An American Tragedy (1931)

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Theodore Dreiser (novel) and
Samuel Hoffenstein (writer)

Release Date:

22 August 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Drama that happens around you everyday - when the wild life of impetuous youth burns away age-old barriers!

Plot Keywords:

Premarital Sex | Execution | Accidental Death | Snob | Letter

Cast

Phillips Holmes	...	Clyde Griffiths
Sylvia Sidney	...	Roberta 'Bert' Alden
Frances Dee	...	Sondra Finchley
Irving Pichel	...	Dist. Atty. Orville Mason
Frederick Burton	...	Samuel Griffiths
Claire McDowell	...	Mrs. Samuel Griffiths
Wallace Middleton	...	Gilbert Griffiths
Emmett Corrigan	...	Belknap (Clyde's attorney)
Lucille La Verne	...	Mrs. Asa Griffiths
Charles Middleton	...	Jephson (Clyde's second attorney) (as Charles B. Middleton)
Al Hart	...	Titus Alden (as Albert Hart)
Fanny Midgley	...	Mrs. Titus Alden
Arnold Korff	...	Judge
Russ Powell	...	Coroner Fred Heit (as Russell Powell)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Writer Theodore Dreiser was dismayed to find that director Josef von Sternberg and Paramount had taken so many liberties with his book, and he successfully sued, which forced von Sternberg to add many scenes that had been edited out of the movie. The resulting final cut was so far from what von Sternberg had intended, he disowned the picture.

Movie Connections:

Version of Hi no ataru basho (1982) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Nearer My God to Thee

No one will be allowed in during the thrilling "canoeing" scene!

"An American Tragedy" is based on the novel by Theodore Dreiser, which was based on a real murder in 1906, and its subsequent trial. While watching this, I had to remember that the acting style of those days were much more stylized and melodramatic than the method system used today. Having said that, Philips Holmes, who plays our protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, really wasn't all that good. He seemed pretty stiff to me. Sylvia Sidney played Roberta Alden, the girl he gets pregnant and then ends up accidentally killing. Her acting was much better than the rest of the cast. The first half of the film drags, showing Clyde lonely at his job supervising women in a factory. Then he meets Roberta and they get involved. After Clyde gets Roberta pregnant, he meets Sondra (Frances Lee) and falls in love with her. The film really picks up during the trial, where the prosecutor and defense attorneys get really bombastic. This film was later remade as "A Place in the Sun" which was a lot better on the whole.