My Review of Search, The (DVD)

Originally submitted at WB Shop

In post-World War II Germany, a small boy who survived Auschwitz wanders alone – feral, mute and terrified. He finds a makeshift home with a big-hearted GI, while the mother he does not remember searches desperately for him. Starring a then-unknown Montgomery Clift in his movie debut, directed in a...

Search, The (DVD)

Clift Shines In Screen Debut

By Dustin Blythe from Mishawaka, IN on 2/26/2010

 

4out of 5

Pros: Entertaining, Engaging Characters, Great Cinematography

Best Uses: Younger Viewers, Adult Viewers

Describe Yourself: Movie Buff

Montgomery Clift was an acclaimed stage actor and a hot Hollywood prospect when "The Search" was released. Although his roles in "Red River" and "The Heiress" would get more attention, "The Search" shows him in one of his most natural, unaffected performances.

In Gabe Essoe's "Book of Move Lists" (1981), Clint Eastwood includes this in his five favorite films, and singles out Clift's performance.

The story has an air of authenticity about it as it was filmed shortly after WW2 and on location in Germany. One can imagine many such stories played out throughout post war Europe.

"The Search" is an overlooked classic and a wonderful glimpse at the early Montgomery Clift.

Montgomery Clift and Ivan Jandl in "The Search"

Tags: Production still

(legalese)

Boiler Down?

This sucks.  Purdue just lost Robbie Hummel for the season.

He's their leading scorer, hell, leading everything.  What looked like a potential Final Four appearance turns into a quest just to see the Sweet Sixteen. 

Dammit.

Song of the Day: 19

I heard this a few weeks ago on internet radio and got hooked.  The voice samples you hear are from a news documentary on the Vietnam war.  Tough stuff.

Paul Hardcastle, "19"


This is particularly timely since Joe Kernan, former South Bend Mayor, former Lieutenant Governor and Governor in his own right, and a former Vietnam POW, just made a return to Vietnam to visit the country for the first time since he was released.

Like rats in a maze

This article blew me away.  I already knew about the strategic geography of grocery stores, but restaurant menus?

How restaurant menus make you spend more by Francis Lam, Salon.com

 

Songs of the Day: High 80's Adventure

In the race to create a compelling music video, some groups and directors went the action/adventure route.  Here are a few prime examples:

Pat Benatar "Shadows of the Night"


Duran Duran "Hungry Like The Wolf (Night remix)"


Big Country "In A Big Country"

R.I.P. Alexander Haig

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, dead at 85.

I have always had a fascination with Richard Nixon and the Watergate saga.  One of the best books I have read on that period of history is Woodward and Bernstein's "The Final Days".

One of the central figures in that book is Gen. Alexander Haig, who had recently become White House Chief of Staff after the resignation of H.R. Haldeman.  Haig emerges as a man in the center of the storm, trying desperately to keep the ship afloat.  Nixon's mental state, vacillating between righteous indignation over the idea of impeachment and fatigued resignation (pardon the pun) to the idea, and the various external pressures, including the business of running the country and dealing with issues both foreign and domestic, are among the burdens Gen. Haig was forced to bear.  By the time I finished the book, I had a new respect for Alexander Haig.  Regardless of how you feel about the Nixon White House at that time, you have to respect Haig's dedication and perseverence.

When Gerald Ford asked Henry Kissinger who he should carry over from the Nixon administration, Kissinger replied, "Haig.  He has done yeoman duty for this country."  How true.

Unfortunately, most of the obituaries seem to be fixated on Haig's verbal blunders, a real shame.  While those episodes are noteworthy, they should not be etched on his tombstone. 

Going Viral

Here is a writer's tribute to a funny Super Bowl commercial that has "gone viral", or reached new heights of popularity on the internet: The new Old Spice ad campaign.

Funny, but I prefer the recent Dos Equis beer campaign:








Stay thirsty my friends...