Countries and Movies: Switzerland
Swiss cinema is featured in the Golden Thousand with one film, "The Search," directed by Fred Zinnemann. We are aware that the American film company MGM made a significant contribution to the creation of the film, the director is an American of Austrian descent, most of the actors are Americans. But the film was shot by the Swiss film company Praesens-Film, the screenwriter is Swiss Richard Schweizer, the producer is Lazar Wechsler, at that time a Swiss citizen. Therefore, we decided to consider this film Swiss.
The movie "The Search" premiered in New York on March 23, 1948.
In the same 1948, the film "The Search" took part in the festival, not long before that it had been established and was first held in the Czechoslovak city of Karlovy Vary. The film was nominated for the main award - "Crystal Globe". But the jury awarded this prize to the Polish film "Ostatni etap (The Last Stage)" by Wanda Jakubowska, which, incidentally, was also dedicated to the fate of prisoners of concentration camps. The company of "losers" to the film by Fred Zinneman was William Wyler’s film "The Best Years of Our Lives". But Wyler received the main award for the best directorial work at that festival.
In August of the same 1948, the film of Fred Zinneman participated in the Venice International Film Festival, where it participated in the competition for the Grand International Award. But, like 44 other nominees, it lost to the film "Hamlet" by Lawrence Olivier. Among the losers, along with "The Search", were films such as "Oliver Twist" by David Lean and "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" by John Houston.
And the nextg year, 1949, the film "The Search" achieved some success at American film forums. The film received two Golden Globes and two Oscars. In both cases, the script of the film and the acting work of the young Czech actor Ivan Jandl were awarded.
After Ivan Jandl being 12 years old was awarded one of the most prestigious awards in the cinematic world, a flurry of offers from Western film companies literally fell upon him. But the Communist government of Czechoslovakia "strongly recommended" to refuse offers in order to "preserve talent for national cinema". As a result, after "The Search" Ivan, while still a schoolboy, played in three Czechoslovakian films, and in his adult life, even after graduating from the theater faculty of the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, he did not receive offers from "national cinema". He changed several professions, of which only one — the radio dictor — somehow touched theatrical art. At the age of 50, Ivan Jandl died of diabetes.
In Germany, this film was banned until 1961. However, in the Soviet Union this film was not shown either.
66% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave this film a rating of 8 to 10.
Based on the above indicators of the success of "The Search", its rating according to FilmGourmand was 7.962, which ensured it 758th Rank in the Golden Thousand.
