Little Boy Lost circa 1948

This week, we begin a brief look at children during the Second World War with two outstanding flims.  Our first film is The Search, a quasi-documentary about a little refugee boy after the war.  Ivan Jandl gives a wonderful performance as Karel/James, a child whose only memories of life have been been his years at Austhwitz.  His story is told parallel to that of his mother, Hanna Malik (Jarmila Novotna), who, since her release from a camp, has been wandering throughout Europe trying to find her only surviving relative - her little son.

This is an immensely powerful tale.  The pain of mother and child is told without melodrama; we learn very little of what they actually suffered, but their suffering is apparent, most prominently displayed by the haze which now protects Karel from the world.  In the midst of this, "Steve" Stevenson (Montgomery Clift, in his first starring role) appears.  This scarecrow of a child intrigues Steve, and he brings the boy home with him.  He feeds him, bathes him, clothes him, and begins to teach him. And begins to love him.  Clift's performance, like that of all our actors, is both subtle and controlled.  We read his emotions in his eyes.  Again, there is no over-dramatics in his performance - just pure, human emotion.

Finally, we tip our respective hats to the ever wonderful Aline MacMahon as Mrs. Murray, the head of the UNRRA camp in which both Karel and Hanna find themselves.  She is all calmness and restraint as she listens to horror stories told with frightening matter-of-factness by children who should be worried about their homework, not whether they can survive another day.  Watch her as she listens to her translator relate the story of a young girl who learned of her mother's death when she was forced to sort the clothing of victims of the Nazi death chambers.  It will bring tears to your eyes. This trailer will give you just a brief impression of the impact of this impressive film:

A couple of interesting pieces of trivia: Jarmila Novotna was an opera singer, as well as an actess, and Ivan Jandl spoke no English - he learned his lines phonetically.  

Next week, we visit with an earlier film about children in the War.  Please join us.

Olivia wins an Oscar

This week, we turned to a more serious film - The Heiress, with Ms. de Havilland in one of her Oscar winning roles.  And is this ever a tour de force performance! Olivia stars as Catherine Sloper, a plain, shy, unmarried woman who lives quietly with her father, Dr. Austin Sloper (played with grave superciliousness by Ralph Richardson) and widowed aunt Lavinia Penniman (Miriam Hopkins). Though we learn little of Catherine's history prior to this movie, we know that her mother is long dead, and that her father finds her a huge disappointment. Her mother was a great beauty, to which poor Catherine could not hope (in his opinion) to hold a candle; Dr. Sloper mourns his wife, and bemoans that fact that it was SHE taken from him (and not Catherine).  Catherine is blithely unaware of her father's true feelings, until she meets Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift), a young man who has spent his inheritance on a long trip to Europe. He pursues Catherine; professes his love for her, but meets with resistance from Dr. Sloper.  It soon becomes apparent that Dr. Sloper is convinced that Morris' motives are less than worthy primarily because Catherine is not, in his opinion, worthy of love.  She could not possibly attract (he feels) such an attractive man, unless the only motive was her money.

We'll never know if Catherine and Morris would have been happy together. And that was much of our conversation following the movie.  The film is based on the book Washington Square, by Henry James.  Interestingly, in the book, both Catherine's mother and brother have died, leaving her an heiress because of her brother's death.  Catherine (in the film) never discusses her mother; we wondered if she had even known her mother.  Mrs. Sloper's death in childbirth would present an interesting motive for Dr. Sloper's antipathy towards his daughter, but of course, we can only present this as another way to view Dr. Sloper's attitude.

The cast is magnificent. Olivia de Havilland's Catherine is shy, but with a biting wit when she allows it to show; controlled, but passionate when she finally meets the man of her dreams; romantic, but caustic when she has to face the truth about Morris.  Miriam Hopkins' Aunt Lavinia walks a fine line (successfully) between matchmaker and pander; Ralph Richardson is cold, aloof, and ultimately cruel as Dr. Sloper. And finally, Mongomery Clift, who creates a Morris that it is hard to dislike, but easy to distrust.

A hearty thumbs up for this movie. You should run right out to see it. In this trailer, we not only see Ms. de Havilland accepting her Oscar from Ray Milland, we see a few clips from the film:

Next week, we'll be looking at a comedy - Princess O'Rourke. Hope you'll join us then.