Montgomery Clift films on TCM: ‘Summer Under the Stars’ series presents 11 titles starring the remarkable 1950s actor
Clift has been a relatively frequent presence on Turner Classic Movies, but those unfamiliar with his work will be able to check him out – and compare him to fellow “1950s rebels” Marlon Brando and James Dean – on Saturday, Aug. 20, as TCM will be presenting 11 Montgomery Clift movies as part of its “Summer Under the Stars” series.
The one TCM premiere is the spy thriller The Defector (1966), which also happens to be Clift’s last movie. (See Montgomery Clift Movie Schedule further below.)
Montgomery Clift delivers a memorable performance as the quietly ambitious George Eastman in George Stevens’ A Place in the Sun (1951). Though Marlon Brando’s Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire (also 1951) is far better remembered today, Clift’s less showy characterization as the social outsider is just as effective.
Though somewhat bowdlerized, this film adaptation of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy happens to be one of the few Hollywood movies that show class divisions in the U.S. not only as a steep social obstacle but also as one that turns out to be insurmountable. Though Shelley Winters was the one nominated for that year’s Best Actress Oscar, Elizabeth Taylor is at her very best as the prize that comes with material success.
In a previous role as another ambitious outsider, Clift is fine in William Wyler’s The Heiress (1949). This first-rate social-psychological drama, however, belongs to its Oscar-winning star, Olivia de Havilland, who delivers not only the best performance of her career but also one of the best movie performances ever. Ralph Richardson offers strong support as the heiress’ father, while Miriam Hopkins is a welcome presence.
John Huston’s The Misfits (1961) is notable as the last film of both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. Raintree County (1957) is notable because Clift suffered a near-fatal car crash during filming. Understandably, this period melodrama is one of his weakest showcases. Lonelyhearts (1958) is another disappointment despite the presence of Clift, Robert Ryan, and Myrna Loy. Dolores Hart, who left films to become a nun, is the young leading lady.
Clift reportedly didn’t get along with either John Wayne or Paul Douglas while shooting, respectively, Red River (1948) and The Big Lift (1950). Directed by Howard Hawks, the former is deemed a classic Western; directed by George Seaton, the latter is now all but forgotten. As an aside: Clift and John Ireland compare pistols in a classic Red River scene reminiscent of a considerably more explicit one between Warner Baxter and Edmund Lowe in In Old Arizona (1928).
Montgomery Clift was nominated for four Academy Awards: three times in the Best Actor category (The Search, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity) and once as Best Supporting Actor (Judgment at Nuremberg). Personally, I think his 1953 nod should have been for Alfred Hitchcock’s I Confess (instead of Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity). In the Hitchcock thriller, Clift plays a priest to whom a murderer confesses his crime. Unable to tell the police what happened lest he break the sanctity of the confessional, the priest becomes a prime suspect. Anne Baxter co-stars.
Montgomery Clift films: TCM schedule (EDT) – Aug. 20
6:00 AM RAINTREE COUNTY (1957)
Director: Edward Dmytryk.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Eva Marie Saint, Nigel Patrick, Rod Taylor, Agnes Moorehead.
Color. 173 min. Letterbox.9:00 AM LONELYHEARTS (1958)
Director: Vincent J. Donehue. Cast: Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Myrna Loy, Dolores Hart, Maureen Stapleton. B&W. 103 min.11:00 AM THE BIG LIFT (1950)
Director: George Seaton. Cast: Montgomery Clift, Paul Douglas, Cornell Borchers. B&W. 118 min.1:00 PM RED RIVER (1948)
Director: Howard Hawks. Cast: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru, John Ireland, Coleen Gray. B&W. 133 min.3:30 PM FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
Director: Fred Zinnemann. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Borgnine. B&W. 118 min.5:45 PM THE MISFITS (1961)
Director: John Huston. Cast: Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter. B&W. 125 min. Letterbox.8:00 PM A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
Director: George Stevens. Cast: Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Anne Revere, Raymond Burr. B&W. 122 min.10:15 PM THE HEIRESS (1949)
Director: William Wyler.
Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, Mona Freeman.
B&W. 115 min.12:15 AM THE SEARCH (1948)
Director: Fred Zinnemann.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Wendell Corey, Ivan Jandl.
B&W. 104 min.2:15 AM I CONFESS (1953)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, Karl Malden, Brian Aherne.
B&W. 95 min.4:00 AM THE DEFECTOR (1966)
Director: Raoul Levy.
Cast: Montgomery Clift, Hardy Kruger, Macha Meril.
Color. 100 min. Letterbox.
Turner Classic Movies website.