A Place in the Sun (1951)

A Place in the Sun is based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, which was based on real events. It won 6 Oscars, including best director, best editing, best music and best screenplay.

George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) is a man without a lot of education. He is invited by his succesful uncle (played by Herbert Heyes) to come over and work for him. Because he’s not really adapted for the higher social circles he receives a very simple job working in one of the factories. Because there are a lot of women working there as well it is not allowed to have relationships with other factory workers.

But as these things go, sometimes the flesh is weak and George has several dates with Alice (Shelley Winters), one of the women he works with. When he sees the wealthy Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) he immediately falls in love with her and tries to sneak away from Alice whenever he can to spend some time with her.
When Alice tells her that she’s pregnant he sees all his dreams go up in smoke. While spending some time at his uncle’s vacation spot he hears the story of a couple that drowned in the lake. Is this the solution for his problem?

Although it was possible at the time to make this movie in colour, the decision was made to stick to black and white. Reason for this was the feeling that a Technicolor would be too bright for the story. It’s a logical decision, although I don’t think that it would have mattered if it had been filmed in Technicolor, as you already know about George’s dark thoughts. You can see him struggling with his emotions, even when he’s spending time with Angela.
Without telling too much about the ending, it poses an interesting question which you could discuss for hours. At which point is someone guilty of something? It’s a question that was also raised in Minority Report. Are you guilty when you think something bad?

A Place in the Sun has an interesting story, poses interesting questions and has a lot of great sets. Elisabeth Taylor looks mesmerizing and I wasn’t surprised to find out that Shelley Winters was not happy about her own depiction in the movie. It is something she is rumored to have struggled with, even years after the movie.

Score: 8