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A Place in the Sun
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Genre | Drama |
Format | Multiple Formats, Import, NTSC |
Contributor | Shepperd Strudwick, Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, Frieda Inescort, George Stevens, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle, Elizabeth Taylor, Herbert Heyes, Fred Clark, Raymond Burr See more |
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Product Description
Aimless WWII veteran George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) takes a factory job and becomes involved with underprivileged co-worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), who becomes pregnant. After George falls for gorgeous socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), Alice learns of their romance and threatens to expose him, setting in motion a series of tragic events. Based on Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy," director George Stevens' Oscar-winning drama also stars Anne Revere, Fred Clark, Raymond Burr. 121 min. Standard; Soundtrack: English. Region Free
Product details
- Package Dimensions : 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches; 2.93 Ounces
- Director : George Stevens
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, Import, NTSC
- Release date : February 13, 2007
- Actors : Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle
- Studio : Castaways
- ASIN : B000MV90C6
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #170,311 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #29,294 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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After the film, I did some research online. The film themes seem very controversial and dark for 1950's America so I wondered if the story had any origins elsewhere besides the film. Turns out, my suspicions were spot on. The film is based on a novel titled "An American Tragedy" and that novel is based on a true story of Chester Gillette in the early 1900s which was a news sensation at the time.
I suggest watching this movie once as it is a classic film and is beautifully shot and wonderfully acted. I wouldn't say it's as great as I expected it to be. I actually ended the movie not liking it but on further reflection found it pretty thought provoking.
SPOILER ALERT I'm going to talk about the plot here. I am going to summarize the entire movie so if you are watching it for the first time and don't want any spoilers please stop here and read the rest of the review where I talk about themes as well later.
The movie is about a man named George Eastman (Clift). He grew up in a devout family that was very poor. His father is dead. However, he quits his job and travels to New York to join his very wealthy uncle's company. There he meets a factory worker named Alice (Shelly Winters) and they start an affair. Meanwhile his uncle moves him up in the company and invites him to one of his lavish parties with other elites. There he meets Angela (Elizabeth Taylor). She is from a wealthy family and she is beautiful. He falls in love with her. However, he has a problem because Alice informs him that she is pregnant. He takes her to the doctor to get an abortion but the doctor refuses. Alice wants to get married and George strings her along while he continues dating and falling in love with Angela. Angela takes him on vacation with her and a bunch of other wealthy people, including his uncle who wants to promote him again. However, the party is interrupted by Alice who calls and threatens to come down and expose their secret if he doesn't come back to town to marry her. It happens to be Labor Day so the courts are closed. Instead, George decides to take Alice on a vacation on a boat ride because he knows she can't swim. He wants to drown her so she'll go away and he can live the good life that she's standing in the way of. With Angela he'll be a socialite and wealthy and have a beautiful woman on his arms. Angela is also a girl who would have been unattainable in his past life and now he has the ability to have her. But with Alice it would be a life of financial struggle that he's been wanting to escape his entire life. She reminds him of where he came from and the life of poverty and mediocrity that he wants to escape. But when he gets in the water he can't bring himself to hurt her despite himself. However, she can feel his reluctance to commit to her and stands up and the boat tips over and she drowns anyways. George survives and goes back to Angela but then runs away only to be captured by the cops and brought to trial where he is convicted and sentenced to death.
I think the themes in this film are timeless. They do not age. I am going to talk about them below.
This movie is very interesting in that it was made in 1949 so a lot of things could not be shown or said. Controversial topics covered though are the American dream and the lust for sex, money, power, and social standing juxtaposed against ethics, righteousness, and morality. There is also the issue of abortion (not sure if it was legal at that time in America) but it is talked about in a classy 1950s censorship way where you get it but it is only subtly hinted at. There is also the aspect of moral ambiguity in the film in that the viewer does not see the murder and must decide on whether or not the murderer is actually guilty or even whether he is guilty of negligence that warrants the death penalty. Another interesting thing about the movie is that the protagonist George (Clift) is flawed and not morally righteous. He is not a hero in the film but because we see the film though his eyes, it is possible to feel for him and like him and even in some ways identify with him which is also very dark for a movie of this time. Some of the movie is also very very dark in color which is very appropriate for this film and its dark themes as well as the fact that much could not be said or shown on camera but audiences will get it anyways from the hints.
I do feel that what happened to Alice could happen today. In fact there are many pregnant ladies, unfortunately, who have been murdered, even by their husbands, as they carry on affairs with other women. So, sadly, this story is very reminiscent to current crimes in the papers. However, I don't think I've seen a current film that tackles this subject.
At first I didn't really see what Angela (Taylor) saw in George (Clift) except that he is very good looking which, hey, when you are young, that is enough. Plus, she has a father who is supportive. It seems like they fall in love way too fast and I wonder if he would like her as much if she didn't have her status. But then again, he will be promoted within his uncle's company and they are young and, at least to me, she is more pure and innocent than he is and doesn't know what a life without her privilege would be like. And he is more of an opportunist.
I wasn't satisfied with the ending. I'm not sure why. Maybe I'm used to the happy Hollywood ending in classic films and I expect them and I'm frustrated when I can't have them even when the characters aren't righteous. I thought the religious aspect of it with the priest justifying George's conviction was a little bit dated. I do like the religiousness of the film juxtaposed with the pursuit of hedonism but I just felt that it simplified too much what had happened and was trying to make the viewer feel better about the outcome. The film is sad for everyone. No one in the movie is a saint and some characters are downright unlikeable at times. What's very modern here is that there is no happy ending for anyone in the film but life is like that sometimes.
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Die DVD ist gut, doch sollte man, wenn irgend möglich, die Originalversion ansehen. Die deutsche Synchronisation ist nicht sonderlich gut. Es gibt sogar, für einen Film aus dieser Zeit selten, etwas Bonusmaterial, wobwei auch Elizabeth Taylor zu Wort kommt.
Übrigens haben Clift und Taylor noch zwei Filme gemacht, die ebenfalls sehenswert sind: "Suddenly Last Summer" und "Raintree Country".
The paring of Elizabeth Tayor and Montgomery Clift is faultless. The opening scene links the two when George Eastman (Clift) is seen thumbing a lift and Angela Vickers (Elizabeth) drives past, klaxon horn hooting.
An example of similarity and contrast occurs in an early scene when George enters the factory. Earl Eastman (Keith Brasselle)walks past him, turns, and for a moment the faces of these two men are shown; so alike, and yet their circumstances are so different: Earl,son of the managing director, with all the advantages this brings. George, the outsider, poor, underprivileged, having worked as bell-hop, caddy etc., The point is made once more when Earl`s father Charles (Herbert Heyes) watches his son dressing for dinner. Earl notices his father`s observation and asks, `Is my tie on straight?` Charles laughs and says, `No, I was just thinking...` and the viewer needs no further explanation.
A contrast is also shown between the beauty of Angela and the plain Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) whom George dates despite company rules. A pivotal moment takes place when George, accompanied by Alice, passes a mission choir, one of the members being a ten - year - old boy who bares a striking resemblance to himself: will George continue on this path, or will he yield to the opportunity offered him to `better` himself? During the interim period when George is still torn between Angela and Alice, we hear, very faintly in the distance, two sounds that will later become more intrusive and symbolic: a barking dog and a police siren. these things seem to illustrate the conflict of desire. Also, is George influenced - subconiously - by a painting adorning the wall of his flat v.z. Sir John Millais`s picture of the drowned Ophelia, plus the illuminated flashing sign `Vickers`? Regarding the seduction scene, fate seems to take a hand with the cinema, the drunk, the parking-lot cop, and the rain.
In the death sequence, the camera lingers at the court - house, where George and Alice have been unable to marry due to Labor Day. Yes, George will return to the court - house, not as a bridegroom, but as a man accused of murder. The death scene is brilliantly handled, with the shadows, the water, the song of the loon and Franz Waxman`s music. Immediately after the murder, once more there is the symbolism of the barking dog. When George stumbles into some campers, he rouses a hound which barks madly; this is further emphasised when the District Attorney (Raymond Burr) grim, lame and formidable, seeks to quieten his Rotwieler. Later, in the meeting between George and Angela`s father (Shepperd Strudwick). Mr. Vickers gives his blessing to the couple`s engagement; although the scene ends peacefully, in the distance we again hear a yelping dog: Nemesis is closing in! During the court - room scene when the Attorney fetches in the boat as an exhibit, George catches his foot on a rope. This seems a foretaste of the fate which lies in store for him.
The final meeting between Angela and George is most poignant. I simply cannot understand the viewer who found it amusing. On the contrary, it is the most heart-rending scene ever filmed, equaled only by the final sequence in Chaplin`s `City Lights` It is not overacted, and when Angela declares `I`ll go on loving you for as long as I live` this cannot fail to bring tears; plus this sequence is helped by the music score.
A wonderful drama.
John Harman.
It does remind us of just how inflexible the social divides and economical divisions were and how they counted even with blood relations and even in a 'classless society' as America is and has often been referred to as.
The exploration of the rich and the not rich is stark in its realism, expressed by the emotions, desires and frustrations of the Montgomery Clift character and the girlfriend played by a young Shelley Winters, particularly as she is only too well aware of their separate choices, and hers are so limited compared to the boyfriend.
The torment that the couple feel is wonderfully acted. This film fits into the genre of 30/50s themes of 'injustices posited by society onto the poor'. Rather than focus entirely for drama on the court scenario, the film stays with the people and their relationships, leading up to and after the crime, ending with the final scenario of the condemned man. Very important and moving, definitely a very haunting film.