Desperate Search (1952) User Reviews

Kids On Their Own In The Woods

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 30 August 2011]

The Desperate Search that Howard Keel is on is for his children whom he has custody of for six weeks every summer as per the court agreement with ex-wife Patricia Medina. The two kids, Lee Aaker and Linda Lowell, survive a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and are on their own in the woods.

As was the custom in those bygone days of the big studios you had someone under contract you kept them working. In Keel's case they had no big musical property for him at the moment so he was put into this B film which could have used color to accentuate the nice rural settings the film was shot in.

Desperate Search had the action alternate between the kids and their struggle to survive and the search and rescue operation which Keel and Medina are both part of as they are both pilots. In the former young Lee Aaker stands out as he tries to keep himself and his perpetually whining and crying sister safe and moving from the wreck to where he thinks dad might be searching. Through most their scenes the two children are playing tag with a hungry mountain lion and the most frightening scene in the film is little Linda Lowell wading into a river to escape the mountain lion.

Medina is a competitive sort by nature and her competitiveness carried over into the marriage which caused the breakup. Keel's second wife is supportive Jane Greer who is not a pilot and she and Medina almost get to scrapping the way Alexis and Crystal used to on Dynasty.

Desperate Search moves at a nice pace and the cinematography and editing is really first rate. A few more production values and this could have been an A feature.

Minor search drama from MGM to give Keel non-singing role...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 26 October 2006]

HOWARD KEEL was MGM's robust baritone who would still be making big musicals for his home studio--but DESPERATE SEARCH was designed to keep the actor busy when there were no musical assignments ready for him. It's strictly a programmer for the bottom half of a double bill, running only one hour and thirteen minutes.

Keel acquits himself well--strong and earnest--as the pilot who is part of a search organized to find his two children missing in a plane crash. His ex-wife, PATRICIA MEDINA, is on hand to stir up a little love rivalry over his affections. JANE GREER is the current wife, anxious that the organizers listen to her husband's idea of where to look for the downed plane. KEENAN WYNN is Keel's pilot friend.

The children are shown stranded in the wilds of British Columbia with a cougar lurking nearby adding danger to their already dire situation. LEE AAKER plays the sturdy and resourceful youngster with the sister who is hysterical most of the time--something that could have been toned down a bit for my taste.

An interesting trifle with nice work from Keel, Greer and Medina.

A Bit Reactionary

[aimless-46 · 5/10 · 27 October 2006]

Hollywood movies made for a few years after the Second World War often had hidden political or sociological agendas. In some cases it was the studios trying to promote or to demonstrate a commitment to old-fashioned values. In other cases it was simply the perception of the marketing people that audiences wanted a return to the pre-war days. The extensive mobilization required to win the war had let the genie out of the bottle of women's occupational choices. Women had served in the military, become military and civilian pilots, and replaced men in most factory jobs. When the men returned home they reclaimed most of their jobs but the myth of a woman's inability to work productively outside the home had been exploded.

For many, a big issue was how to undo this damage. "Desperate Search" (1952) tapped into this anxiety. The story revolves around two very young children, 9 year-old Don Heldon (Lee Acker) and his 7 year-old sister Janet (Linda Lowell) who are the only survivors of a small plane crash deep in the wilderness. Acker will look familiar to baby boomers as he went on to play Rusty in "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin" and Russel in the first season of "Spin and Marty". Their father Vince (Howard Keel) and mother Nora (Patricia Medina) are rival pilots who fly search missions for the missing plane (the two are divorced).

Although in black and white there is a lot of beautiful scenery. The editors have some difficultly matching the second unit stuff to the in-studio flying sequences and special effects. One particularly amusing shot shows Vince's plane in a very steep dive on what is supposed to be a gliding approach to land on a small lake. But if you suspend disbelief a few times you can get into the peril of the children, the anxiety of the searchers, and the relief of everyone when they are reunited.

At first glance the film seems conflicted in its portrayal of women (as was the country at that time), but in final analysis it comes down squarely on the side of traditional roles. Elaine Stewart (one of Hollywood's all-time most beautiful actresses) plays a stewardess and Medina a pilot; but Stewart is killed in her occupation and Medina hinders the search by questioning the wisdom of her ex-husband. And at the end Medina's co-pilot (Keenan Wynn) has her pretty much convinced that she should become more traditional; in the husband supporting (but still very brave) model of Vince's new wife Julie (Jane Greer).

The traditional agenda is even more obvious with the children. Don is only slightly older but plays the protective big brother to an extreme. Poor Janet is almost constantly (and I mean constantly) crying and whining. The resourceful Don keeps his little sister safe while he takes the steps that will lead to their rescue. A little bit of this would have gone a long way but it is run into the ground. Also note that it is a growth experience for the boy but the girl is simply anxious to get back to her dolls.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Worthy of Being Rediscovered

[Michael_Elliott · 15 August 2010]

Desperate Search (1952)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting drama from MGM about father (Howard Keel) and his new wife (Jane Greer) who must search the wilderness after a plane crashes with the man's two children. Things get a little testy as his ex-wife and the mother (Patricia Medina) of the children shows up and causes more harm that good. The introduction by Robert Osbourne mentioned that MGM was trying to cut out their multi-million dollar pictures and try their hand at smaller productions and this here is one of them. The film isn't a complete success but it's certainly a lot better than its reputation would have you believe. I think the obviously small budget hurts the film somewhat as there's a lot of action that we never get to see. This includes the actual plane crash, which in most disaster type pictures would have been the film's highlight. Instead, we briefly see the plane on fire and that's pretty much it. Another minor problem is a few goofs including, after the crash, the two kids being shown without a cut and their hair and clothes appear like they just stepped out of a trailer and not out of a plane crash. With that said, the film still offers some pretty intense scenes especially when the children come under attack by a mountain lion. There are at least three of these scenes and each on is pretty intense. Another plus is that Keel and Greer are very good in their roles. This isn't the type of picture you'd expect to see them in but both do good jobs. Medina easily steals the film as the ex-wife who never overplays the part yet still manages to be very believable and actually turns out to be one of the most hated villains in a film like this. Keenan Wynn does a good job in his part as does Lee Acker as the 9-year-old son. I don't normally bash child actors but Linda Lowell plays his younger sister and I must say she gives one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a child. The screenplay has her mostly crying and screaming, which is fine but unfortunately the child couldn't cry and it's obvious the director just had her screaming to make up for this. Here scenes are all pretty bad when trying to "act" like she's crying and it becomes very obnoxious. The limited budget doesn't give us too much footage in the wilderness but at 71-minutes the film goes by pretty quickly and manages to be entertaining despite a few problems.

Has the "look and feel" of a Disney adventure film

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 9 February 2021]

Two very young children who were on vacation visiting their father and stepmother are scheduled to be sent home by a commercial airline to their mother. Unfortunately the plane disappears and their estranged father who is a pilot immediately goes into search mode. The kids birth mother also is a pilot and she flies her own plane to the site where her children disappeared from.

The two estranged parents, both seasoned pilots, very quickly come to terms as to why they got divorced when the argument escalates regarding which is the best plan to find their missing children.

While the parents travel on alternate flight patterns searching the sky for their children in case they survived the crash, the audience sees how these two young children who miraculously survived the crash are now laid bare to the whims of the wilderness and the wild animals who hunt to kill. I felt this film had the look and feel of a family adventure film that the Walt Disney studio may have released.

The acting was good, the story line holds true to being an adventure film, and the ending which I will not give away was worth waiting for. I give this near seventy (70) year old film a decent 6 out of 10 IMDB rating and would recommend it to others as a two thumbs up film.

half good

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 8 October 2020]

Donny and Janet Heldon are visiting their father bush pilot Vince Heldon and his new wife Julie in Canada. They have fly home alone to their mother in Seattle. The plane goes down in the wilderness and the kids are alone against the wild. The exes and others struggle in a search for the missing plane.

This is half good. The adults' squabbles are rather dull. There is surprisingly little action in their half of the movie. They don't make flying around all that exciting. Their melodrama and their discussions are all low key. This movie should be all about the kids. Little Janet is really good at crying and the cougar is actually scary. Donny is being too adult sometimes but the kid is a good little actor. The two kids facing off against the cougar is the best part of this movie.

Not as good as the book!

[jbranham-516-441311 · 5/10 · 24 September 2021]

This film shows the age-old problem of trying to transfer a good book to film. Too many changes were made that shouldn't. In the book Janet is only 2 and a half, not much more than a baby and still in diapers. She is not easy on the trip, but not bad either. The ex-wife is not a rival pilot but an actress who has custody of the children but doesn't really care about them. When she goes up with her ex-husband as a spotter, she falls asleep and misses seeing them. The love interest is a girl reporter. If they hadn't made these changes the movie would have been so much better!

The Desperate Search - A Low Cost Wilderness Journey

[krocheav · 7/10 · 12 January 2019]

It always amazed me the way MGM could come up with a small budget movie - using major stars, a combination of small time directors, along with the involvement of their mainstream resident production staff. This low budget pic was a classic example - well acted by an above average, handsome cast, directed by expert low budget tradesman Joseph H Lewis and photographed by the marvellous Harold Lipstein. It would have been a treat to either watch these two work together or to know who actually designed many of the creative shots these imaginative men regularly produced together - all achieved with such little money and time! With access to all the professional resident MGM background staff available to them, their challenging tasks would have been made less a chore than when employed by lesser studios or producers (as is evident on their final two movies together)

However, it could also be imagined that these major studio benefits could have brought with them the added pressure of individual 'star' temperaments - along with additional time constraints due to other project commitments. Young Lee Aaker was a natural to end up as a child star on TV (Rin Tin Tin, etc), considering his very young age, he could command a range of rather convincing emotions. Cast here, as the young lad stranded in a life and death struggle to survive in the Canadian wilderness, he acquits himself quite well. Since years had passed between my last viewing I expected this could have dated badly and been a difficult watch, to my pleasant surprise it mostly came up looking reasonably good. Thanks again to those talent crews and stars from the past. This is recommended as a purely nostalgic time passer.

One of the more annoying child performances I have seen.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 May 2021]

"Desperate Search" is a film that lost a lot of money at the box office. I can't say for sure why this happened but wonder if perhaps word got out that the child actors (particularly the little girl) were really annoying.

Two kids are on a DC-3 airliner and the plane crashes in the winderness. Somehow the children survive but the rest of the passengers and crew do not. Judging by how darned annoying the little girl is, I wish that some others had survived instead! Regardless, the pair are stranded and a search party is out looking for them. And, it just so happens that the kids' parents both are pilots and assist in the efforts.

Much of the time the little girl, Janet, is on screen, she's either crying, whining about SOMETHING or crying for her father. I know kids would be hysterical in such a situation....at least for a little while. But her behavior was not just annoying and off-putting but it seemed over the top as well. I just can't imagine audiences back in the day liking to see this awful kid on the screen....and probably were hoping a bear or mountain lion would just eat her!

Without Janet, the film was mildly interesting. But it really hurt the story to have her in it because I can't imagine any parent WANTING to find this brat.

Howard Keel in a drama?

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 20 February 2018]

Desperate Search isn't the best old movie out there to choose from, but if you're looking for a higher-end B movie that's exciting, you might want to check this one out. Howard Keel is a divorced dad who only gets to see his kids once a year. When he puts little Lee Aaker and Linda Lowell on an airplane to return to their mother's house, he has no idea it might be the last time he ever sees them. . .

The airplane crashes, and both nervous parents, Howard and his ex-wife Patricia Medina, are left in limbo since no one even knows where the crash occurred. Keep in mind this was made in 1952, when cell phones and GPS technology didn't exist. Also, at that time, it was a really big deal to put two young children on an airplane alone and ask the stewardess to look out for them! The good news for Howard and Patricia is that they're both airplane pilots, so they can both aid in the "desperate search" for their kids. The bad news is that Howard's current wife, Jane Greer, suspects she might lose the love of her husband.

Parts of the movie are incredibly exciting, in particular when a very mangy and hungry mountain lion makes an appearance. Parts of the movie are confusing, when Patricia Medina shows up. She looked so much like Jane Greer I continually got them mixed up and didn't know which scenes involved which actress! I enjoyed seeing Howard Keel in a dramatic non-singing role, and boy, was he curt! I lost track of how often he snapped at Jane, poor thing. Still, he looks awfully handsome in the cockpit.

Good film, bad Janet

[ajplex · 8/10 · 24 January 2021]

Overall, I enjoyed this little film, but what almost forced me to give up on it was young Janet's incessant whining and crying throughout the ordeal. Her older brother should have received a medal for putting up with her.

It's no accident that America's Northern Nemesis . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 15 January 2022]

. . . has never produced a Sarah Palin, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Dolly Madison, Betsy Ross or even a Pocahontas. As DESPERATE SEARCH documents, all Canadian wenches do is to scream, wail, back-stab and bellyache. These chronic complainers drive most of their male counterparts to drink, as depicted here. The rest of Canadian men take out their frustration over these distaff despots by clubbing baby seals to death, and then forcing their spouses to wear the bloody fur. Since this tale's fall guy is saddled with a trio of flighty floozy frights, he finds himself impelled to slaughter an endangered mountain lion with a willow switch. Doubtless our new White House occupant will build his own wall Up North to stymie contamination from Canadian immigrants.