The Searching Wind

{{Infobox film

| name = The Searching Wind

| image = File:The Searching Wind.jpg

| caption =

| director = William Dieterle

| producer = Hal Wallis

| screenplay = Lillian Hellman

| based_on = {{Based on|The Searching Wind
1944 play|Lillian Hellman}}

| starring = Robert Young
Sylvia Sidney
Ann Richards

| music = Victor Young

| cinematography = Lee Garmes

| editing = Warren Low

| distributor = Paramount Pictures

| studio = Hal Wallis Productions

| released = {{Film date|1946|08|09}}

| runtime = 108 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

}}

The Searching Wind is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Robert Young, Sylvia Sidney, and Ann Richards. It is based on the play of the same name by Lillian Hellman.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/89352/the-searching-wind The Searching Wind] at TCMDB It had originally been planned for producer Hal Wallis to make the film at Warner Bros., but after he left the studio he brought the project to Paramount Pictures.Dick p.112-13

Plot

In 1945, after hearing of the death of Mussolini, an American career diplomat and his family reflect on his mistakes he made during the interwar years.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51389098 |title="Searching Wind" |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=14 |issue=20 |location=Australia, Australia |date=26 October 1946 |access-date=23 March 2024 |page=34 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Cast

Robert Young as Alex Hazen
Sylvia Sidney as Cassie Bowman
Ann Richards as Emily Hazen
Dudley Digges as Moses
Douglas Dick as Sam Hazen
Albert Basserman as Count Von Stammer
Dan Seymour as Torrone
Ian Wolfe as Sears
Marietta Canty as Sophronia
Norma Varden as Mrs. Hayworth
Charles D. Brown as Carter
Don Castle as David
William Trenk as Ponette
Mickey Kuhn as Sam as a Boy

Original play

Hellman's play debuted on Broadway in 1944 and ran for 318 performances. Montgomery Clift was in the original cast which was directed by Herman Shumlin.[http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1412 The Searching Wind] at IBDB

Hellman later said it was "The nearest thing to a political play" she had written "which is probably why I don't like it much any more. But even there I meant only to write about nice, well born people who, with good intentions, helped to sell out a world."{{cite book|page=66|url=https://archive.org/details/conversationswit00hell/page/66/mode/1up?|title= Conversations with Lillian Hellman|last1=Hellman|first1= Lillian|last2= Bryer|first2=Jackson R|year=1986}}

=Opening Night Cast=

Edgar Andrews as First Waiter
Montgomery Clift as Samuel Hazen
Joe De Santis as Second Waiter
Dudley Digges as Moses Taney
Eugene Earl as James Sears
Mercedes Gilbert as Sophronia
Alfred Hesse as Ponette
Dennis King as Alexander Hazen
Walter Kohler as Hotel Manager
Arnold Korff as Count Max von Stammer
Eric Latham as Edward Halsey
Barbara O'Neil as Catherine Bowman
William F. Schoeller as Eppler
Cornelia Otis Skinner as Emily Hazen

Production

Hal Wallis bought the screen rights for $100,000. Wallis had made a film of Hellman's Watch on the Rhine while head of Warner Bros. Hellman did the script. It was one of the first films Wallis made as a producer at Paramount.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/variety157-1945-01/page/n28/mode/1up|magazine=Variety|title=Hollywood's 1944 play buying spree|page=30|date=3 January 1945}}

Richards' casting was announced in September 1944. Joseph Cotten turned down the male lead.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127042702 |title=ANNRICHARDS IN BIG ROLE |newspaper=News |volume=43 |issue=6,604 |location=South Australia |date=28 September 1944 |access-date=23 March 2024 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26160909 |title=THE SCREEN Goes Escapist |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=CLXII |issue=23,362 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=20 October 1945 |access-date=23 March 2024 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Filming started 13 December 1945.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hellmaninhollywo0000dick/page/117/mode/1up?|last=Dick|first=Bernard F.|title=Hellman in Hollywood|year=1982|pages=108–118|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press |isbn=978-0-8386-3140-9 }}

Reception

Variety thought the film "isn't likely to hold the run-of-the-mill entertainment-goer looking for escapist stuff" and "should earn back its coin... for though well-mounted, it nevertheless doesn't appear too heavily budgeted. The film is an improvement on the Broadway play... because it is more coherent, and better acted."{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|title=The Searching Wind|page=8|url=https://mediahist.org/reader.php?id=variety162-1946-05|date=15 May 1946}}

References

Bibliography

Dick, Bernard F. Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars. University Press of Kentucky, 2015.

External links

{{IMDb title|0038915}}
{{TCMDb title|89352|The Searching Wind}}
{{AFI film|24942}}
[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E06E0DE1238E133A25754C2A9609C946793D6CF The Searching Wind] at New York Times
[https://playbill.com/production/the-searching-wind-fulton-theatre-vault-0000004539 The Searching Wind] at Playbill
[https://letterboxd.com/film/the-searching-wind/ The Searching Wind] at Letterbox DVD

Category:1946 films

Category:1946 drama films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:American films based on plays

Category:American war drama films

Category:Films based on works by Lillian Hellman

Category:Films directed by William Dieterle

Category:Films produced by Hal B. Wallis

Category:Films scored by Victor Young

Category:Films set in Washington, D.C.

Category:Films set in Paris

Category:Films set in Berlin