The Searching Wind (1946) DVD-R

Starring Robert Young, Sylvia Sidney, Ann Richards, Dudley Digges, Douglas Dick
Directed by William Dieterle

Print: black/white
Runtime: 108 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

The troublesome years "between the wars" provide the backdrop for the romantic drama
The Searching Wind. Adapted by Lillian Hellman from her own stage play, the film stars
Robert Young as Alex Hazen, an idealistic but incredibly naïve US ambassador who fails to
heed the warning signals when Mussolini and then Hitler ascend to power in Europe.
Feeding into Hazen's ingenuousness is his beautiful but shallow wife Emily (Ann Richards),
who is far more preoccupied with tuxedos and dinner gowns than with brown shirts and
Nazi armbands. Only journalist Cassie Bowman (Sylvia Sidney), a character obviously based
on playwright Hellman, can foresee the impending horror-even when her judgment is
occasionally clouded by her undying love for Hazen. Benefiting from the mistakes of his
elders is the Hazens' son Sam (Douglas Dick), who represents the "Never Again" viewpoint
of the post-WW2 years. The Searching Wind was the sort of politically supercharged fare
that earned Hellman condemnation as a "premature anti-fascist" during the infamous
Hollywood Blacklist.