Topic: A Place in the Sun (1951)

[Antares]

A Place in the Sun





Year: 1951
Film Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Romance, Drama
Length: 121 Min.

Director
George Stevens (1904)

Writing
Theodore Dreiser (1871)...Novel "An American Tragedy"
Patrick Kearney (1893)...Play "An American Tragedy"
Michael Wilson (1914)...Screenplay
Harry Brown (1917)...Screenplay

Producer
Ivan Moffat (1918)
George Stevens (1904)

Cinematographer
William C. Mellor (1903)

Music
Franz Waxman (1906)...Composer

Stars
Montgomery Clift (1920) as George Eastman
Elizabeth Taylor (1932) as Angela Vickers
Shelley Winters (1920) as Alice Tripp
Anne Revere (1903) as Hannah Eastman
Keefe Brasselle (1923) as Earl Eastman
Fred Clark (1914) as Bellows, defense attorney
Raymond Burr (1917) as Dist. Atty. R. Frank Marlowe
Herbert Heyes (1889) as Charles Eastman

Review
       The Fifties would bring about many changes to the film industry. Technologies that had helped us defeat the Axis powers were now being used to make everyday life in America more convenient and more informed. Television would become the guiding force in entertainment over the next decade and the major threat to the power of the Hollywood studios. With the weakening of the Hays code, producers and studio executives decided that racier subject matter would best hold back the tide of growing popularity with television, and keep their coffers filled. Just ten years earlier it would have been unthinkable to make a film based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. But times had changed, and a story about an illegitimate pregnancy and the murder that ensues, would be considered tame in the light of the atrocities that had occurred during the war. George Stevens softened the story by dwelling more on the love relationship of the characters as portrayed by Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.

       This would be the first pairing of these two screen icons, and the chemistry between the two was electric. They would appear in two more films together, Raintree County, and Suddenly, Last Summer, with the former being the last time we would see Clift in all his youthful glory. The car accident that would alter his facial features, would also lead to a dependency on painkillers, and his performances in all later projects would seem distant and detached. But for the time being, he was beginning his ascent to the top of the most popular actors list, as he would follow this film two years later with From Here to Eternity. Taylor would become his lifetime friend and confidant and over the next decade would help him in his times of trouble. A Place in the Sun would be Elizabeth Taylor’s breakout role; no longer would she be cast as the little girl, but as the breathtakingly beautiful woman in all of her following films. For my money, she was never as beautiful or as good an actress, as she was in this film. I highly recommend this movie


Review Criterion
5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.
4 ½ Stars - Not quite an immortal film, yet a masterpiece in its own right.
4 Stars - Historically important film, considered a classic.
3 ½ Stars - An entertaining film that’s fun or engaging to watch.
3 Stars – A good film that’s worth a Netflix venture.
2 ½ Stars - Borderline viewable.
2 Stars – A bad film that may have a moment of interest.
1 ½ Stars – Insipid, trite and sophomoric, and that's its good points.
1 Star – A film so vacuous, it will suck 2 hours from the remainder of your life.
½ Star - A gangrenous and festering pustule in the chronicles of celluloid.

[hal9g]

I've had this film in my collection for a long time and have yet to watch it, as Taylor has never been a favorite of mine although I did like her in Cleopatra (a studio flop), Suddenly, Last Summer and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

You've prompted me to move this up on my list of movies to watch.

[Antares]

You've prompted me to move this up on my list of movies to watch.

Good, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at her performance.