Charlie Chaplin once called George Stevens’ lurid encapsulation of ambition, desire, love, and unconscionable murder: “The greatest movie ever made about America.” A Place in the Sun is a titanic film in tackling grandiose themes of American duality. The story charts a struggle between the polarizing embodiments of class within the country while also spinning a yarn of unbridled sexual romance through the electrifying chemistry of Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, and Shelley Winters. It’s a harrowing love triangle story that pits Clift in the midst of these two indelible women; one whom he inescapably is obliged to, and one who is irresistibly desirable and magnetic. The film’s three juggernaut performances are only the beginning of its brilliant presentation. Stevens so deftly directs the film with that the thrilling events of the story are expertly laid out to pull the audience from one thought to the next, all the while lavishing their eyes with unparalleled cinematic beauty that truly showcases the inimitable glory of black and white photography from this period of American cinema.

Timestamps:
0:00 The Keto Flu
5:29 Criterion Sale Season
11:53 Palm Springs
16:50 Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
22:26 A Place in the Sun

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The Twin Geeks · Ep. 83: A Place In The Sun (1951)