Evening star., 1951-10-10

faults of earlier versions of the
Dresser work. This is a grown-upI
screen at work and Stevens is al
man whose taste is more than
adequate to the handling of deli
cate material without evasion.
1t is a large slice of life, full of
stabbing implications that Dresser
wrote in this tale of young lovers
and Stevens film encompasses the
full area of the original work.
From the three young players
In the principal roles, especially
Miss Winters. he has drawn re-
markably dramatic performances
which may turn out to be Academy
Award nominations. These, how
ever, merely represent the cream
Of cast which deals richly byI
even the least of the roles in
Dreiser's tale of wayward young
emotions.
"A Place in the Sun" is a dra-
matte scrutiny of lonely, lost and
yearning adolescents of Dreiser's
romantic shocker. Cliff is the boy,
George Eastman. the poor nephew
of a rich man. He is a shy, hand |
some, wiStful lad brought up in
an atmosphere of excessive re-
ligious fervor and incapable of
meeting the world on anything
like even terms.
When he gets a job in his
uncle's factory, he meets pretty.
commonplace Alice Tripp (Miss
Winters) who is equally lonely.
They fall in what they think is
love and sink steadily deeper into
the emotion until George meets
rich Angela Vickers (Miss Taylor) /.
It Is she, he realizes, for whom
he has been dreaming all his life
but before his dream can come
true. there is the problem Of
getting rid of Alice.
" -
Like Dresser, Stevens tells this
story with pity for the inadequacy
Of the young caught up in an emo
ton so much more powerful than
than they. 1t is not a maudlin
pity, but a circumspect one with
an artistic reserve. It deals with
material that is as real as it is
mercurial and Stevens keeps 1t
constantly in hand. He is bent
upon making a film with more to
say than that a handsome boy
fell In love with two girls, one
poor and weak, the other rich
and secure.
This is the surface, and Stevens
and his cast are always working |
behind and below it exploring the
violence of the motives 5of the
trio, and the consequences of their
actions. #g1
Thus, if "A Place in the Sun"
Is a long film, which it is, it also
has the virtue of being a dra-
matically deeper one than most
which have dealt with the same
material. /
OF the triangle's roles, the
slightest in point of camera time,
is the most effectively played. This
is Miss Winters portrait of Alice.f
the shabby, factory girl from the
drab boarding house. She is simple.
direct, generous and capable of the
single ferocity of refusing to give
up George when she discovers she
is going to have his baby. She is
too dull witted to understand that
he is hopelessly lost to her after
he has met Angela and it would
never enter her mind that her
pursuit of him could fill Georges
mind with thoughts Of murder.
Stevens has directed Miss
Taylor into a completely captivat-
ing imitation OF Angela. She is on
the surface a beautiful, trapped
aristocrat. but inside she is all
the fire and warmth that could
turn the gentle George into a
murderer. if need be. to marry
her.
The burden of the story, of
course, is carried by Cliff. He is
the shy, gentle. handsome lad
who can be twisted into such a
RroteSolIe shane bv 1--we that he is