A powerful version of Theodore Dreiser's story 'An American Tragedy', filmed 20 years previously under its original title in a now-forgotten version.

Director George Stevens made sure his would be the film everyone would remember, by getting vivid performances from a cast headed by Montgomery Clift - as the poor-born young man anxious to climb the social ladder - and a 19-year-old Elizabeth Taylor as the ladder he's anxious to climb.

The film was made in the same year (1951) as A Streetcar Named Desire and An American in Paris, and there was hot competition for Oscars.

But it came away with six, including one for Stevens as best director.

It hasn't worn too well by today's standards, but isolated moments still catch the breath.