Film Friday: "A Place in the Sun" (1951)
This week on "Film Friday" I bring you a film that had its premiere exactly 64 years ago. Apparently, Charlie Chaplin described it as "the greatest movie ever made about America." Original release poster Directed by George Stevens, A Place in the Sun (1951) tells the story of George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), an uneducated but ambitious young man who hitchhikes from Chicago to meet up with his wealthy uncle Charles Eastman (Herbert Heyes), the owner of a bathing suit factory. Despite George's family relation to the Eastmans, they regard him as something of an outsider, but his uncle nevertheless gives him a position as an assembly line worker at the factory. While dating between co-workers is strictly forbidden, George soon begins a relationship with Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), a poor and inexperienced girl who never learned how to swim. Over time, George proves himself in the company and gets promoted to supervisor in the department where he b...