The Search (1948)

 This film details a story seldom told: What happened to the child survivors of the Holocaust?

They are scooped up and taken to transient camps, identities are noted and if no family members are still living, they are eventually taken to Palestine. However, one little boy (Ivan Jandl) can't or rather doesn't speak. 

Now, the viewers know the whole story, his mother (Jarmila Novotna) survived and is going to cross all of Europe over and over again until she finds her son, dead or alive. However, the little boy escapes from the transport as the scars of surviving Auschwitz never die, but he finds an American GI, Ralph Stevenson "Steve" (Montgomery Clift) who takes pity on the boy and befriends him, gets him to start opening up and takes to calling him Jim. Everything is fine until Steve's co-worker's family shows up and this stirs up all the emotions little Jim has long buried. He wants his mother who is believed to be dead and Steve wants to bring him to the US though that is a difficult and lengthy process. Fortunately, everything does work out in the end, with an ending that could have only happened in Hollywood (though I'm sure there were some miraculous reunions) and while I'm glad the mother and child were reunited, it left Steve out in the cold, without complete closure.

Still, this is a film that could not have been made today, filmed in the aftermath of the war in Nuremberg with what appear to actual survivors of the Holocaust, with the hollow eyes and true fear of the truck nearly breaks down. Little Ivan was awarded a special Oscar and he undeniably deserved it. While Clift was good, in his screen debut, his role was relatively small though he was nevertheless nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the start of what would be a promising and bright future which was tragically cut far too short. That all being said, this film should still be considered a must-watch. Grade: A-

Side Notes:

-Wendell Corey was also great in his small role as Steve's superior officer.

-I'm glad of the amount of languages used and that none of the children magically spoke English. 

-I do wish the DVD offered a subtitle option. 

-While English might be considered the best language by Steve, it is not the only language. 

-I wonder what finally triggered Jim into recognizing his real name.