OGUNQUIT — Devoted fans of American cinema will attest that George Stevens’ masterpiece 1951 film “A Place in the Sun” is a must-see and next week the classic movie returns to the big screen as part of the Ogunquit Performing Arts’ 17th Classic Film Series.

Starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, the film will be shown to the public for free at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 8 at the Dunaway Center in Ogunquit.

Based on Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 novel, An American Tragedy, the story details the real-life murder of a poor, pregnant factory girl by her social-climbing fiance. 

Adapted from a screenplay by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, the melodramatic production resembles the film noir genre of the era and features 18-year-old Elizabeth Taylor in her very first adult role and Hollywood legend Montgomery Clift, who was ascending the ranks of top box office actors of the day.

In a departure from her typical blonde bombshell parts of the 1950s, Shelley Winters portrays Alice Tripp, a poor factory worker caught in a bad situation and on the wrong end of a love triangle. Her role brough her widespread acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress that year.

Clift also was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor and his performance as an unlucky working-class young man must choose between a plain but loyal woman who labors in his wealthy uncle’s factory and a romantic beautiful socialite is truly a memorable one.    

Taylor said of her role that it was one of her all-time favorites, although at first she admitted to being in awe of Clift, who had honed his craft on the stage in New York City. The two went on to develop a lifelong friendship and also starred again in “Raintree County” in 1957.

Also in the film’s cast are supporting roles are Anne Revere, and Raymond Burr as the prosecuting attorney. It was this part that of a relentless attorney that led Burr to his eventual casting as TV’s top lawyer, Perry Mason, a few years later.

Stevens was honored as Best Director for “A Place in the Sun” and he won again in 1956 for “Giant.”

Overall, “A Place in the Sun” delighted both critics and filmgoers alike and captured six Academy Awards and won the first-ever Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture ever presented.

In 1991, the movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The Dunaway Center is at 23 School St. in Ogunquit.

Admission, parking and popcorn are free when attending movies in the Ogunquit Performing Arts’  Classic Film Series.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at [email protected]