Rating:  -
Coincidentally, I saw this film within a week after I read Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby for the first of several times. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I had so many dreams, fantasies, ambitions, etc. and thus, years later, immediately identified with George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) as well as with Jay Gatsby, so different in many ways but both hungering for acceptance and respectability, thereby to enhance their self-image. George Stevens' brilliant direction was rewarded with an Academy Award. Working with a screenplay based on Theodore Dreiser's bloated novel An American Tragedy, Stevens elicited from both Clift and Elizabeth Taylor (Angela Vickers) perhaps their finest performances on film. Both are ideally cast as star cross'd lovers, so near and yet so far from what both so passionately desire. Members of the supporting cast are outstanding, notably Shelley Winters (Alice Tripp), Anne Revere (Hannah Eastman), Sheppard Strudwick (Anthony Vickers), and Raymond Burr (Frank Marlowe). Young Eastman is torn between accepting essentially a blue-collar life (with some prospect for a white collar eventually) and doing whatever is necessary to join the society of affluence in which his beloved Angela is so comfortable.
All decisions have consequences and some decisions have tragic consequences. George's decision to gratify himself sexually with Alice one rainy evening creates a complication for which he is ill-prepared. Eventually, he is held accountable for her death (even if viewed as an accident) because, at that point, he cannot endure a life with her nor a life without Angela. George may not deliberately eliminate Alice from his life but he certainly has no interest whatsoever in having any further contact with her. He is convicted of intent. This film received six Academy Awards: including director Stevens, costume designer Edith Head, and composer Franz Waxman, although An American in Paris was selected as best film in what must have been a close vote. The other nominees were Decision before Dawn, Quo Vadis, and A Streetcar Named Desire.
When I recently saw this film again, I was reminded of one of Fitzgerald's short stories, "Winter Dreams," in which a young man very much like George Eastman yearns to improve his station in life. For so many young men and women, the American Dream can become the American Tragedy. For whatever reasons, they are destroyed...or so brutalized that their lives become a nightmare from which they can never awaken.
Rating: -
A film based on a story by naturalist Theodore Dreiser, A Place in the Sun does an excellent job of portraying a real dilemma that many young men and women have faced, or will face.
Young George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) is the poor nephew of a manufacturing scion. Wealthy Uncle Eastman invites George, who is distantly located with his mother, to come to town-offering to find him a place in the business.
George arrives but feels out of place with his high society relatives and their well-to-do friends. There is a clear class distinction in this town. For example, the relatives wonder aloud what to do about him socially. And there's a scene at the worksite where a large sign on a door says something like:
"Factory Employees are Forbidden beyond this Point"
George begins working in the factory to learn the business. He is warned by his cousin to stay away from the girls and always be conscious that he's an Eastman. But George becomes attracted to one of his co-workers, Alice (Shelly Winters). George woos her and eventually the relationship becomes intimate.
Meanwhile, Uncle gives George encouragement, looking to promote him upstairs. Also, an extremely attractive woman (Elizabeth Taylor) from the upper crust takes note of George at a socialite party. He is totally smitten.
George leaves the party finally visiting Alice late in the evening where she's been waiting all alone to celebrate his birthday. She tells him: "Maybe you don't want to see me so much anymore. Maybe you don't want to see me at all."
Their lives soon become more complex. Alice tells George she's in trouble. In a memorable scene, Alice visits a doctor while George waits outside. The doctor will only offer advice, not procedure.
George sees Liz Taylor again. He's in love with her, and she with him. But Alice, whose options are very limited in 1950's America asserts her rights: "You gotta marry me, family or no family" (meaning: no matter what the Eastman's think).
Tragedy is clearly foreshadowed but it is well done as are the events that follow.
The film culminates in a great trial scene where Raymond Burr, presaging his Perry Mason role, plays a tough District Attorney.
The acting and direction is great all around. Montgomery Clift is a tortured, somewhat insecure young man. Elizabeth Taylor is at the height of her charm and beauty (If you never found her real attractive, see this one). Shelly Winters is sympathetic and real, playing her role to a tee.
This one is worthy of a place in any video library.
Rating: -
This Film Has A Perfect Cast List. And This Is The First Film Out Of The Three Films That Liz Was Teamed Up With Monty (Raintree County And Suddenly LAst Summer Followed.)Shelley Winters Is Wonderful As The Girl Whom Monty Kills. Liz Is The Girl Whom Monty Falls For And She Falls Right Back For Him. Anne Revere Is Good As Monty's Mother. All In All This Film Is Perfecto With A Perfecto Cast To Help It!!
Rating: -
This is a must see. "A Place in the Sun" is based on Dreiser's tale "An American Tragedy". Poor George Eastman moves to the city to work for rich relatives. Makes the mistake of getting involved with a poor girl who works beside him in the factory. After getting her pregnant, his eye wanders to the beautiful, and seemingly unattainable rich girl. It seems the only way out of an unescapable future of a loveless marriage is an "accidental" death to the girl he has gotten in trouble. At first, it seems his plan might just work, but of course it all unravels, and so does his bright future with the rich and beautiful people, and all of its trappings. A very powerful movie, with a memorable cast. Shelley Winters, cast against type as the poor frumpy factory girl, Montgomery Clift as the poor relation looking for a way to get his foot in the door, and move up in the world, and of course Elizabeth Taylor as the beautiful young girl of George Eastman's dreams and desires...She was gorgeous...Read the book, and see the movie. I highly recommend both.
Rating: -
I haven't read Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" on which this 1951 film is based, but I can see how the word "tragedy" is used in its classic sense - that of a character who meets disaster because of a tragic flaw. So even though purists might see "A Place in the Sun" as a romanticized version of Dreiser's tale, I certainly found it serious enough for me.
Directed by George Stevens, the film opens with Montgomery Cliff thumbing a ride. He's going to the town where his rich uncle owns a mill. He's awkward among his affluent relatives and happy to get a job, any job. And so even though he has to start at the bottom, packing bathing suits into boxes, he's aware of his future opportunities. Shelly Winters is cast as a factory girl he starts romancing. But then, his fortunes suddenly turn, he's invited to more and more upscale social events, and he falls in love with Elizabeth Taylor. The plot thickens as Shelly Winters announces her pregnancy and Montgomery Cliff finds himself trapped. The consequences are horrific as we watch his dreams all crash down around him.
I was captured by the story right from the beginning in a screenplay that kept the tension mounting and never let up. I identified with Montgomery cliff and found myself sympathic to his plight. He plays a complex character and has a lot of moral choices to make. He sweats, he shakes, he cringes, his eyes fill with tears. Certainly, he was one of the finest actors of his time and his performance is magnificent. Elizabeth Taylor was just 17 years old then and sure was a beauty. As she explains in an interview as part of the special features on the DVD, this was her first serious role. "Before that," she says jokingly, "all my leading men were either dogs or horses." She also tells us that Montgomery Cliff, with whom she maintained a long friendship with until his death at the age of 45, was her first movie kiss. "I had only just had my first 'real' off-screen kiss just two weeks before," she says. Shelly Winters talks about her role too. She wanted the role of the factory girl badly. However, at the time, she was typecast as a glamour queen. And so she dressed in an extremely plain way when she went for her screen test. She sat demurely in the office and George Stevens didn't even recognize her.
I loved this film. It had everything. Romance. High drama. Great acting. Moral choices. And I also loved the "behind the scenes" special feature that was on the DVD. "A Place in the Sun" might have been made more than 50 years ago, but the theme is universal and as valid today as the day it was written. I therefore give it my highest recommendation. It's simply wonderful.
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