day.And, as you can see in this movie, a very good actress. A very good one, who knew how to act with her face as well as her voice.The last scene of the movie, with the close call that I won't elaborate on so as not to spoil it for viewers, is too much like some Shirley Temple melodramas. Some of the scenes between Clift and the young boy are strange because Clift's character doesn't seem to know how to behave with children. But there are other scenes that are both beautifully shot and deeply moving.Definitely worth seeing.

secondtake The Search (1948)This is a critical film in director Fred Zinnemann's career. After years of doing shorts and B features, and after WWII had ravaged the world, he turned to a subject that must have ripped him up every day he was shooting. The story of orphaned kids, most of the Jewish, in the rubble of post-War Germany. You see, both his parents were killed by the Nazis in the war. And here he was, a man with roots in documentary film in the 1930s, making real one of the remaining problems recovering from Nazi mess, these displaced children. The black and white filming is gritty and polished at the same time, and much of it is shot on location in the real ruins of Germany in the American sector (in Nuremberg). For that alone it's worth seeing. By the way, the interior work was done in a Swiss garage—the crew for the whole film consisted of a total of ten Swiss technicians and a truck. Though the movie was an American release, the main producer was Swiss, too. All of these are reasons why it feels different than what Hollywood might have attempted on studios lots, and probably failed at least in authenticity.Throw in that Montgomery Clift is starring in the lead role and you have another reason to watch. He's really wonderful, already feeling like the mature, charming, disarming young man he is famous for on screen. Be warned however—he doesn't show up until nearly halfway through. The first half of the movie is touching but makes for disappointing drama, forming a quasi-documentary overview of the horrid situation but with a voice-over that means well but makes it almost sentimental instead of tragic. Be sure to stick it out until the real plot kicks in with Clift sitting in a Jeep. There are other actors here—the mother looking for her child is an opera singer in real life and is more pathetic than persuasive, and the chief nurse, played by Aline MacMahon, is terrific. Still, the movie, and the screen time in the second half, is Clift's, thankfully, and the boy's. This child was discovered while scouting for the movie, apparently, and is a Czech kid names Ivan Jandl. Amazingly, he knew no English when the movie started, and was coached by Clift as they went, very much like happens in the movie. This obviously makes it more convincing top to bottom. And makes you love Clift even more. He took the role quite seriously, studying (according to a TCM article worth googling) American soldier engineers by living with them, especially trying to get the way they walked. Fascinating details for a movie that depends on its verisimilitude above all.If there is an inevitable arc to the events, you'll have to live with it. And if some of the acting is average, and some of the plot requiring patience, you'll have to live with that, too. It's not a gem taken whole. But the best of it is remarkable. An absolute must-watch if you like this period, the director, or even this kind of shooting, which has an echo of "Rome Open City" and other European productions shot in the actual remains of Old Europe.

oneils-3 For some reason, I had never heard of this film, taped it off TCM. I don't love Clift, find him stiff and self conscious, but he was OK in this role. Red River - same thing. The kid, however, what great/lucky casting, as he is amazing, 100% believable, made the whole thing work. The Mom, same. I haven't read the kid's bio yet, but wonder why he wasn't scooped up by Hollywood? Zinneman was a great director, I must go check out his other lesser-known work, other than of course High Noon, Day of the Jackal, etc. The scenes of post-war Germany are stunning. I have never heard of this film being touted as one of the better anti-war statements, and it should be. Few films (any?) deal with the devastating impact on children and families. I loved this film from beginning to end, the feel of it. The boy's buddy drowning in the stream.....understated but heartbreaking, no need for melodrama and sappy music. I loved this flick from start to finish.

burfox This is a genuine overlooked gem, portraying the desolation of post-World War II Europe, and the hopelessness of hundreds of thousands of displaced child refugees with lost or dead parents, no place to go and nothing to eat. Some aspects of the plot and dialog are dated, but the story and the craftsmanship make the movie timeless. This was Montgomery Clift's second movie and he did an excellent job, both starring in it (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), and apparently in rewriting the original script substantially (the movie also was nominated for best screenplay, and won for best story, both in the names of the credited screenwriters). The entire cast, American and European, did an excellent job, and the use of bombed and destroyed German cities as backgrounds gave The Search a sense of reality and urgency that can be almost jarring and startling. Despite the bleak sounding summary of the plot, the movie is inspiring, witty and entertaining, and no downer.