Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy intended his narrative to accentuate the pernicious effects of social and economic struggles; Josef Von Sternberg’s film narrative accentuates love and murder. Dreiser argued that von Sternberg and Paramount Pictures did not have the right to change anything they pleased. He took their money, sued, and lost.
Von Sternberg retorted that he followed the text, but he didn’t say “sometimes.” He and screenwriter Samuel Hoffenstein played down the grinding forces of social and economic pressures, emphasizing Clyde Griffiths as the murderer of his pregnant girlfriend, Roberta Alden.
A small change is that Roberta actually munches on a sandwich at the picnic. As Clyde takes photographs of her, Roberta smiles for Clyde’s camera. It’s the only time that viewers get to see picnic food. Dreiser writes that the spread sandwiches on newspaper, and in A Place in the Sun, George Stevens shows only paper bags.
The cast: Sylvia Sidney as Roberta Alden; Phillips Holmes as Clyde Griffiths.
See:Josef von Sternberg. An American Tragedy (1931). The screenplay by Samuel Hoffenstein is based on Dreiser’s novel (1925), Theodore Dreiser. An American Tragedy (1925); also, George Stevens. A Place in the Sun (1951). Screenplay by Michael Wilson and Harry Brown based on Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy (1925)
Featured Image: The end of the picnic. The rowboat tips over, Roberta cannot swim, and Clyde ignores her cries for help and swims to shore.