FILM · 1948 · CH
The Search
23 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
TCM's Ben Mankiewicz stated that Ivan Jandl did not know English when this film was shot and that his English dialogue was memorized phonetically.
- #002
It was the first American film shot in a devastated Germany after the end of World War II.
- #003
Seven languages are spoken and/or heard in this film: English, German, French, Polish, Czech, Hungarian and Hebrew. No subtitles are used for any of the dialogue.
- #004
Fred Zinnemann and Montgomery Clift toured UN relief camps to see the kind of trauma the children they would portray had suffered. Watching German films shot in actual concentration camps inevitably caused the sensitive Clift to vomit.
- #005
Clint Eastwood stated that Montgomery Clift's performance in this film was one of the things that influenced him most as an actor.
- #006
Montgomery Clift's portrayal was so natural that Fred Zinnemann was asked how he had managed to get such a realistic performance out of a soldier.
- #007
It was Montgomery Clift's second film and his first Oscar nomination.
- #008
This was Montgomery Clift's second film after Red River (1948), but because the Western had a very long post-production period, The Search (1948) was released first.
- #009
When Montgomery Clift arrived in Europe for the shoot, he lived with an army engineer unit and insisted on wearing army clothes.
- #010
Montgomery Clift made only 17 films in his short life. He played a soldier in four of them: this one, The Big Lift (1950), From Here to Eternity (1953) and The Young Lions (1958).
- #011
The picture on the wall seen as all the Jewish children leave the UNRRA facility is Theodor Herzl.
- #012
The film's European premiere was held on the evening of Wednesday, 2 November 1949 at the Empire cinema in Leicester Square, London, in the gracious presence of Her Majesty Queen Mary and with the support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. However, the film did not go into general release in Great Britain until May 1950, more than two years after its North American premiere.
- #013
The film has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 critic reviews.
- #014
Strangely, the boy who plays the younger Karel Malik (four or five years old), the girl who plays his sister Vlasta, and the man who plays their father Dr. Jan Malik were not related in real life.
- #015
Montgomery Clift first appears at the 36th minute of the film.
- #016
It is the only time Fred Zinnemann was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for a film that was not also nominated for Best Picture.
- #017
It was the only 1948 film nominated for Best Director at the Oscars but not nominated for Best Picture.
- #018
It was the only performance by Montgomery Clift to be Oscar-nominated in a film that was not nominated for Best Picture.
- #019
Mrs. Murray, the relief administrator, wears the UNRRA uniform. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was founded in 1943 by more than 40 countries and worked with war victims around the world until 1948. About two-thirds of its $3.7 billion in funding came from the United States. Despite its name, UNRRA predates the founding of the United Nations. In 1948 the Marshall Plan continued the reconstruction of Europe.
- #020
Steve and Jerry use the term DP in a conversation. It is a government term for refugees and stands for Displaced Persons.
- #021
Montgomery Clift's character is consistently referred to as "Steve." Since his full name, Ralph Stevenson, is rarely used, this is a nickname.
- #022
At 0:01:07, the last four of the ten on-screen credits are male actors. (1) William Rogers, as Jerry Fisher's young son Tommy Fisher, first appears at 1:08:10. (2) Ivan Jandl, who plays the lead role of Karel Malik, raises the question of why he is listed eighth. (3) Leopold Borkowski, as Joel Makowsky, a Jewish-Polish boy, first appears at 0:31:51 when the Deputy Director of the UNRRA refugee children's center, Mr. Crookes, introduces him to Mrs. Malik because he is using the name Karel Malik. Mrs. Malik reappears at 0:49:53 as she is leaving another center (for Jewish refugee children, to which Joel has been moved) and sees him collapse from exhaustion. (4) Claude Gambier appears as Raoul Dubois at 0:05:04, while Ivan Jandl (in a stocking cap) and he are being served porridge. At 0:08:12 a translator (actually the director, Fred Zinnemann) asks him his name in French, and he answers "Raoul, Raoul Dubois" and continues speaking French.
- #023
The film first aired in New York City on WCBS (Channel 2) on Saturday, March 9, 1957, followed by WHCT in Hartford, CT (Channel 18) on March 31, 1957; by Chicago on WBBM (Channel 2) on May 10, 1957; by Seattle on KING (Channel 5) on July 20, 1957; by Philadelphia on WFIL (Channel 6) on August 6, 1957; by Altoona, PA on WFBG (Channel 10) on September 3, 1957; by Memphis on WHBQ (Channel 13) on September 13, 1957; and by Binghamton, NY on WNBF (Channel 12) on September 19; it did not air in Los Angeles until January 4, 1959 on KTTV (Channel 11), followed by KGO (Channel 7) in San Francisco on January 10, 1959 and by Minneapolis on WTCN (Channel 11) on January 11, 1959.
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