DVD : A Place in the Sun

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- A doomed love triangle
Multiple Oscar winning film, "A Place in the Sun" based on Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" was a remarkable film featuring superb acting performances by Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and a ravishing teenaged Elizabeth Taylor.

The method acting Clift playing George Eastman, a poor status seeking blue collar type is given a job in his rich uncle's business. He romances factory girl Shelley Winter's, outstanding in her Academy Award nominated role as Alice Tripp. When he goes on to meet and fall in love with rich society girl Angela Vickers played by Taylor, he becomes trapped with the knowledge that Winters is pregnant. Feeling conflicted and in turmoil, Clift despite a strong religious background schemes to dump Winters to fulfill his lofty aspirations of a life together with the rich girl, Taylor. Clift is terrific in portraying the internal battle being raged within the soul of George Eastman.

The marvelously directed scene by George Stevens of Clift and Winters in a rowboat on lonely Loon Lake where their fates will be decided, was chilling and a memorable piece of cinematic history.

Only the knowledge that Clift was topped by the great Humphrey Bogart for the Best Actor honors in 1952 makes his omission for this award understandable. Winters incidently lost out to Vivien Leigh playing the tragic Blanche Dubois in "Streetcar Named Desire" for best actress.

Rating:

- MASTERPIECE
Wow. This movie is pure magic. It's in my top 5 movies of all time. Elizebeth is never more beautiful. Montgomery is effective and believable. Shelly Winters is perfectly casted. Again, just amazing and little known and that's a shame. Again a masterpiece in the truest sense. Only one or two movies can be given the same kind of praise.

Rating:

- One of the best films of Elizabeth Taylor's career...
But Ms. Taylor is not in this film as much as Montgomery Clift and Shelley Winters are. Both their characters are lower class, and Ms. Taylor's is upper class. He falls for Ms. Winters, then things go wrong and he falls for Ms. Taylor. That's when his life takes a drastic (and tragic) turn. I was disappointed and saddened by the ending. I wish it had been different, but then a happy ending isn't always realistic, is it?

As far as this movie goes, it's suspenseful and riveting; you won't be able to take your eyes from it, nor will you want to. It's a film worth watching many times.

Rating:

- GRIPPING!
I've never been a fan of either Elizabeth Taylor or Montgomery Clift - not to mention Shelley Winters! However, this screenplay is so gripping that all that meant nothing. The story of star-crossed lovers is as old as Romeo & Juliet. But this movie makes it all brand new once more.

I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys true suspense at its finest.

Rating:

- A Place in the Sun
Veteran director Stevens adapted this Academy Award winner from Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy". This cautionary tale of a doomed love triangle holds you captive, buoyed by charismatic performances from both Clift and Taylor. Yet the young Winters shines brightest in the most unglamorous of parts, stealing the movie from its photogenic stars, and netting herself an Oscar nod. (Stevens actually won for Best Director).

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