About this Event
May 10 - A Place in the Sun (1951), 122 minutes, directed by George Stevens, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters.
Montgomery Clift broods as George Eastman, an impoverished wanderer hoping to better his station in life. His effort is complicated by two young women, a drab factory worker (Shelley Winters) and a ravishing socialite (Elizabeth Taylor). A Place in the Sun is infused with frequent dissolves, swooning music, and a pervading romanticism, but Stevens’ chief accomplishment is in the performances he extracts from his stars. Based on Theodore Dreiser’s novel An American Tragedy, A Place in the Sun contains Taylor’s first grown-up role worthy of her talent and magnetism. Her startling beauty at 17 may distract from the fine performance she’s delivering, but she gives A Place in the Sun the warm heart it needed to become a classic.
A Place in the Sun will be co-hosted by leading film historian and author David Thomson.
May 2024 CinemaLit - Elizabeth Taylor: Actress and Superstar
Very few embodied the twentieth century invention of the movie star more than Elizabeth Taylor. From her breakthrough role in National Velvet in 1944 at age 12, to her death in 2011 at 79, she was the subject of public and media fascination like no one else. The great fuss made over her beauty, marriages, health crises, jet setting, dazzling jewels, and late life dedication to people with AIDS often eclipsed her very real talent and artistry as an actress. CinemaLit curator and host Matthew Kennedy’s new book, from Oxford University Press, examines and appreciates her epic film career up close. In May, we will be screening four of her most consequential films, each capturing her extraordinary star charisma and powerhouse acting at different phases of her career: National Velvet (1944), A Place in the Sun (1951), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).
Acclaimed film critic and historian David Thomson () will join us on May 10 as guest co-host for A Place in The Sun, and former CinemaLit host Michael Fox will interview Matt Kennedy on May 31 after the screening of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mechanics' Institute, Mechanics' Institute, San Francisco, United States
USD 0.00 to USD 10.00