Dreiser via George Stevens and Woody Allen

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2006)

I scanned the comments and saw some references to Shakespeare and Greek tragedy, and I believe there was a glance at Dostoevsky, but it seems odd to me that no one noticed the obvious look-back to Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" or the play based on it, or the movie adaptation entitled "A Place in the Sun". But the plot, with minor variations, is basically right out of that source, commingled with a bit of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" (telegraphed in the film by Chris's reading). Allen has often been heavily allusive in his scripts, to Ingmar Bergman and others, but I can't recall any other of his movies where virtually the entire plot seemed borrowed and from a fairly obvious source. P.S. Apologies to Roland Zwick. Upon perusing the comments more thoroughly I see that he had called this movie Woddy Allen's version of Dreiser's AN American TRAGEDY some time ago. Sorry about that.