A Place in the Sun

A Place in the Sun first caught my attention in an article I had read about Montgomery Clift. Even though the article went into no great depth about explaining the plot or story-line of the film, what was written about it was rather favourable. I decided to have a look at some reviews and even some viewer comments on the IMDb to get a better idea of what the film was about, and to see what other people thought of it. Based on what I found written about it I decided that I might be interested in looking at it, even though it sounded suspiciously like another Hollywood love story. The film turned out to be one of the best dramas I have ever seen, in fact it was so good that not even Elizabeth Taylor's mediocre talent could ruin it. The characterizations and story line were outstanding, far surpassing those of George Steven's other masterpieces, Shane and Giant. This was one of those rare movies, another being 'Dead Man Walking' where I found myself not knowing whether or not to feel sympathy for the main character, which I imagine was exactly the audience impartiality that Stevens was aiming for. There is more than one theme prevalent in this movie which makes it so good, the main one centering on love breaking through social barriers, not an uncommon theme, but well executed. There is also an underlying theme of betrayal which is offsets the former theme and is what makes this movie such a success. Even though the movie is centred on the characters of Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor, it is Shelley Winters that steals the show. Winters performance is flawless, successfully gaining sympathy for her character, which in turn is what creates a confliction of feelings for the audience towards the main character. An absolute must see

I very rarely write reviews. Usually it is when I feel something wonderful has been unfairly maligned or when something much praised fails to win me over. I'm afraid that A Place in the Sun falls in the latter category. It arrives with an impeccable pedigree. Three exceptionally talented actors and a full slate of Oscars and nominations. I was amazed at what a bloated, overacted, badly shot mess the whole thing turned out to be. I know that Elizabeth Taylor is stunning. Shooting her through gauze and Vaseline does not add to her beauty although it does give me second thoughts before having another cocktail. The vibrant Shelly Winters is reduced to a one note mope. Montgomery Cliff looks ridiculous with the fake sweat spayed on his forehead in every other scene. This could have been a great picture. If the director had allowed Ms. Winters and Ms. Taylor to play the full spectrum that they are more than capable of playing. If someone could have capitalized on the true sense of guilt and duplicity that Montgomery Clift dealt with in his everyday real life. I think that person is Hitchcock. If Alfred Hitchcock had directed this film it could have been a classic. Instead it barely qualifies for the matinée movie on 1970's local television. That this was considered competition against The African Queen or An American in Paris is quite beyond my understanding.

Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor shine in this adapted Theodore Dreiser novel AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. Clift does his finest work in this film showing his sensitivity and incredible good looks, making the role of George Easton brilliant. He is thorough throughout the movie. His quiet honesty as an actor comes off superbly. He must had affected Liz Taylor for she gives her most honest work in her career. Usually the glamour gal, but now with substance and simplicity as Angela Vickers the pretty rich girl. Add to this Shelley Winters in a different kind of role. Departing from her typical wise dame acting, Shelley, as Alice Tripp, a simple plain girl of poor class, comes off wonderfully in a very difficult role. I hear she had to audition for the director to prove she could act the part. Of course, years later, she and Liz both won several Oscars for thir work. Monty, although nominated many times, and for this film, never won the coveted award. George Stevens directs this romantic tragedy, bringing out the excellent work of his actors. I liked the way he used the camera. (The close up of Clift and Taylor's first kiss, on the balcony at a dance, was worth the price of admission) To see the two most beautiful eyes, in Movieland. in a close up as they come together, was breathtaking. Add to that the haunting score by Victor Young or Franz Waxman or both and you have a very beautiful film, well acted and directed. Stevens' use of fading from one scene to another, often having a double exposure shot of both scenes at the same time, was brilliant and often reminded you of the pending tragedy that was unfolding. Quick synopsis: George, from a poor background, leaves home and his mother, a sort of Salvation Army sufferer (played by that austere and stone-faced Anne Revere) comes to work for his uncle in a swim suit factory. He starts at the bottom as a box sorter and meets along the way a girl who also works at the plant, Alice Tripp. Eventually he gets her in the sack. He finally gets invited to the boss's house to a dance and meets the rich and pretty Angela. He falls for her and she for him. Upon returning to Alice he learns she's pregnant, a fact that is tabboo at the plant. What to do! Easy .. eliminate Alice by drowning her in a lake. In a tense and well played scene in the boat on the lake, George changes heart and begins to row back when Alice in an attempt to be near George tips the boat and drowns anyway. Was it on purpose or was it an accident? That's the big question that is challenged in George's trial after he is acccused of murder. Of course, not until the trial did Angela have any knowledge of George and Alice. George is convicted and sentenced to the electric chair. There's a wonderful quiet scene between Monty and Liz in the prison cell. Only down fall, to me, was Raymound Burr's over-the-hill acting as the prosecuting attorney. He should have done some of his Perry Mason work, but that hadn't happened yet. This early 50s film still holds up on VHS and Classic TV viewing. To add to this review, about two weeks after the film opened, I met Clift in a bar on Third Avenue in NYC with friends and had a wonderful evening in conversation with him. He talked about Taylor and the movie and his up and coming film, THE HEIRESS.

Elizabeth Taylor was never better on the eyes than she was in this incredibly overrated film. Monty Clift, like Taylor, doesn't act too well; he was better in (and personally more suited for) "Suddenly, Last Summer." If a film is truly classic then it does not age like Dorian Gray's painting, it's "controversial" scenes are not embarrassing and unintentionally hilarious today, (Raymond Burr's courtroom antics had me laughing as if I were watching "Duck Soup,") the background score is not overdone and deafening at times and above all, the story doesn't just pep right along at a clip akin to "The Sorrow And The Pity." Sorry, this is shallow tripe from a very good director. I said "very good," George Stevens was NOT "great!" This director's much earlier "Alice Adams," despite aging horribly as most Stevens films do, is superior to this later, much more expensive waste of celluloid. One star.

The young and poor George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) leaves his religious mother and Chicago and arrives in California expecting to find a better job in the business of his wealthy uncle Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes). His cousin Earl Eastman (Keefe Brasselle) advises him that there are many women in the factory and the basic rule is that he must not hang around with any of them. George meets the worker of the assembly line Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) in the movie theater and they date. Meanwhile, the outcast George is promoted and he meets the gorgeous Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) in a party at his uncle's house. Angela introduces him to the local high society and they fall in love with each other. However, Alice is pregnant and she wants to get married with George. During a dinner party at Angela's lake house with parents, relatives and friends, Alice calls George from the bus station and gives thirty minutes to him to meet her; otherwise she will crash the party and tells what has happened. George is pressed by the situation that ends in a tragedy. "A Place in the Sun" is an unforgettable masterpiece by George Stevens and one of the best love stories ever made, with the perfect development of characters and situations. I watched this film for the first time on 14 June 2001 on cable television and yesterday I saw it again on a Paramount DVD with Extras telling details about the difficulties that George Stevens faced to bring Theodore Dreiser's novel "An American Tragedy" to a motion picture and casting. He had to sue Paramount to carry out the signed contract and get the agreed budget. Another interesting point is Shelley Winters, who was a sex symbol at that time, telling how she got the role of Alice Tripp. Elizabeth Taylor also tells funny things about her relationship with Montgomery Cliff. My vote is ten. Title (Brazil): "Um Lugar Ao Sol" ("A Place in the Sun")

To Hell with the book! That's the old cliche about ANY movie...if you've read the author's version and have your own mind's eye scenario firmly in place, almost NO movie will ever compete. However, movies are made to bring the mass audience to a (sometimes) great literary work that would otherwise be relegated to obscurity. "Loved the book...hated the movie...yadda, yadda, yadda". In any case, George Stevens' adaptation of this novel is a magnificent piece of filmmaking. The sheer "beauty" of Clift and Taylor in their prime, doomed to an unachievable fruition of their romance due to the difference in "class" and Clift's apparently deliberate failure to save the life of his frumpy little girlfriend (Shelley Winters in a thankless role)is heartwrenching.....star-crossed lovers in the Romeo and Juliet vein. The sub-title of the book "An American Tragedy" is certainly appropriate. I agree the movie takes a rather LONG time to get to it's denoument, and Raymond Burr is WAY over the top as the film-ending prosecutor. However, you will NEVER see two young actors as tragic and beautiful as Montgomery and Elizabeth...when she says "Tell mamma...tell momma all" and Monty clutches her towards him and almost brutally clamps a big kiss while the camera circles...oh my!! Of course, the REAL tragedy was that, off screen, Elizabeth was MAD for Monty and was even prepared to put up with his bisexuality. Wouldn't they have made a great looking couple at film openings, the Oscars, etc.? But I digress...the stark black and white photography, great background music and fabulous acting (particularly by the stage-trained and film-cautious Monty in a fish-out-of-water role)adds up to a memorable viewing experience. If this one doesn't tear your heart out, you HAVE no heart!!!

Time does extraordinary things with greatness. If nothing else it confirms it. "A Place in the Sun" is a remarkable example of that theory. I rushed to buy a DVD after watching a BBC documentary on ELizabeth Taylor to celebrate her 75th birthday! In "A Place on the Sun" an Elizabeth Taylor barely out of her teens is paired with Montgomery Clift. She had been raised at MGM and groomed for movie stardom from day one. He was a method actor, complex, introspective and their coupling produced something that I'm tempted to call, unrepeatable. The actors own personal stories, their friendship, mutual love and respect made it possible for their communion to be so transcendental. To make things even more perfect, the film seems a love letter from director George Stevens to his stars and vice versa. Look at the opening credits and tell me if you've ever seen a more startling introduction to a character/star. The story of doomed love and descend into darkness is, without question, one of the best ever made.

George Stevens' A PLACE IN THE SUN is a poetic film, filled with tender moments, sadness, and pending doom. Having not read the book, I had the pleasure of seeing the material for the first time, which is preferable if you see a film based on a "classic" novel. Montgomery Clift is his usual mysterious self as he has a scandalous relationship with the homely Shelly Winters and falls instantly in love with a spellbindingly beautiful Liz Taylor, who was only 19 when the picture was made. She glows with energy and a sense of optimism about life, a stark contrast to Clift, whom Taylor has also fallen for. Rumor has it they had an actual affair while making the movie. This is not for all tastes, for it is slow, and Clift is not all that appealing. The idea of dropping a lesser life (with Winters) and pursuing the good life with Taylor is what makes it work and the lengths to which Clift will go are staggering. George Stevens has a gift for "painting" a movie on-screen. Just see GIANT, also with Taylor, or SHANE, the other two parts of his "American Trilogy". The scenes on the lake and the way the mood of the movie is painted is quite simply amazing. He also uses slow dissolves that leave a ghostly image on-screen between scenes. This all adds to the atmospheric touch of tragedy that will ensue. Poor Shelly Winters. She always gets a raw deal in films. There are times when you almost sympathize with Clift. Imagine living the life of a socialite with the girl of your dreams and a good job with your family. A life with Winters would be dismal according to Clift and us. What's right is right, however. An unnecessary court room saga closes the picture to ensure the viewer's sense of justice. This must've been pretty controversial stuff back in the early-50's A PLACE IN THE SUN truly is an American tragedy, a portrait of young lives gone wrong with post-WWII optimism as a backdrop. Clift and Taylor shine together, and provide film fans with a romance never to be forgotten. The finale is emotionally draining during Taylor's expression of undying love. Unfortunately, Clift cannot have it all. A beautiful piece of classical Hollywood film-making with a mix of method acting (Clift) and a love story we wish could work. RATING: 8 of 10

source: A Place in the Sun

Trailer—A Place in the Sun