A Place in the Sun (1951)

Star Rating: 3
Length of Film: 122 minutes
Director: George Stevens
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle, fred Clark, Raymond Burr, Herbert Heyes, Shepperd Strudwick, freida Inescort, Kathryn Givney, Walter Sande, ted de Corsia, John Ridgely, Lois Chartrand
Oscars: George Stevens (director), michael Wilson, Harry Brown (screenplay), William C. mellor (cinematography BW), Edith Head (costume), William Hornbeck (editing), Franz Waxman (music)
Oscar Nomination: George Stevens (best picture), Montgomery Clift (actor), Shelley Winters (actress)



George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) goes to work with his rich uncle, industrialist Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes), working in the factory. While working, George meets Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters) and they start dating. Alice rents a room at someone's house, and was uncomfortable inviting him in the house, George being a smooth talker, got himself into her room. Being 1951, we didn't SEE them, but they had a shot of the radio in the window, it being dark outside, and then the same shot, but it being light out.

George attends a party and meets socialite, Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), they immediately felt an attraction to one another. George starts hanging out with Angela more, and Alice finds a picture of them together in the newspaper. Alice calls George at Angela's house and announces that she's pregnant, and that he HAS to marry her. George makes an excuse to Angela, that a family member is sick, and runs off to meet Alice.

He meets Alice and they head to the courthouse. It ends up being Flag Day, so the offices are not open. They decide to rent a boat and float on the lake. In the back of his mind, he wanted to get rid of Alice. That would solve the whole baby and marriage thing, and he could pursue his relationship, with Angela. George rents a boat, she talks about their future and how happy she is, at that moment, he changes his mind. Alice stands up, rocks the boat, and falls in. Purely accidental, but he doesn't try to save her. He gets back in his car, and drives off to see Angela, and he pretends that nothing ever happened.

Alice's body reappeared, and there was a murder investigation, with George as the main suspect. The end of the movie switches to a courtroom drama, with an ending that is shocking; they just end it. George is walking down a hallway, and in big bold letter, "THE END" shows up on the screen. Viewers, you have to remember, this was set it 1951, they weren't allowed to show certain things.

The movie was enlightening to see what women acted like in the 1950's. Especially a woman who got married out of wedlock. I mean...she turned into demanding bitch. I asked my grandma about it, and she said a lot of women purposefully got pregnant so they'd have to get married, to trap the guy, which I think is AWFUL!

Elizabeth Taylor was flawlessly beautiful. She was only 17 years old when they started filming. Her skin is flawless and you never would've known that she was a teenager. Acting skills was just okay. She didn't have to stretch far to play the "rich girl". If I was Montgomery Clift, I would have passed on this script. Why would he want to choose a role where he had a girlfriend, cheated on her with someone new, knocked one of them up, and then thought about murder? Not the kind of role I'd want to be remembered by.