When George Stevens made a second movie based on Theodore Dreiser’s classic 1920’s novel, “An American Tragedy,” he chose three of Hollywood’s leading actors of the era, Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, which pretty much assured a big box office. But he also updated the classic story, renaming it “A Place in the Sun,” and setting it in the present time (circa 1950), thus introducing the tragic tale to a whole new audience.

Based on the true 1908 murder case of Chester Gillette, the story follows George Eastman (Montgomery Clift), the poor nephew of a wealthy industrialist, who is excluded from high society and given a blue-collar job at his uncle's factory. While ascending the ranks of the company, George becomes romantically involved with co-worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters). However, when he is introduced to socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor), he quickly falls for her, leading to a tragic love triangle.

In a review of the film upon its 1951 release, Variety writer Herb Golden noted that sex was a built-in quality of Dreiser’s novel, and that Stevens masterful direction of that aspect of the story assured it was included but in absolute good taste. Gold notes that it is a credit to Stevens’ work that the Breen office (movie censors) were “astonishingly cooperative,” a testament to Stevens excellence as a director.

Our fourth film in the 2023-24 Classic Film Series, The Great Directors, “A Place in the Sun” will be showing at 2 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11 and Saturday, Jan. 13, with introductory video commentary by Bates College film professor and Harbor Theater friend, Dr. Jon Cavallero.

Harbor Theater is located at 185 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. For more about the theater and future films, visit https://boothbaycinema.org.