During the beginning of this film (or at least it was about an hour in, I think, Lincoln gets elected and the background music is the Battle Hymn of the Republic. That wasn't written yet - or at least not published.In November of 1861, Julia Ward Howe penned it after touring some Union camps. The soldiers were singing the tune, but with words from John Brown's Body...She wrote it as if awakening from a dream, and immediately wrote down the entire verses - and then it was published on the front page of the Atlantic Monthly in February of 1862. So....maybe the music was from the Union camps? I don't think so - someone simply didn't do their research.

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.

If you like tearjerkers, this film is for you. Long before Meryl Streep had to make Sophie's choice, The Search centered on the tremendous love of a mother for her child--a love that can be a great blessing, but also a cause for tragic despair.The Search was filmed not long after the end of WWII. It is the story of a young boy who escapes the horrors of Auschwitz and finds himself alone in post-war Europe, as a continent tries to reorganize and assess its damages. The boy is taken in by an American GI (Montgomery Clift in his first role) and they struggle to overcome the barriers of language and the boy's emotional scars.Meanwhile, the boy's mother endlessly searches for him, frustrated by the sheer size of her task, because there are so many displaced or orphaned children.If this film does not bring a tear to your eye, nothing will. It's an excellent story well told.

This splendid tale filmed on location in the American occupied zone of Berlin is set after the 2nd World War . It deals about a nine-year-old amnesiac young boy (Ivan) who escapes from a military orphanage of displaced children led by a good woman (Aline MacMahon). Then he lives in the destructed Germany and has to do all kinds of tricks in getting food and barely survive. The unsettling kid wanders through the destructed city trying to find work or some food to reduce the starvation . One day he meets an American soldier named Steve (Montgomey Clift) . He gets support from him, and the ideas of this man lead the homeless boy in a clearer and safer way of living . Although Steve wants to adopt the child there are many obstacles for it. Meantime his mummy who has been searching the Displaced Persons Camps attempts to find his son, and the young boy convince Steve to find his mother until a touching finale.The picture is a moving drama seen through the eyes of a disturbed boy who eventually meets a good friend. At the beginning ¨The search¨ tells that portions of this film were produced in the United States occupied zone of Germany through the kind permission of the United States Army and the cooperation of I.R.O. The first part of the movie is set on a destroyed Berlin and is proceeded in similar style to classic titled ¨Germany , year zero¨ or ¨Deutschland in Sahre Null (1947)¨by Roberto Rosselini. Good performance from Montgomey Clift as upright American soldier stationed in post-WWII Berlin who befriends the unfortunate boy, this was his first screen appearance , although ¨The search¨ was really shot after his debut in ¨Red River¨ by Howard Hawks, however it was released first. This was also Ivan Jandl's first and only role , winning deservedly a special Juvenile Academy Award . Sensible musical score and average cinematography, as the film requires an urgent remastering. Intelligent dialog and story won an Oscar (1948) by Paul Jarrico and Golden Globe (1949) to best screenplay. This acclaimed motion picture is well realized by the classic Fred Zinnemann who appears uncredited as an interpreter. Rating : Better than average, worthwhile watching .