NFR Project: 'A Place in the Sun' (1951)

 

NFR Project: “A Place in the Sun”

Dir: George Stevens

Scr: Michael Wilson, Harry Brown

Pho: William C. Mellor

Ed: William Hornbeck

Premiere: Aug. 14, 1951

122 min.

It’s derived from Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel An American Tragedy – and it certainly is. It’s a profound critique of capitalism garbed in a true-crime plot. Grace Brown fell in love with Chester Gillette, who was the nephew of the factory owner for whom Brown worked. In 1906, Grace Brown was murdered by her lover by drowning after she revealed to him that she was pregnant. Her love letters to him, which he kept, damned him. He was executed in the electric chair.

In the film, George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) is an ambitious young man without any education or connections. He falls in with his rich uncle, who hires him to work at his factory. George agrees, and while working there falls into a relationship with shopgirl Alice (Shelley Winters) – which is forbidden by company policy.

George meets and falls in love with Angela (Elizabeth Taylor), a beautiful and wealthy young socialite. Suddenly, Alice announces she is pregnant. George puts her off, keeping their relationship secret while he sucks up to and hangs around with Angela, her parents, and her rich friends. He explains to Alice that he is just trying to better their lot in life by being promoted.

Finally, Alice gives him an ultimatum. He must marry her. They go to the Justice of the Peace, but his office is closed due to Labor Day. George proposes that they spend the night at a nearby lodge. He pretends the car is out of gas, then rents a boat for the two of them under a false name.

They row far out onto the lake and Alice tries to reason with him, telling him how they will be happy, if poor; and finally wonders if he wants her dead. He denies it angrily; she stands up and capsizes the boat. She drowns; he swims to shore.

George tries to cover his tracks, but he does so poorly, and is soon apprehended. Raymond Burr has a fine turn as an intrepid prosecuting attorney; George is promptly found guilty.

In an improbable coda, Angela visits George on Death Row, proclaims her undying love for him and kisses him. As he is marched to the site of execution, his mind goes back to a vision of Angela’s rapturous face.

Poor George. His social, romantic, and economic ambitions completely dull him to compassion and good sense. His desire to be with Angela and be a big shot turns him into a murderer, in thought if not in deed. Clift plays George as a person devoid of character; thinking only in terms of the immediate future. Clift and Winters were nominated for Oscars. The film won six Oscars, including Best Director for George Stevens.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: A Streetcar Named Desire.