A Place in the Sun (film)


A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American drama film based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the 1926 play, also titled An American Tragedy. It tells the story of a working-class young man who is entangled with two women: one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory, and the other a beautiful socialite. Another adaptation of the novel had been filmed once before, as An American Tragedy, in 1931. All these works were inspired by the real-life murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in 1906, which resulted in Gillette's conviction and execution by electric chair in 1908.
A Place in the Sun was directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, and stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters; its supporting actors included Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr.
The film was a critical and commercial success, winning six Academy Awards and the first-ever Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama. In 1991, A Place in the Sun was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In 1950, George Eastman, the poor nephew of rich industrialist Charles Eastman, arrives in town following a chance encounter with his uncle while working as a bellhop in a Chicago hotel. The elder Eastman invites George to visit him if and when he ever comes to town, and the ambitious young man takes advantage of the offer. Despite George's family relationship to the Eastmans, they regard him as something of an outsider, but his uncle nevertheless offers him an entry-level job at his factory. George, uncomplaining, hopes to impress his uncle with his hard work and earn his way up. While working in the factory, George starts dating fellow factory worker Alice Tripp, in defiance of the workplace rules. Alice is a poor and inexperienced girl who is dazzled by George and slow to believe that his Eastman name brings him no advantages.
Over time, George begins a slow move up the corporate ladder into a supervisory position in the department where he began. He has submitted recommendations on improving production in his department, which finally catch the attention of his uncle, who invites him to their home for a social event. At the party, George finally meets "society girl" Angela Vickers, whom he has admired from afar since shortly after arriving in town, and they quickly fall in love. Being Angela's escort thrusts George into the intoxicating and care-free lifestyle of high society that his rich Eastman kin had denied him. When Alice announces that she is pregnant and makes it clear that she expects George to marry her, he puts her off, spending more and more of his time with Angela and his new well-heeled friends. An attempt to procure an abortion for Alice fails, and she renews her insistence on marriage. George is invited to join Angela at the Vickers's holiday lake house over Labor Day and excuses himself to Alice, saying that the visit will advance his career and accrue to the benefit of the coming child.
George and Angela spend time at secluded Loon Lake, where Angela tells George the story of a couple's supposed drowning there, with the man's body never being found.
Meanwhile, Alice finds a picture in the newspaper of George and Angela boating with friends, and realizes that George lied to her about his intentions for wanting to go to the lake. During a dinner which is attended by the Eastman and Vickers families, George appears to be on the verge of finally advancing into the business and social realm that he has long sought. However, Alice phones the house during the dinner party and asks to speak with George. She tells him that she is at the bus station and that if he does not come to get her, she will come to where he is and expose him. Visibly shaken, he announces to the families that his mother is ill and that he must leave, but promises Angela that he will return. The next morning, George and Alice drive to City Hall to get married but they find it closed for Labor Day. George is relieved. Remembering the story Angela had told him about the drowned couple, and knowing that Alice can't swim, George suggests spending the day at the nearby lake; Alice unsuspectingly agrees.
When they get to the lake, George pulls the car's choke to feign it being out of gas in order to hide the car in the woods. He acts nervously when he rents a boat from a man who seems to deduce that George gave him a false name; the man's suspicions are aroused more when George asks him whether any other boaters are on the lake. While they are out on the lake, Alice talks about her dreams concerning their happy future together with their child. As George apparently takes pity on her, Alice tries to stand up in the boat, causing it to capsize, and Alice drowns.
George escapes, swims to shore, behaves suspiciously when he comes across campers on his way back to the car, and eventually drives to the Vickers' lodge. There, he tries to relax, but is increasingly tense. He says nothing to anyone about having been on the lake or about what happened there. Meanwhile, Alice's body is discovered and her death is treated as a murder almost from the first moment, while an abundant amount of evidence and witness reports stack up against George. Just as Angela's father approves Angela's marriage to him, George is arrested and charged with Alice's murder. George's furtive actions before and after Alice's death condemn him. His denials are futile, and he is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair. Near the end, he agrees when the priest suggests that, although he did not kill Alice, he did not act to save her because he was thinking of Angela. The priest then states that, in his heart, it was murder.
Later, Angela visits George in prison, saying that she will always love him, and George slowly marches toward his execution.

Censorship

In a November 14, 1949 letter from the Production Code Administration, Joseph I. Breen pointed out an issue regarding the dialogue between Alice and her doctor. Breen cautioned against direct references to abortion, specifically the line in the script in which Alice says, "Doctor, you've got to help me." In the finished film, the line became, "Somebody's got to help me", and while abortion is possibly implied, the film does not include any actual mention of it.

Cast

The film earned an estimated $3.5 million at the US and Canadian box office, and earned critical acclaim in 1951.
Upon seeing the film, Charlie Chaplin called it "the greatest movie ever made about America".
The film's acclaim did not completely hold up over time. Reappraisals of the film find that much of what was exciting about the film in 1951 is not as potent in the 21st century. Critics cite the soporific pace, the exaggerated melodrama, and the outdated social commentary as qualities present in A Place in the Sun that are not present in the great films of the era, such as those by Alfred Hitchcock and Elia Kazan, although the performances by Clift, Taylor, and Winters continue to receive praise.
Still, many consider the film to be a classic. It was listed at #92 in American Film Institute's 1998 list 100 Years...100 Movies, and #53 in 100 Years...100 Passions in 2002, while the film holds a strong 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2013, the British Film Institute re-released the picture across the United Kingdom because of its significant merit.

Awards and nominations

AwardCategoryNomineeResult
Academy AwardsBest Motion PictureGeorge Stevens
Academy AwardsBest DirectorGeorge Stevens
Academy AwardsBest ActorMontgomery Clift
Academy AwardsBest ActressShelley Winters
Academy AwardsBest ScreenplayMichael Wilson and Harry Brown
Academy AwardsBest Cinematography – Black-and-WhiteWilliam C. Mellor
Academy AwardsBest Costume Design – Black-and-WhiteEdith Head
Academy AwardsBest Film EditingWilliam Hornbeck
Academy AwardsBest Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy PictureFranz Waxman
Cannes Film FestivalGrand PrixGeorge Stevens
Directors Guild of America AwardsOutstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion PicturesGeorge Stevens
Golden Globe AwardsBest Motion Picture – DramaA Place in the Sun
Golden Globe AwardsBest Actress in a Motion Picture – DramaShelley Winters
Golden Globe AwardsBest Director – Motion PictureGeorge Stevens
Golden Globe AwardsBest Cinematography – Black and WhiteWilliam C. Mellor
Nastro d'ArgentoBest Foreign DirectorGeorge Stevens
National Board of Review AwardsBest FilmA Place in the Sun
National Board of Review AwardsA Place in the Sun
National Film Preservation BoardNational Film RegistryA Place in the Sun
New York Film Critics Circle AwardsBest ActressShelley Winters
New York Film Critics Circle AwardsBest DirectorGeorge Stevens
Producers Guild of America AwardsHall of Fame – Motion PicturesA Place in the Sun
Writers Guild of America AwardsBest Written DramaMichael Wilson and Harry Brown
Writers Guild of America AwardsBest Written Film Concerning American SceneMichael Wilson and Harry Brown