The biggest reason why I like Room at the Top more than A Place in the Sun is because the characters in Clayton's film seem to reflect the realities of Steven's film: that Monty Clift's character was really a social-climbing cad, that Liz Taylor was deeply boring and childish, and Shelley Winters' character was more interesting and showed what men really thought of women in the 1950s. Stevens' film was just too romanticized even for me, and it doesn't even have the guts to show the dirt on George Eastman or his original motives; Clayton's film, while not great by any means, at least is able to show more darkness in his characters (I think Joe's fate is far worse than George's in the end) while retaining all those beautiful, sincere love scenes.
Besides, I'm one of those people who laughs hysterically when Liz Taylor says her Oedipal signature line, "Tell mama...tell mama all."
Love, love will tear us apart....again...
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jrhpax
8 years ago
In "A Place in the Sun," if you cut the scenes with Raymond Burr and Anne Revere, and if you'd make Shelley Winters' character more appealing, you'd have a much better movie. Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor were mesmerizing. I am a fan of Shelley Winters, but the writer and director ought to have made her less of a schlump. The movie is still worth seeing.
"Room at the Top" is a more perfect movie.
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