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Don't listen to the negative reviews

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

For starters - I had always thought that actor Montgomery Clift was just another empty-headed, Hollywood "pretty-boy", and, basically, nothing more than that. But his portrayal in A Place In The Sun (APITS, for short) proved to me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he was really quite a gifted performer.In my opinion, it was definitely Clift's heartfelt portrayal as the tragic George Eastman character who gave APITS's story of social snobbery and murder its depth and its meaning. I'd say that it was Clift, alone, who carried this film over its many flaws and clichés to its riveting, melodramatic conclusion.Yes. Of course, it certainly did help APITS's overall success that the gorgeous, 19-year-old Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Angela Vickers, the sole focus of George's hopes, his dreams and his burning desire.But once poor George became hopelessly involved with pretty, young Angela, this viewer could easily understand what heady and emotional turmoil drove him at first to contemplate and then commit the ultimate "crime of passion".If you ask me - I think that even today, 66 years later, this depiction of the "American Tragedy" holds up surprisingly well. It's a film that has somehow managed to avoid that inevitable "dated" feeling which seems to plague so many pictures from that particular era.

George Steven's high-calibre drama, a six-times Oscar winner (including BEST DIRECTOR and SCREENPLAY), is a tellingly puissant moral lesson adapted from Theodore Dreiser's novel, AN American TRAGEDY, inspired by real event. A working-class young man George Eastman (Clift), comes to town to work for his industrialist uncle Charles Eastman (Heyes), strives to fight for a better future, but begins to bog down into a dilemma when his low-class girlfriend Alice Tripp (Winters) gets pregnant and puts pressure on an immediate marriage, whilst a gorgeous socialite Angela Vickers (Taylor), whom he secretly admires, surprisingly reciprocates her affections.Any advice to solve George's dilemma? Not hindsight wisdom, yet the truth is, if that (highly uncommon) scenario would happen to anybody, under such a tempting circumstances, a rosy future with the perfect woman a man could ever dream of, the idea of dispatching the poor Alice would lurk around pretty certainly to any morally deficient social climbers, so despite the horrific act (Alice's pregnancy has never been put into foreground to exacerbate the crusade against George during the trial), we audience tends to sympathise with him, plus, the film intentionally omits what happened after the boat was capsized, in the eyes of viewers, it is an emotionally perturbed Alice herself causes the capsize of the boat at the first place, only in the court, George tries to re-enact what was happening then, even his side of story is scarcely credible, there is tiny possibility that he is "innocent", and what's more disturbing is that, subconsciously, we do hope he is!That's where lies the strength of this slow-burner, as George could be anything but "innocent", simply because even if he had not done anything to harm Alice, just lets it happen when a landlubber like her was drowning to her death, is another form of murder. He has the perfect motive, and his not-doing is exactly the helping hand to facilitate Alice's death.Why then, our commiserations are more inclining to George than to Alice, first of all, it is Montgomery Clift's unrivalled and wonderfully consistent performance, a misfit being ricocheted onto a wrong echelon, who awkwardness is painfully visible. Just when he decides to accept the reality to stay where he belongs, a windfall sweeps off his feet, which ensues a turbulent battle of human frailties and moral senses underneath of his humble physique and perpetually preoccupied minds. Mr. Clift even masks any edgy aspects of George's personality, to make his actions even more ambivalent, either he is a ruthless schemer putting on a masterful front to play meek and try to evade punishment, or he is a tragic character, passively devoured by the twist of fate. And even up until the final scene, we can not tell which one is the real George Eastman, in my book, that's a top-drawer achievement for the thespian.Secondly, Ms. Winters' Alice, exists more than just the unfortunate prey, when a woman has to literally blackmail her boyfriend with pregnancy into marrying her, apart from blaming an unjust social environment towards women, the truth is, they will never reach a happy ending, Alice is miserable but equally as selfish as George, bovine and unglamorous, the flagrant contrast between her and Angela, is another excuse for George's road-of-no-return. A trifle of misogyny and female objectification can be discerned, but in Ms. Winters' defence, she delivers a palpably soul- pulverising coup-de-maître, notably in the scene with the doctor to insinuate an abortion, and her final in-your-face accusation and hyperbole on the boat.There is a 16-year-old Elizabeth Taylor, a child star transmogrifies to a fabulous screen goddess overnight, her voice is crispy and untainted, so is her off-screen rapport and affection to Mr. Clift, mirroring Angela's undying love for George, an avatar of perfection too good to be true in reality, extant on the silver celluloid only. It is her angelic face and seductive kiss remain in George's last moments, something worth dying for in its literal meaning. Oscar-winner, the limelight-stealing character actress Anne Revere has a small cameo as George's religious mother, whose film career ended abruptly after this due to being on the infamous "Hollywood blacklist", which prompted a nearly 20-years gap of absence in her filmography.Mr. Stevens takes great patience and pain to elicit striking endeavour from his cast, and his unpretentious method of channeling the narrative arc with a deft hand of juxtaposed editing, pays off handsomely in its end-product, especially considering how they could manage to sidestep the Hays Code while retain its dramatic pathos and inspire contemplation of its thorny subject matter, a Black-and-White classic truly worth its fame and praise.

George Eastman (Montgomery Clift) leaves his religious mother hitchhike from Chicago to California and his uncle wealthy Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes). His uncle offers him an entry job at the factory and the rest of his family are dismissive of his poor nephew. Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor) is an upper class friend of the son. George starts to date fellow line worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters). Then he gets involved with Angela. Alice gets pregnant after that first night and fears losing George.This is melodrama of the highest or the lowest order depending on your taste. The directions are pretty stiff and it slows down the movie. The scenes are long, uncut and not that interesting. I want to say that the acting is good but I think the personas of the actors are what's on display. I notice that Shelley Winters isn't even shown her face as she tearfully tells George about getting in 'trouble'. Taylor is her glamorous self. Clift is the ultra sensitive and somewhat pathetic guy. In the end, I don't like George and I don't see anything romantic about him. I also don't like the trial which is anti-climatic. The three main actors do an admirable job and keeps this from being pedestrian.

Brilliant drama. Was going to say "crime-drama" but it is much more than that. Starts out as a romance and general relationship drama and then evolves into something more and a whole letter better. Retains its sense of romance until the end, but throws in many topical issues along the way (validity, or otherwise, of the death penalty being one of them).Excellent plot. The way the movie evolves from a small town human drama to a crime drama and courtroom drama is incredible, and totally unpredictable. Even in the final scene you don't know how things are going to work out.Superb directing from George Stevens. Hitchcockian in some of his uses of camera angles, and Billy Wilder-like in his presentation of human lives and tragedy.The movie will be mostly remembered for the magnetic, sensitive performance from Montgomery Clift. Known for portraying deep, emotional characters, Clift doesn't disappoint here. Plus, here he shows a darker side too. Well deserved his Best Actor Oscar nomination and unlucky not to win.Shelley Winters also deserved her Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of Alice. Played the shy, sweet, unassuming, unpretentious character to perfection.No nomination for Elizabeth Taylor but she lights up the screen in every scene she is in. Stunningly beautiful.Interesting to see Raymond Burr as the District Attorney. Good work by him.A classic.