REVIEWS
“The hero is handsome and the heroine pretty. The script merely serves as a background for another screen romance. It is a rather unhappy theme for romance, to be sure, but it isn’t easy to think up stories for two peachy stars.”
—New York Herald Tribune (Joe Pinodna)
“As topical drama dealing with a situation that is especially meaningful at the moment, Conspirator is singularly devoid of conviction. . . . Whatever its merits were as a book, Conspirator is a disappointment in film form, and since Sally Benson and Gerard Fairlie wrote the script in an uninspired mood it should be recognized that the actors were working under a considerable handicap. Miss Taylor and Mr. Taylor are capable of doing better.”
—The New York Times (Bosley Crowther)
A visit to England during the making of Conspirator.
Among these photos Elizabeth is seen shopping with her mother; recording a radio show; proudly holding a British flag; at a premiere with Robert Taylor; and on London Bridge wearing Glenn Davis’s football sweater.
notes
“THE MAN SHE LOVED WAS A TRAITOR, SWORN TO KILL HER,” so said the tagline of Conspirator, a definite change of pace for Elizabeth that played into the hysteria in Hollywood gaining momentum at the time: finding communist spies skulking behind every soundstage.
Elizabeth had already had her first kiss, romance, and marriage on the big screen, but playing Melinda Greyton was her first truly grown-up, dramatic role opposite a male star of the first order, Robert Taylor. She was seventeen and he was twenty years her senior, a fact which MGM pointedly subdued by establishing within moments of their onscreen meeting that the character Elizabeth played was eighteen and Taylor’s character was thirty-one. Thereafter Elizabeth’s youth was utilized to show how blindly joyous or, at times, how out of her depth and inexperienced the girl she played in the film was when faced with life-changing facts about the man she married.
As in all her films of this period, it was abundantly clear that the public grew to love Elizabeth more with each appearance.
The two Taylors were sent on location to film Conspirator in London from November 1948 to February 1949. Elizabeth enjoyed returning “home” to England for the visit and took photo shoots—with and without her mother Sara—all around town. The finished work was not among Elizabeth’s favorites, but there is much to recommend the film, not the least of which is her engaging performance, or genuinely suspenseful moments created amid lush MGM accoutrements by wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing Robert Taylor.
As in all her films of this period, it was abundantly clear that the public grew to love Elizabeth more with each appearance. In acknowledgment of this, she began to be rushed into one film after another. All the while, the stirrings of her resentment toward being controlled both by the studio and her mother began to grow. She later said, “During the early part of my growing up period and through my first two marriages, I was searching for a purpose to my daily routine.” Elizabeth made a bid for independence by dating some of the most eligible bachelors of the era, including American football star Glenn Davis and William Pawley, Jr., the son of a wealthy aviation entrepreneur whom she met while vacationing with her mother in Miami. These were the first of many amours for Elizabeth that fascinated her fans.
The wedding—with Harold Warrender, Robert Taylor, Honor Blackman, and Robert Flemyng
Robert Taylor plays a “model” officer; Elizabeth soon learns the truth.
Elizabeth and one-time flame Bill Pawley, Jr.
A fitting for Conspirator, with MGM costume designer Helen Rose
Full view of an Elizabeth Taylor photo shoot
Rare portraits of Elizabeth in her Conspirator period
The Big Hangover
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER
CAST
Van Johnson David Muldon
Elizabeth Taylor Mary Belney
Percy Waram John Belney
Fay Holden Martha Belney
Leon Ames Carl Bellcap
Edgar Buchanan Uncle Fred Mahoney
Selena Royle Kate Mahoney
Gene Lockhart Charles Parkford
Rosemary DeCamp Claire Bellcap
Philip Ahn Dr. Lee
CREDITS
Norman Krasna (producer/director/screenplay); George Folsey (photography); Adolphe Deutsch (music); Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse (art directors); Edwin B. Willis, Henry Grace (set decorations); Douglas Shearer (sound); Frederick Y. Smith (editor); Helen Rose (costumes); Jack Dawn (makeup)
RELEASE DATE: May 26, 1950
RUN TIME: 82 minutes, black and white
Elizabeth and Van Johnson
SUMMARY: Ex-serviceman David Muldon returned home from war with a most unique battle scar. Nearly drowning in a wine cellar resulted in his developing an allergy that renders him roaring drunk at the mere scent of spirits. This threatens the bright future ahead of David at a top law firm, until he links up with the boss’s daughter, Mary Belney. They fall in love and Mary takes charge of keeping David out of trouble and keeping his problem under wraps. David is a fine lawyer with his star in the ascendant, but he discovers a discriminatory policy at the firm that calls into question his moral convictions of equality. Should he stay or should he go becomes the new dilemma for David and Mary.
REVIEWS
“Norman Krasna, as a writer-director-producer, has done a good job on his one-man show. Granted it’s a slight story, he’s decked it out in some amusing and tender situations, with sprightly, adult dialog and an expert cast of farceurs in support of the two romantic leads. Film gets a little too cute at times, and has a few dull stretches, but neither happens often enough to be serious. . . . Miss Taylor is warm and appealing as the amateur psychiatrist . . .”
—Variety (“Brog”)
“Van Johnson gives a rather agreeable, if at times somewhat forced, performance . . . the boss’s lovely daughter [is] most engagingly represented by Elizabeth Taylor. Generally speaking the performances are nicely keyed . . . The Big Hangover, although it runs an uneven course; still is good for some laughs and is deserving of attention.”
—The New York Times (Thomas M. Pryor)
Elizabeth, Johnson, and their canine pal in The Big Hangover
notes
NORMAN KRASNA WAS A ONE-MAN ARMY AS WRITER, PRODUCER, and director of The Big Hangover, on the surface a light comedy about a man allergic to alcohol, but with dark undertones that addressed social issues of the day in a thoughtful if mild manner. It stretched to bear a comic resemblance to The Lost Weekend, the 1945 Best Picture Oscar winning film that was even referenced in the movie. Krasna had won an Academy Award in 1943 for his screenplay for Princess O’Rourke and had many other stellar comedy credits to his name, including Wife vs. Secretary, Bachelor Mother, and The Devil and Miss Jones, but his latest effort in 1950 was not among his finest.*
This was a time of uncertainty for Elizabeth in which she seriously pondered whether or not she wanted to remain in films.
Shortly after her return from England for the filming of Conspirator, MGM cast Elizabeth in The Big Hangover opposite one of the most popular stars of the day, Van Johnson. Elizabeth herself admitted that she basically just went through the motions of her performance in The Big Hangover. Her heart was simply not in it: Both heart and mind were fixed on West Point football star and Heisman Trophy winner Glenn Davis. The relationship had gotten serious at the same time she felt her career was eroding.
Elizabeth had come to feel used and mistreated by the studio for making her appear in any variety and class of film whether she wanted to or not; The Big Hangover being a shining example of a project she did not want. If she objected her contract could be suspended and she would find herself without income. This was a time of uncertainty for Elizabeth in which she seriously pondered whether or not she wanted to remain in films. Glenn Davis wanted her to become Mrs. Davis, but the romance fizzled out, giving Elizabeth renewed dedication to her work. Her next movie was among the best of her career.
/>
In this candid shot Elizabeth wears the All-Star football sweater of the boyfriend who preoccupied her mind at the time, Glenn Davis.
*Acclaimed Krasna films in years to come included White Christmas, The Ambassador’s Daughter, and Indiscreet.
A Place in the Sun
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
CAST
Montgomery Clift George Eastman
Elizabeth Taylor Angela Vickers
Shelley Winters Alice Tripp
Anne Revere Hannah Eastman
Keefe Brasselle Earl Eastman
Fred Clark Bellows
Raymond Burr R. Frank Marlowe
Herbert Heyes Charles Eastman
Shepperd Strudwick Anthony Vickers
Frieda Inescort Mrs. Ann Vickers
CREDITS
George Stevens (producer/director); Michael Wilson, Harry Brown (screenplay), based on the novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and play by Patrick Kearney; William C. Mellor (photography); Franz Waxman (music); Hans Dreier, Walter Tyler (art directors); Emile Kuri (set decorations); Gene Merritt, Gene Garvin (sound); Ivan Moffat (associate producer); Fred Guiol, C. C. Coleman, Jr. (assistant directors); William Hornbeck (editor); Edith Head (costumes); Wally Westmore (makeup)
RELEASE DATE: August 15, 1951
RUN TIME: 122 minutes, black and white
Elizabeth as Angela Vickers. She was rich, beautiful, and unwittingly stole a pregnant woman’s boyfriend, yet Elizabeth’s performance and Stevens’s treatment of the material managed to make Angela truly lovable.
SUMMARY: George Eastman takes a position in a swimsuit factory run by his distant uncle Charles Eastman. There he meets an assembly worker named Alice and they begin dating. Through ambition and diligence, George proves himself in the company and gets promoted. He also gains acceptance into the social life of his rich uncle Charles. In that rarified scene George meets and falls in love with the winsome Angela Vickers. Just as life turns idyllic, Alice reveals she is pregnant. Alone in the world, she insists George marry her. George cares for Alice but is torn because of his love for Angela. After Alice later drowns in George’s presence, he is put on trial for murder. Angela stands by him. Regardless of the outcome, he must grapple with his conscience to decide whether or not he did all he could to save Alice in her final moments.
Frieda Inescort is at the head of the table. To the left of her is Clift and next to him, Elizabeth. A Place in the Sun was Paramount’s “prestige” picture of the year. It took home six Oscars and $3.5 million at the box office.
REVIEWS
“Sticks pretty close to the values of a story that has become an American classic. In the main, the success of A Place in the Sun is probably attributable to George Stevens, who produced and directed it with workmanlike, powerful restraint and without tricks of sociological harangue. He has drawn excellent performances from Montgomery Clift, who is thoroughly believable as the young man; Elizabeth Taylor, who is remarkably well cast as the daughter of a wealthy social clan, and Shelley Winters, who is particularly moving.”
—New York Herald Tribune (G. A.)
“Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters, and Elizabeth Taylor give wonderfully shaded and poignant performances. For Miss Taylor, at least, the histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously, that Stevens’ skilled hands on the reins must be credited with a minor miracle.”
—Variety (“Herb”)
“Elizabeth Taylor’s delineation of the rich and beauteous Angela is the top effort of her career. It is a shaded, tender performance and one in which her passionate and genuine romance avoids the pathos common to young love as it sometimes comes to the screen. . . . Mr. Stevens, his associates, and cast, have fashioned a work of distinction and conviction. And, though its theme is somber, it is beautiful and compassionate in its present state. It is, most of all, a rich and rewarding experience and a film drama of which its makers and Hollywood can be proud.”
—The New York Times (A. H. Weiler)
Elizabeth was Clift’s companion to the premiere of his film The Heiress, which opened shortly after they began filming A Place in the Sun.
notes
THEODORE DREISER’S AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, PUBLISHED in 1925, was inspired by actual events and a murder trial that took place in Herkimer, New York, between 1906 and 1908. The human drama of the novel made it an instant classic that Paramount Pictures first adapted for the big screen in 1930. Released under the same title as the novel, the film was directed by Josef von Sternberg and starred Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, and Frances Dee. Dreiser was so incensed with Sternberg’s final cut that he filed a lawsuit against Paramount in an effort to halt the film from being released. In court Dreiser testified, “It has been said that An American Tragedy has succeeded in presenting the life of a real human being and has made clear the motives that actuated him. I would not have put my name or devoted my efforts to telling merely a murder story. And yet, that is what the defendant (Paramount) has portrayed.” Dreiser lost the court battle and Sternberg’s film hit theaters in 1931. Most critics of the day agreed with the novelist’s assessment.
For Elizabeth, who had begun to feel disenchanted with movies and acting, Montgomery Clift was a revelation.
Dreiser passed away before he ever got to see Paramount again attempt to capture the spirit of An American Tragedy under the aegis of director George Stevens. He understood the delicacy and power of Dreiser’s story: “Any narrow interpretation is false. . . . In the story the people driven, and those who drive, seem close to us because what happens could easily have been our problem.” Stevens assembled a remarkable cast headed by Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor (whose services came courtesy of a loan-out deal with MGM). For the third lead role of Alice, Stevens tested many actresses, including Hollywood’s ultimate child star Shirley Temple, but it was Shelley Winters who got the part. Both Clift and Winters came from the New York stage, as did a group of other new faces in Hollywood who were then gaining much deserved praise for the white-hot style of acting they popularized in this period: the Method approach of full immersion into a role.
A costume fitting with designer Edith Head
Elizabeth and Clift. He had been a stage actor, like other fresh Hollywood faces of the day, such as Shelley Winters and Marlon Brando. Brando’s A Streetcar Named Desire came out just a month after A Place in the Sun. Brando, Winters, and Clift astounded critics, audiences, and costars with their intense style of acting.
Elizabeth and Montgomery Clift were as devoted to each other as friends offscreen as they were romantically onscreen.
With Montgomery Clift. Elizabeth later said, “I watched how much time he spent thinking about his character, studying, experimenting, and that became the key to the kind of acting I do—if you call what I do acting.”
One of the most famous kisses ever filmed. Director George Stevens made it a magic cinematic moment by shooting in a tight close-up.
For Elizabeth, who had begun to feel disenchanted with movies and acting, Montgomery Clift was a revelation. She developed a mad crush on him that went nowhere as Clift’s sexual orientation did not permit it. His personal anguish and instability touched Elizabeth’s deeply empathetic spirit and maternal nature; they became the most devoted of friends. Besides loving him as a friend, Elizabeth was totally overwhelmed by Clift on a professional level. She had never been close to anyone like him: “I was agog. This genius young actor—and for the first time I took acting seriously and realized it wasn’t a game. It was a craft.” Perhaps due to their close personal bond, Elizabeth and Clift’s screen chemistry was luscious, and fittingly they shared one of the most famous kisses ever committed to film. Shot in extreme close-up during a party scene, the world of the movie seemed to stop as their faces filled the screen.
Perhaps due to their close personal bond, Elizabeth and Clift’s screen chemistry was luscious, and fittingly they shared one of the most famous kisses ever committed to film.
Ex
ternally Elizabeth had long since matured on the screen, but A Place in the Sun marked her transition into maturity as an actress. Clift inspired her to stretch herself, “instead of walking through [films] as I had been doing.” Elizabeth was an actress who fed off the energy and talent of her costars. Over the years she developed her own brilliance for the camera, but a great performance by an actor starring opposite her improved her own work to a stunning degree, particularly early in her career. She received her best reviews to date for A Place in the Sun.
The film went into production in October 1949, but Paramount held the release for a year and a half after its completion because Sunset Boulevard was planned as the studio’s preeminent release of 1950, and they did not want A Place in the Sun to compete with it either at the box office or in the year’s Academy Award race. The film made it to theaters in late summer of 1951. Though Stevens could boast of such outstanding credits as Swing Time, Woman of the Year, The Talk of the Town, The More the Merrier, and I Remember Mama, he called A Place in the Sun “the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Elizabeth Taylor Page 6
