A Place in the Sun (1951) dir. George Stevens

Despite how heavily the melodrama weighs over the film, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift’s chemistry carries the film all the way to its tragic climax.

There’s something about Angela Vickers. George Eastman, the working-class nephew of the wealthy industrialist Charles Eastman, lands a job at the patriarch’s factory, where he starts dating his coworker Alice Tripp despite the company’s rules against dating in the workplace. However, once he meets the gorgeous socialite Angela Vickers, he falls hard and fast, inviting him down a path he cannot escape.

I’ve been fascinated with the career of Elizabeth Taylor for the past year or so, and this is remarkably the first film I’ve ever seen of hers. The chemistry between her and real-life friend Montgomery Clift is so electric it could cause a nationwide blackout. It’s no wonder George abandons the conventional Alice for the glamorous and seductive Angela. She represents everything Alice isn’t–she’s stunning, captivating, daring, and more importantly, indicative of upward mobility.

But the tragedy at the center of the film is what truly brings it all together. No character is spared. Alice meets a grisly end. Angela is left loving a criminal. And George is given the death penalty for murder. All those hopes of upward mobility vanished the minute George attempted to trade his old life with Alice for a new life with Angela.

There’s clearly something to be said about the influence between old money and new money. While Angela’s old money guarantees an easy ride through life and some risk of dating a rich industrialist’s working-class nephew, George can’t compete. He can try to aspire for that life all he wants to, but as long as he’s tied to Alice, he can’t have any of it. Ultimately, it shows how the novel American Dream can prove to be an illusion; no matter how hard one grasps for it, there are those who have the easy path, and those who have no path at all.

However, the intense melodrama of the film could get on my nerves. All of the characters are feeling so many emotions all at once it’s hard to attain any subtlety. Although considering the original title of the source material was An American Tragedy, it’s only fitting. For all the optimism the title A Place in the Sun gives, it’s not enough to warrant George Eastman a chance at success.