Review – A Place in the Sun

As I’m too lazy to read Dreiser’s novel, I expect this second movie version will probably have to do me. Montgomery Clift does a somewhat uninspiring job as George Eastman, a man stuck between the woman he loves (Elizabeth Taylor) and the woman he’s impregnated (Shelly Winters). Clift plays Eastman as a man overwhelmed by his own circumstances. That’s understandable when he’s trying to live the beautiful life with his true love while covering up his dreary little secret. Trouble is, the character seems befuddled right from the outset. It’s hard to share the character’s moral anguish when deciding whether or not to kill his ex-girlfriend, because he seems like he’d have the same sort of trouble trying to pick between paper and plastic. Clift aside, the supporting cast does a good job working with a good script. The courtroom drama toward the end struck me as unnecessary, but it effectively kept the suspense going. Mildly amusing