A Place in the Sun (1951 film)

A Place in the Sun
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Stevens
Screenplay by	Michael Wilson Harry Brown
Based on	An American Tragedy 1925 novel by Theodore Dreiser An American Tragedy 1926 play by Patrick Kearney
Produced by	George Stevens
Starring	Montgomery Clift Elizabeth Taylor Shelley Winters Keefe Brasselle
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Edited by	William Hornbeck
Music by	Franz Waxman
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 5, 1951 (1951-04-05) (Cannes Film Festival) August 14, 1951 (1951-08-14) (Los Angeles)[1]
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.3 million
Box office	$7 million

A Place in the Sun is a 1951 American tragedy film directed by George Stevens from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, based on the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and a 1926 play of the same title. The novel had been adapted for the screen as An American Tragedy in 1931. The story was inspired by the murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette in 1906, which resulted in Gillette's conviction and execution by electric chair in 1908.^[2]

A Place in the Sun stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters and Keefe Brasselle. Raymond Burr's performance impressed TV producer Gail Patrick, who later cast him as Perry Mason.^{[citation needed]}

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".

George Eastman, the poor nephew of rich industrialist Charles Eastman, is offered an entry-level job at his uncle's factory. Contrary to company rules, he begins secretly dating coworker Alice Tripp. Infatuated with George, Alice believes that George's famous surname will bring her advantages. Charles invites George to a social event, where George meets socialite Angela Vickers. They have a mutual attraction and fall in love. Just as George enters the carefree lifestyle of his new life with Angela, Alice discloses that she is pregnant and expects George to marry her. Avoiding Alice, George continues to spend more time with Angela without Alice's knowledge. When invited to Angela's family lake house for Labor Day, George tells Alice that the visit to the influential circle will advance his career. Alice discovers George's lie after seeing a newspaper photograph of George and Angela boating with friends. Calling George at the Vickers home, Alice threatens to go there to reveal herself unless he leaves and returns to her. Shaken, George tells his hosts his mother is sick and he must leave.

The next morning, George and Alice drive to City Hall to marry, but it is closed for the holiday. George is relieved; remembering that Alice cannot swim, he plans to drown her in the lake by faking an accident. Unsuspecting, Alice agrees to the outing at the lake. George attempts to conceal the upcoming murder by falsely stranding his car in the woods and renting a rowboat under a false name. While they are on the lake, Alice discusses her dreams concerning their happy future together with their child. As George appears to take pity on her, Alice tries to stand in the boat, causing it to capsize. Both fall into the water; George saves himself, but Alice drowns.

George escapes, swims to shore, behaves suspiciously when he comes across campers on his way back to the car, and drives to the Vickers' lodge. He does not report the accident. Alice's body is discovered, and her death is treated as a homicide as the evidence against George begins to mount. Just as Angela's father approves Angela's marriage to him, George is arrested and charged with 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. As he is awaiting execution, George discusses his belief that he is not guilty of murder with a priest. The priest suggests that although George did not kill Alice, he did not act to save her because he was thinking of Angela; in his heart, it was murder. Angela visits George in prison, professing her love, and George slowly marches toward his execution.

On November 14, 1949, a letter from the Production Code Administration's Joseph I. Breen identified a worrisome issue with 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 it is implied that Alice does not want the baby, the film avoids mentioning it.^[3]

In 1965, director George Stevens threatened to sue any television stations for that inserted commercials into the film without his approval.^[4]

The film was afforded a lavish premiere at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills on August 14, 1951 that was attended by many Hollywood stars.

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler called the film "a work of beauty, tenderness, power and insight" and wrote:

"A Place in the Sun" emerges as a credit to both the motion-picture craft and, we feel reasonably certain, the author's major intentions. Out of Dreiser's often murky and turgid tale of the Twenties—now the present—the stream of words in "An American Tragedy," as has been noted many times previously, was not easy to navigate—scenarists Michael Wilson and Harry Brown have distilled the essence of tragedy and romance that is both moving and memorable. Retained, too, in this two-hour drama—representing the painstakingly edited end result of hundreds of thousands of feet of material shot—are characterizations which cleave to the Dreiser originals. And it is a tribute to deft dramatization that the young principals are projected as fully as the maelstrom of life in which they are trapped and with which they are unable to cope. ... Despite the fact that this version of Dreiser's tragedy may be criticized—academically, we think—for its length or deviations from the author's pattern, "A Place in the Sun'' is a distinguished work, a tribute, above all, to its producer-director and an effort now placed among the ranks of the finest films to have come from Hollywood in several years.^[5]

Critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "This is a remarkably fine screen rendition ... There have been many advance reports about the film's excellence. In no wise do they diminish the actual impact of the poignant story of an ambitious youth, who becomes involved in a strange sinister web of romance, loses his chance in the world and his opportunity to win happiness through the radiant love of a young girl of high social caste. The picture not only has its appeal, but its lesson to offer the public. The combination of the two will make it a memorable event for filmgoers."^[1]

The film earned an estimated $3.5 million at the U.S. and Canadian box offices, and earned critical acclaim in 1951.^[6][7] Upon viewing the film, Charlie Chaplin called it "the greatest movie ever made about America",^[8] while film critic Pauline Kael called it a self-consciously paralyzed imitation of European art.^[9]

The white party dress with its bust covered with flower blossoms that was designed by Edith Head and worn by Elizabeth Taylor became the most popular prom dress style in the U.S. in 1951^[11] and influenced prom and wedding-dress design for the rest of the decade.^[12]

• Tibbetts, John C., and James M. Welsh, eds. The Encyclopedia of Novels Into Film (2nd ed. 2005) pp. 15–17.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to A Place in the Sun (film).

• A Place in the Sun at IMDb
• A Place in the Sun at the TCM Movie Database (archived version)
• A Place in the Sun at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• A Place in the Sun (archived) at TV Guide
• A Place in the Sun at Filmsite.org
• A Place in the Sun at Rotten Tomatoes