George Stevens' film was adapted to television a few years later, as an episode of Lux Video Theatre, which aired on CBS on January 28, 1954. This version starred Ann Blyth, John Derek, Marilyn Erskine and Ronald Reagan. This episode was one of the first following a switch from half-hour to one hour episodes.

The novel An American Tragedy is considered by many to be the greatest work of American writer Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945). Dreiser was one of the leading exponents of American Naturalism. He based his novel on the real-life murder trial of Chester E. Gillette. On July 11, 1906, Gillette was convicted of drowning his girlfriend, a factory worker named Grace Brown. They were on a lake in the Adirondacks when the drowning occurred, and Brown was pregnant. The trial was sensational and heavily covered in the press. Dreiser personally witnessed most of the trial, in which the state argued that Gillette killed the woman in order to be free to marry a wealthy debutante. Gillette was found guilty and went to the electric chair on March 20, 1908.

The theatrical adaptation of Dreiser's An American Tragedy was written by Patrick Kearney. The play was produced on the New York stage by Jules J. Leventhal, opening on February 20, 1931. It played at the Waldorf Theatre for 137 performances. Elements of this adaptation found their way into Josef Von Sternberg's 1931 film, and to a much lesser degree, into Stevens' A Place in the Sun.

Montgomery Clift's mother in A Place in the Sun was played by Anne Revere, who had a notable career playing the supporting role of mothers in films. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar® as Elizabeth Taylor's mother in National Velvet (1944), and won nominations as the mother of Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943) and as the mother of Gregory Peck in Gentleman's Agreement (1947).

The movie poster for A Place in the Sun generally emphasized the romantic angle, featuring large art of Clift and Taylor together, usually with a smaller, separate depiction of Winters. The advertising taglines also played up romance, as well as the star power of the casting: "Seldom has the screen so captured the fire and fever of today's youth! Seldom has a film boasted three such exciting star performances!"

Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy has also served as the basis for a couple of decidedly non-American adaptations. Nakaw na pag-ibig (1980) was a version of the story filmed in the Philippines, and Um Lugar ao Sol (1959) was a TV series from Brazil.

by John M. Miller