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CibbuanoA Place in the Sun
November 23rd 2006 06:34
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Montgomery Clift was a rising star who looked like he was headed for the top. He was Marlon Brando's Golden Twin, the proto-James Dean, he was Montgomery fucking Clift! The man on the crest of the new wave of sensitive actors. He made a series of memorable films with memorable performances, but behind the scenes his private life was one of anguish and torment fuelled by self-loathing, alcoholism and closeted homosexuality. In 1956 he almost wiped himself out in a car accident and needed extensive facial reconstruction - his delicate and beautiful features were gone forever, and over the next ten years he drowned his sorrows in alcohol and pain-killers until he died in 1966. A promising legacy of films cut short by tragedy. 'A Place in the Sun' is just one of the classic films he made before his career stalled in that car crash, and is every bit the American Dream-gone-sour that his life would become too.
Clift is George, a working class youngster who yearns for 'a place in the sun', in other words - a better life, the American Dream. He works at his uncle's factory and falls in love with a co-worker there, Alice (a young Shelley Winters, before she went to pot), they begin a relationship, do what lovers do, and it seems like Clift is headed for a typical working class adulthood with the classic girl-next-door.
But he also meets Angela (the radiant Elizabeth Taylor), a beautiful and sophisticed socialite, and - against the odds - they fall in love too. What follows is high Hollywood romance. George, who can see a possible shining life of dreams-come-true in Angela, strings Alice along as a backup girlfriend. When it looks like he and Angela might make it, he decides he must break it off with Alice. Only, it isn't that simple - Alice has fallen pregnant and wants George to marry her. George entertains thoughts of murdering her, and takes her out on a lake with a view to drowning her. Suffice to say, she dies, and a harrowing court case follows - showing the tragedy in all it's pathetic glory.
We're told that Alice's death is an accident in the film, that George decides not to go through with his murder but that tragic circumstances seal Alice's fate. In the book that 'A Place in the Sun' is based on (the more blatantly titled 'An American Tragedy') it is more ambiguous... Clift's character lets his pregnant girlfriend drown when he could've saved her. In the film, he does try to save her - the filmmakers were forced to ammend the narrative in this way thanks to the restrictive Hays Code (Hollywood's self-imposed censorship guidelines in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s). It's a shame, as it dilutes the films themes a little, but I guess the filmmakers have to be commended for making the controversial film at all in the near-puritanical era it was made in, and the story's core and integrity remains nonetheless.
'A Place in the Sun' is a certified classic drama about the American Dream gone wrong. Previously, films about the American Dream as a concept and the ways it can lead it's denizens astray were mainly those of a gangster-nature. 'A Place in the Sun' was one of the first films to deal with the concept's tragic nature in regards to the common or working class man. The film also deals with capital punishment and the class gap in middle-20th century America, and features first rate performances from the three main principles. It also features some stunning cinematography and classy direction courtesy of the esteemable George Stevens (who also directed 'Shane' and 'Giant'). A real first class act.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
A film I never tire of watching, amazing perfromances and superb direction. A faultless, layered script full of relevance. What a movie.
I have appropriately gushed, this is must see for any era.