The unfortunate Oscar of Zurich

Hollywood, Oscars 1949: In the audience: Ava Gardner, Robert Montgomery, Ingrid Bergman, Deborah Kerr and dozens of others who are still considered the epitome of the classic Hollywood star. Applause. Champagne. Orchestras, tuxedos and sequin dresses. And the Oscar goes to… Zurich!

What a joy indeed. Theoretically. Well: maybe also a bit practical. But actually only limited. Although this Oscar was a symbol of recognition to the outside world, it was emotionally bitter for the two winners Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler, the screenwriters of “The quest”a co-production of the Zurich company Praesens film with Hollywood MGM.

The triumph left a bad taste not only for her, but for everyone involved – including David’s father, producer Lazar Wechsler. The Swiss film owes its biggest cinema successes to date to this: For “Landammann Stauffacher” or “Gilberte de Courgenay” During World War II, millions stood in line for him “Fussilier Wipf” even almost a third of the Swiss population. The tragedy “Marie Louise” he brought Praesens film also won her first (screenplay) Oscar. And the refugee epic “The last chance” eventually she made her way to Hollywood.

There is no doubt about it: Wechsler had a great sense of the spirit of the times, of topics and stories that moved the masses. He knew how to inspire his team and bring them to top performances. Nevertheless, he was anything but popular and was considered difficult, moody and authoritarian when it came to interpersonal relationships. And during filming “The quest” internal unpopularity temporarily peaked. For at least partly the same reason that marred the joy of the Oscar, when virtually everyone blamed each other: the director blamed the producer, the producer the lead actor, the lead actor the screenwriters – and somehow everyone blamed to everyone. Or at least almost.

But one after another. Shortly after the end of the war MGM, the largest film production company in the world at the time, offered Wechsler a co-production. He listens to his employees. And realizes that several people would like a humanistically committed post-war film. In particular, star director Leopold Lindtberg, a Jewish refugee from Austria, repeatedly hears dramatic descriptions of loved ones who escaped the Holocaust and wants to do everything he can to ease the suffering. This also means that public attention is drawn even more to the most helpless victims of the war: the children.

In the spring of 1946, Lindtberg developed the story of a grandmother who crossed devastated Europe in search of her grandchildren, based on a true incident. The parents from Claus von Stauffenberg’s circle were shot dead after the failed assassination attempt on Hitler, the children were kidnapped, given a new identity and placed in widely spread locations.

Wechsler secretly includes the material in his list of stories MGM wants to present, travels to California – and Hollywood bites. But behind Lindtberg’s back, he then entrusts the story to a Hollywood author, Peter Quarter, who is also from Austria. The requirements: make the grandmother a mother and remove all references to the attack. And although Lindtberg is among the greatest Gift-Good luck – something like that “Fussilier Wipf”, “Marie Louise” or “The last chance” – also directed, Wechsler hired Fred Zinnemann (later known for his worldwide success) as director “Mid-day”).

After the theatrical release of “The quest” Zinnemann will write to Lindtberg about the discomfort he feels again and again at seeing the film’s success, since the idea actually came from him and “you really should have made the film!” Nevertheless, he happily accepts when Wechsler makes him the offer. The story of an American soldier in the occupied zone who cares for a disturbed orphan boy touches him. And he also likes that it is filmed entirely in semi-documentary style – in the real rubble of the war and partly with lay people, especially children, who experienced Nazi crimes first-hand, sometimes even in a concentration camp.

When casting for the leading role – albeit by a professional – Zinnemann was downright enchanted by a young actor: Montgomery Clift. He would later be regarded, along with Marlon Brando, as the best actor of his generation, but at the time he was still completely unknown.

Clift signed his contract with Zurich based on Quarter’s script. But for Wechsler this is still too concrete politics, which jeopardizes commercial success. He handed it over to Richard Schweizer, and his son David then re-edited it. Exact location and time information largely disappears. The orphan boy’s Jewish parents become Czech intellectuals Wehrmacht And SS an anonymous “secret police”. The children are no longer Nazi victims, but rather undefined ‘orphans of war’.

Quarter, whose family was itself a victim of National Socialism, is so outraged that he has withdrawn his name. And Clift can hardly calm down either. When he reads the final draft of the script – much to his chagrin, already contractually obligated – he describes it as a terrible saccharine concentrate and writes in horror: “Just like ‘The Wilderness Calls’, but sweeter!”

When the actor arrives in Zurich, where the interior scenes are being shot, he is determined to correct the pathetic script. Also because, as he notes irritably, the authors have no idea whatsoever about the American military and its mentality. Lazar Wechsler initially has no idea what kind of ambitious young man he has brought onto the set.

But Clift gives it his all: at night he rewrites his dialogues, invents entire scenes and constantly improvises on set – much to Zinneman’s relief: GI Steve suddenly becomes a flesh-and-blood figure, his relationship with the orphaned boy is complex, steeped in irritation and guilt.

Wechsler is almost shocked when he notices how little his main actor sticks to the script and how difficult it is to understand him because he constantly chews gum while playing – authentic, “like a real soldier”. He bombards him with registered letters (up to three a day) delivered to Clift’s set, whereupon Clift confides in a friend: “This changer is incredible. It forces everyone to waste time writing letters or discussing cases with their lawyers.” The conflict is so stressful for the team that at times (the weather making it unsuitable for filming takes its toll) they even consider canceling everything.

Which fortunately doesn’t happen. Because it still applies today “The quest” as a milestone of authentic post-war cinema and remained the Swiss film with the most international awards for decades. However, criticism of the script persisted to this day – despite the Oscar win. It is full of sentimentality and coincidences that are far from believable, and none of the children seem to have suffered irreversible trauma. For example, film historian Hervé Dumont praised the work of the director and cameraman: “In the looks of these orphans – some were actually rescued from Auschwitz – there are traces of trauma that no script can erase.”

So it’s hard to assume that Richard Schweizer and David Wechsler just felt good about receiving this Oscar. Of all people, some from the creative core accused them of making the film so much better without their input. But while the internal feud probably only dampened their joy, the awards ceremony actually spelled bad luck for Ivan Jandl, who played the orphan boy and also received the honorary Oscar for Best Child Actor at the same ceremony.

Yes, more than that: she basically just ruined his life. At least the professional ones. Here too, the fear of politically incorrect connotations was crucial – albeit under completely different circumstances than when Lazar Wechsler reworked the script.

Jandl, only twelve years old in 1949, came from Czechoslovakia. And the communist regime in his home country banned him from participating in the awards ceremony. The Oscar had to be sent to him. After that he was only allowed to appear in three more films as a minor actor. And when he wanted to study acting in Prague after completing compulsory education, the theater faculty rejected him, arguing that he should not have accepted an American award.

From then on he supported himself with odd jobs, culminating in a job as a radio presenter, which was terminated after a short time without giving any reason. Ivan Jandl died in 1987 at the age of 50, without ever receiving any real recognition in his home country.