The Searching Wind

1946 film by William Dieterle
  • August 9, 1946 (1946-08-09)
Running time
108 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

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.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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."[5]

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.[6]

Richards' casting was announced in September 1944. Joseph Cotten turned down the male lead.[7][8]

Filming started 13 December 1945.[9]

Reception

Variety thought the film "isn't likely to hold the run-of-the-miiie entertaiument-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."[10]

References

  1. ^ The Searching Wind at TCMDB
  2. ^ Dick p.112-13
  3. ^ ""Searching Wind"". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 14, no. 20. Australia, Australia. 26 October 1946. p. 34. Retrieved 23 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ The Searching Wind at IBDB
  5. ^ Hellman, Lillian; Bryer, Jackson R (1986). Conversations with Lillian Hellman. p. 66.
  6. ^ "Hollywood's 1944 play buying spree". Variety. 3 January 1945. p. 30.
  7. ^ "ANNRICHARDS IN BIG ROLE". News. Vol. 43, no. 6, 604. South Australia. 28 September 1944. p. 7. Retrieved 23 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "THE SCREEN Goes Escapist". The Mercury. Vol. CLXII, no. 23, 362. Tasmania, Australia. 20 October 1945. p. 11. Retrieved 23 March 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ Dick, Bernard F. (1982). Hellman in Hollywood. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 108–118. ISBN 978-0-8386-3140-9.
  10. ^ "The Searching Wind". Variety. 15 May 1946. p. 8.

Bibliography

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

External links

  • v
  • t
  • e
Films directed by William Dieterle