A Place in the Sun(1951) is a film which tells the story of a working class young man who is entangled with two women, one who works in his wealthy uncle's factory and the other a beautiful socialite. It stars Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Keefe Brasselle and Raymond Burr. The film is best known for the celebrated dance scene between Clift and Taylor, shot in extreme closeup by director George Stevens.*
The movie was adapted by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson from the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and the adapted play by Patrick Kearney. It was directed by George Stevens. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
A Place in the Sun is enlightening, heartbreaking, and really one of those few films which maintain the perfect pace and keep you on the edge of your seat -- absolutely one of the all time greats. The film's narrative centers around Clift's moral and sexual ambiguity.
* Luckily that very famous scene is on youtube. It's not as beautiful as the goodbye scene at the Tiki-torch party IMO, nor the movie's final-farewell scene, but a nice example of the masterful aesthetics in the film.
