A Place in the sun

Director George Steven’s fought hard to make this powerful adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s award-winning novel, “An American Tragedy”. Controversial and damning of the capitalist ethics of greed, this is a Hollywood melodrama of considerable insight and integrity. Montgomery Clift plays a young man from a poor religious family who begins working in his Uncle’s factory. He is attracted to the humble Alice (Shelley Winters) who works on the factory floor, but it is the rich Miss Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) who he desperately wishes to love. She is a symbol of the status and wealth which he believes, as an American, is his due. When Alice falls pregnant and he realises all his hopes for success may be destroyed, he begins to slowly, painfully descend to thoughts of murder. With stunning performances by all three stars, a literate script and sumptuous direction by George Stevens, this is a labour of love deserving of its success. Winner of six Academy Awards.