*I do not own any images in this post, all credits are linked below*
You’ve struggled with keeping a job for the past few years, you haven’t had a proper education, and you’ve moved to a place that is unknown to you. Luckily, you have a wealthy uncle who owns a huge company selling swimsuits, and he is generous enough to give you a job there. You are flung suddenly into a circle of socialites, among a class to which you do not belong. The next day, your cousin shows you around the main building of the company and sets you up in the boxing department. The only catch is, most of the employees around you are of the opposite sex, and the first, and biggest, rule of the company is not to socialise or romanticise among them. This immediately becomes a problem when you fall in love with one of the box-checkers. You and your lover hide your relationship from your family. You keep this hushed for a while, but then you are faced with another problem. Your uncle throws a party among the biggest names in the company, high-class snobs and you don't know any of them. While there, you’re faced with your next biggest challenge, you fall in love with a young socialite that is associated with your uncle’s monopoly, and the socialite falls in love with you. From here on, you lead a double life, both of your lovers never finding out about the other. It’s a fight and a struggle to keep both entertained, and when you finally grow tired of your first love, it’s too late to be pushed to the side. What are you supposed to do? Your mind travels to a place you wish that it wouldn’t. You’ve got to rid yourself of your first lover somehow. You set it up perfectly, but when the time comes, you can’t make yourself become a murderer, it’s not in your heart. Unfortunately, things happen naturally, and an accident occurs. What’s worse is that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you will be framed for murder. What can you do about it? Do you run for your life, or do you freeze? You know you’ll be caught, but what you’re more afraid of is what will happen to you when you are.
A Place in the Sun is a classic drama directed by George Stevens. The tragedy stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters. This film won a whopping 15 awards, and was nominated for 10! It is a dramatic masterpiece, and credits go to the book it is based on: An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser. George Stevens truly displayed his ability to bring to life the horrific story of George Eastman, Angela Vickers, and Alice Tripp, and their tragic love triangle.
The suspense-filled romance of A Place in the Sun both warms and chills the audience. Stevens throws his viewers into a Gatsby-like fiction that could so easily be reality. Montgomery Clift is forever known for his melancholic roles, and this film best displays it. His character of George Eastman is done to perfection. It looks and feels natural, not once would the audience think he was putting on a facade. Elizabeth Taylor’s role was nothing short of perfect too. She plays the fun-loving, whimsical Angela Vickers. Her character is pure and innocent, which is why she and Clift make such a pair. Though Shelley Winters isn’t the main focus of the film, her part is crucial to the tragedy. She fills the role of Alice Tripp with ease that also seems incredibly natural.
This film will keep you intrigued for its entirety. Speaking honestly and from experience, you cannot pause this film. One of the best qualities of George Steven’s directing is how he hooks his audience from the very start, and even with a movie based on a novel, he makes his viewers feel the emotions of the characters and placed the roles very strategically with their prospective actors. A Place in the Sun is a piece of cinematic history because of the story it tells, and the shocking reality that this tragedy is not restricted to screen performance. Anyone who watches this will be faced with the awful truth of a life washed down the drain of guilt and disdain.
If you have watched A Place in the Sun, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of it!
Image Credits:
Poster: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/A_Place_in_the_Sun_%281951_poster%29.jpg
Ms. Taylor: https://i.imgur.com/YDV4QvW.jpg
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