A Place in the Sun (1951) | |
| Director(s) | George Stevens |
| Producer(s) | Ivan Moffat (associate), George Stevens |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation, Romance |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Book-Based |
Featured Cast:
A Place in the Sun Overview:
A Place in the Sun (1951) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by George Stevens and produced by George Stevens and Ivan Moffat.
The film was based on the novel An American Tragedy written by Theodore Dreiser published in 1925.
SYNOPSIS
A landmark, blockbuster melodrama about class striving and the loss of a man's moral bearings. This remake of the 1930 von Sternberg film based on the Dreiser novel An American Tragedy updates the setting to a '50s resort town in upstate New York. A beautiful, rich girl (Taylor) gives a handsome young laborer (Clift) entree to her world of privilege through a powerful, overwhelming passion. Just as he sees himself leaving behind a lifetime of wage slavery, his plain, needy former girlfriend (Winters) reveals that she's pregnant. Wracked with guilt and longing, he takes her for a last ride on the lake. When she accidentally drowns, he is tried for murder. A national sensation, with performances that etched Taylor and Clift, who began a lifelong friendship, in the public mind; even the party dress Taylor wears became a best-seller.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.A Place in the Sun was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1991.
Academy Awards 1960 --- Ceremony Number 33 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actor | Montgomery Clift | Nominated |
| Best Actress | Shelley Winters | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | William C. Mellor | Won |
| Best Costume Design | Edith Head | Won |
| Best Director | George Stevens | Won |
| Best Film Editing | William Hornbeck | Won |
| Best Music - Scoring | Franz Waxman | Won |
| Best Picture | George Stevens, Producer | Nominated |
| Best Writing | Michael Wilson, Harry Brown | Won |
| Best Animated Short Film | Frantisek Vystrecil, Producer | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
Review: A Place in the Sun (1951)
By 4 Star Film Fan on May 31, 2018 From 4 Star FilmsGeorge Stevens is only one among a plethora of filmmakers who came back from WWII changed. He had seen a great deal of the world’s ugliness — Dachau Concentration Camp for instance — and as a result, the films he made thereafter were more mature ruminations on humanity at large. Ad... Read full article
A Place in the Sun (1951)
By Beatrice on Jul 25, 2015 From Flickers in TimeA Place in the Sun Directed by George Stevens Written by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson from a play by Patrick Kearney and the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 1951/USA Paramount Pictures Repeat viewing/Netflix rental #249 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die George Eastman: I ... Read full article
A Place in the Sun (1951)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Mar 10, 2014 From 4 Star FilmsIn this film starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, with George Stevens directing, a young man (Clift) tries to rise up in his uncle’s company. He is poorly-educated yet ambitious and he slowly moves up in the Eastman?business. While he works George begins to fall fo... Read full article
A Place in the Sun (1951)
By 4 Star Film Fan on Mar 10, 2014 From 4 Star FilmsIn this film starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, with George Stevens directing, a young man (Clift) tries to rise up in his uncle’s company. He is poorly-educated yet ambitious and he slowly moves up in the Eastman?business. While he works George begins to fall fo... Read full article
A Place in the Sun (1951)
By Aurora on Mar 2, 2014 From Once Upon a ScreenThe nominees for Best Motion Picture in 1952 for film achievements in 1951?were Vincente Minnelli’s An American in Paris, Anatole Litvak’s Decision Before Dawn, George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun, Mervyn LeRoy’s Quo Vadis, and Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire. ?It ... Read full article
See all A Place in the Sun articles
Quotes from
Angela: Tell mama... tell mama all.
Angela: Goodbye, George.
[half-turns away and then looks back]
Angela: Seems like we always spend the best part of our time just saying goodbye.
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Facts about
Paramount was reluctant to make the film, as it had already put Theodore Dreiser's novel on the screen in 1931 under its original title, An American Tragedy. The studio's lack of commitment ultimately changed when director George Stevens sued them for preventing him from working and therefore breaching his contract.
George Stevens often referred to Technicolor as having an "Oh what a beautiful morning" quality to it, something completely inappropriate to the tone of this film, hence it was made in black and white.
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