A poor boy gets a job working for his rich uncle and ends up falling in love with two women.
The moral ambiguity is sustained right to the end, though for audiences that comes a distant second to the fierce chemistry of Clift and Taylor, almost consuming the screen in their swooning close-ups.
Gripping from first to last.
George Stevens's meticulously observed 1951 version of Theodore Dreiser's massive 1925 novel An American Tragedy.
Clift’s mesmerising, tragic performance only deepens with time.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Monday March 25, 2013, until Thursday March 28, 2013. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
RSS feed of Cinema reviews