Weblog #8 "A Place in the Sun"

A Place in the Sun (1951) is a film based on a novel by Theodore Dreiser titled "An American Tragedy." Directed by George Stevens, this film focuses on George Eastman, the nephew of a wealthy executive who strives to move up in the business world. While first working for his uncle, George meets fellow worker Alice and the two begin a secret romance, as the workers are not to associate or date one another. His affection for her, however, diminishes when George meets Angela and the two begin seeing each other. While this romance grows very serious, Alice learns she is pregnant. Because George has never come clean to Alice about his love for Angela, Alice expects him to marry her and help raise the child. The remainder of the film deals with George's struggle to remain close to Angela while also dealing with the troubles brought on by Alice's situation. He does not want to leave Alice stranded, yet his love for Angela has him constantly pushing her aside until she finally asserts herself and leaves him no choice but to marry him.

The climax of the film comes when George takes Alice for a boat ride out on a secluded lake with the brief intention of drowning her. He most likely assumes that the end of Alice's life would mean the end of his problems, and he would then be able to live happily with Angela and continue to move up in the business world. Once on the lake, however, George has a slight change of heart and realizes he cannot kill Alice. Ironically, the two end up falling out of the boat and because she cannot swim, Alice drowns. George tries to hide this entire double life from Angela; however, he is eventually arrested and found guilty for the murder of Alice. The film ends as the audience sees George walking to his punishment: death by the electric chair.

This film was truly a thriller in my eyes, similar to the suspense in Double Indemnity. These two films differ, however, because of the amount of foreshadowing that exists in A Place in the Sun. Though there are many many examples of foreshadowing, two of the most noticeable to me were the scene with the news on the radio and the scene in the boat right before Alice dies. The radio scene shows George listening to a broadcasted news segment where he hears about the deaths of a number of people by drowning. The audience then sees his face change as the idea to get rid of Alice by drowning appears in his head- very obvious foreshadowing. In the scene in the boat, Alice tells George to wish upon a star. She then questions him about his wish and accuses him of wishing he was dead, clearly foreshadowing both her death and his conviction for her murder even though he was not technically responsible. I thought this film was very interesting to watch and I was very entertained.