A Place in the Sun (1951)

Plot: Based on Dreiser's An American Tragedy.  A young man is torn between his factory-worker girlfriend and a lovely debutante.
Stars:  Montgomery Clift, Shelly Winters, Elizabeth Taylor, Raymond Burr
Best Quote: Men are so disgustingly prompt. I think they do it just to put us women in a bad light.

I'm shocked at how highly rated this is (7.8 IMDB rating).
Yes, Liz Taylor is impossibly lovely. Yes, Clift gives a great performance.  And yes, they make a great couple. But the Monty-Liz relationship is only about 25% of the movie - the rest is pure melodrama. Mostly its about Monty working in a factory, his relationship with Winters, her murder, and the trial/conviction. And I didn't care that much.  The whole story seemed sluggish and predictable.

Those Puzzling Oscars
Given the stodgy direction and bland screenplay, the Oscar wins are amazing. That Stevens' won over Kazan’s Streetcar is even more incredible. Were politics involved? And how did Winters ever snag a “Best Actress” nomination?! Meanwhile, Liz Taylor - the 2nd best thing in the movie - got bupkis.

Why am I supposed to care about these Characters? 
Clift gives it a good try. But George (his character) is a weak-willed, amoral loser. Greedy, and desperate to "get ahead", he breaks the rules (don't date the factory girls), stupidly gets Winters pregnant, and then tries to kill her. If  Lee Marvin had played him, would anyone sympathize?  And Winter's character is no prize. A drab whiner, she feebly tries to get an abortion, then blackmails George into marriage*.  In fact, she’s so unlikable, she's forgotten the minute she dies.

A Place in the Sun vs. An American Tragedy
And yet, the movie is much better than the novel.  We're spared Dreiser's ham-fisted prose and sluggish never-ending plot**. Instead, Stevens keeps the meat of the story and cuts out the first half of the book, most of the trial, and almost all of George’s “born again” Christianity***.

 He also changes Dreiser's “Moral”. The novel is as an attack on Capitalism. Impressionable George is so dazzled by the Bourgeois he’s led to murder. Under socialism - Dreiser believed – this wouldn’t happen. In the movie, its more about George wanting super-hot Liz Taylor over dowdy Shirley Winters. That Liz has some $$$, doesn't hurt though.

Summary: I suppose you couldn't film Dreiser's awful novel**** better than A Place in the Sun.  But the sizzling Elizabeth Taylor- Montgomery Clift pairing can't overcome the dullness of the story.

Notes:
*At no time is adoption mentioned, although that would've allowed Winters to stay single and not be burdened with a kid.
** Per Mencken: "..a vast, sloppy, chaotic thing of 385,000 words - at least 250,000 of them unnecessary".
*** Having Commie Ann Revere play the Bible-thumping Mom must have been a Stevens’ inside-joke.
**** - The real tragedy is I read all 859 pages.