A Place in the Sun (1951)

George Stevens won an Oscar for his 1951 adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy, though the film seems a little overwrought today and even self-parodying at times. Still, Montgomery Clift's performance as a poor lad so drawn to a rich, beautiful girl (Elizabeth Taylor) that he contemplates killing his lower-class fiancée (Shelley Winters) is powerful, sympathetic, and mesmerizing. Taylor makes a strong impression, but Winters is awfully good in the less-glamorous role. The tone of the film is oppressive--the film doesn't exactly breathe with possibility--but there are lots of good reasons to give this movie a visit. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com essential video

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift terrific in this film

This is a deservedly famous film, and Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift give romantic and tragic performances. Taylor is at the height of her beauty in this film; she's really breathtaking to look at. She also acts very well the role of the "has it all" young socialite daughter of wealthy parents, who falls in love with factory worker Montgomery Clift. Clift is at the height of his attractiveness and talent as well, and gives an intense and sensitive performance. (A few years later, while filming "Raintree County," he was in a car accident mid-filming, did survive, but half of his face lost its natural mobility in that film and later ones.) Anne Revere is memorable as Clift's strict religious mother, and Shelley Winters makes a mark too as the factory girl friend Clift meets before he becomes captivated by rich girl Taylor. It's a sad story, but the romantic sparks between Taylor and Clift, as directed by George Stevens, are exciting and involving to watch.

[...] July 5, 2008

the American dream which dissolved into a nightmare

Originally filmed in 1931, Theodore Dreiser's landmark novel "An American Tragedy" came back to the screen in 1951, directed by George Stevens under the new title of A PLACE IN THE SUN, with an inspired cast. This moving romance captured the emotions of post-war audiences with it's unflinching, painful depiction of one man's struggle to achieve the American dream, and the fates which conspire against him.

Poor, unassuming George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) leaves his strict, religious mother (Anne Revere) and heads for the big city to work in his rich uncle's bathing suit factory. There, despite a rule which forbids relationships between employees, he falls into a dalliance with dowdy factory girl Alice Tripp (Academy Award-nominee Shelley Winters). Despite Alice's eventual pregnancy, George doesn't see a lasting future with her; instead his affections lie with Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), the dazzling young debutante who offers George the social status and family approval he craves. Still, Alice lingers in the wings, with a secret that will eventually need to be revealed. Just how will George manage to negotiate his way through this delicate situation, and what tragedies will envelope the love triangle?...

Montgomery Clift was and still is the perfect actor to play George (in the original Dreiser novel, the character's name was Clyde). Elizabeth Taylor, in her first truly adult role away from her almer-mater studio MGM, glows as Angela, a character who might have become too vapid or uninteresting in the hands of a lesser actress. Shelley Winters fought hard to win the role of Alice, and in doing so broke away from the sexpot blonde characters she had endured as a contract star for Universal-International. For some great backstage tales about the making of A PLACE IN THE SUN, check out Shelley Winters' entertaining autobiography "Shelley (Also Known as Shirley)".

Still as hard-hitting and heartbreaking today as when it was first released more than fifty years ago, A PLACE IN THE SUN deserves a proud place in your classic movie collection. A no-brainer purchase. May 1, 2008

Painfully Touching, Difficult Viewing, Classic Film!

This movie was painful for me to watch; not that it was badly done in any way but in that it was so good and the performances of the cast so convincing that the original title of the play this is based upon: "An American Tragedy" is really a perfect way to describe this film. A poor, ambitious young man just wants to do his best to climb up and succeed and tragically despite all the attempts by his benevolent uncle to help him achieve just that, he manages to screw everything up through a lack of discipline and common sense.

With the advent of Roe v Wade in the 70s, the events shown here would probably never happen today and yet you find yourself really feeling sorry for Clift's character who seems doomed from the start to make the wrong decisions and to inevitably see his dreams come to a tragic end. This film is very good and George Stevens does a lot of novel directing tricks here such as the extensive use of close-ups and the fade out to move from scene to scene.

This DVD version is quite good despite not having been restored; the picture quality is not perfect and yet the original master must have been preserved pretty well as the imperfections are not too distracting. The sound quality is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround and is quite good. If a Blu-Ray version is to be released anytime soon, they could take the opportunity to clean up the picture quality with a proper restoration job.

The special features are decent as they include a documentary with interviews with many famous directors talking about George Stevens who directed this film and retrospective interviews with the cast and crew of the movie. Montgomery Clift was brilliant here and it's tragic how he died so young at the age of 45 from a heart attack. One wonders how far his career would have taken him had he lived on. This is one movie which absorbs you and is so gripping you don't even feel the 2 hour length which is a testament to a great movie.

Although not a restored version, this DVD is value for money given the price and unless you want a perfect picture quality version for which you may have to wait for another release, this DVD version of the film should suffice for you. April 26, 2008

EXCELLENT MOVIE

I was interested in this movie since it was based on a true story that took place not far from my home.
This movie is excellent
April 24, 2008

First Class Americana

This is the second filming of Theodore Drieser's 1925 novel, AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, which was based on real events. The earlier, 1931 film, faced too many problems to succeed and has faded from cinema history, but this later version stands as a magnificent example of the American cinema at its best, and is acknowledged as one of director George Stevens's finest achievements. The movie focuses on the second half of Dreiser's long, complex novel, omitting much of the background about the main characters' family livrd and background, which are only glancingly referenced in Stevens's film.

On a strictly technical level, it was in this film that Stevens pioneered the use of gigantic closeups, taking advantage of the extraordinary physical beauty of his two leading stars (Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift). The closeups allowed Stevens to capture their emotional attachment at a range that nearly brings the viewer into their embraces. The result is exceptionally powerful.

The cast is, without exception, tremendous, with Shelley Winters winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Alice, the plain, obtuse, lonely assembly line worker. Winters, previously typed as a second-string dumb-blonde/cum sexpot, said later that she cried when she saw the first rushes and begged Stevens to give her a bit more makeup. Stevens, however, replied that eventually Winters would thank him for leaving her to the glaring mercy of the lights, and she credits that judgment for helping her take home the Oscar.

The young Elizabeth Taylor, once a child star and still struggling to establish herself as something more than a face, wanted this role (wealthy socialite Angela Vickers) badly to demonstrate her abilities. She was also a very close personal friend of Clift's and their mutual empathy is evident in their work together here. Clift is excellent as George Eastman, conveying Eastman's fierce but inchoate yearning for the golden life and opportunities that his distant cousin, Angela, represents.

As the film opens, George, a poor relation of a wealthy family, arrives to seek their help in making his way in the world. He is given a menial job in their factory and left very much alone - it is clear that while the family is willing to help him, they don't consider him quite on their social level. He is, therefore, lonely and somewhat adrift, as well as bored at his dull job and angry at being placed there. In the factory he meets, and begins half-heartedly dating, fellow assembly line worker Alice. Alice recognizes in George exactly what George sees in Angela: higher quality - someone made of finer material - and perhaps a way out of a dead-end life. She allows George to seduce her early in their relationship in an attempt to attach him permanently.

George, however, is already half-fixated on his lovely distant cousin, Angela - she appears in the society columns of the local papers, on highway billboards, and he has even seen her at the family's large house on the hill, where he first presented himself to ask for help. By the time he seduces Alice, George is already determined to do something to improve his standing, and bring himself closer to Angela and her world of parties, pools, yachts, and hunting lodges. George writes a report on improving the efficiency of the assembly line - the report is favorably received, George is promoted, and as a result, invited to attend a party of young people at the Big House. When he arrives there, the social barriers between him and the other young people are still apparent and he is uncomfortable. But he has managed to meet Angela in a social context that places them on a somewhat more equal footing, and she finds something very attractive in his brooding seriousness, so different from the callow youths around her. A bond quickly begins to form, the couple begin to see each other in secret, and George begins to believe that all that he has dreamed of may, after all, be within his reach.

That is, until Alice turns up pregnant. By the time she finds out that she is pregnant, Alice has begun to realize that George's interest in her was momentary and that he is somehow connected to Angela, whose wealth and beauty Alice cannot hope to compete with. Alice, after a failed attempt to explore the possibility of abortion with a country doctor, demands that George marry her, or she will reveal the situation to Angela and her family. Over Labor Day Weekend, in the small town where Alice has gone to see the doctor, George promises to do so, but the town's municipal offices are closed for the holiday, giving him time to think. He takes Alice boating on the lake in the twilight. She sees his misery and tries to present their impending marriage in a more positive light, talking about how she is used to being poor and working hard, not realizing that she is driving George half-mad with references to the poverty and narrowed horizons that he has just seen his way out of - he begins to shout at her and Alice realizes, at last, that he hates her. In her anger and emotional agitation, Alice stands up in the boat and falls overboard. It is by now quite dark, and the viewer hears George calling her name over and over again - and eventually sees him fleeing the town, alone. Alice's drowned corpse is found, and, eventually, George is arrested and tried for her murder.

In the ensuing trial, the crucial issue is the power of intent to define actual guilt: did George honestly try but fail to rescue Alice - or did he let her to drown in order to free himself from unwelcome responsibilities and pursue a far more appealing future with Angela?

In Dreiser's novel, the answer to this question is clearer than in Stevens' film. Whether that shift was an appropriate artistic judgment, each person who sees the film must decide for himself. The film's position works on its own terms, but purists may assert that changing Dreiser's perspective dilutes the novel's indictment of the corruption of venal cultural values.

Be that as it may, the film is powerful and sad, very painful to watch in places, with great performances. The questions it raises about intent and responsibility, and about cultural values, are not easily dismissed.

On a less exalted plane, cultural historians may wish to note that the ballgown that Angela wears when George meets her socially at that party set fire to the imaginations of young women all over the U.S. Copies of it appeared in stores from coast to coast, and may be seen on girls in old photos heading off to their high school proms. January 31, 2008

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