Theodore Dreiser's novel was twice adapted to the screen--in 1931 by Josef von Sternberg, and again in 1951 by George Stevens (A Place in the Sun, see June 16). Sternberg's very personal interpretation of the book inspired the author to take him to court, though Dreiser lost the verdict. In his autobiography, Sternberg writes, “Actually Mr. Dreiser's attorneys made a mistake in not calling on me to be a witness for Mr. Dreiser, for I would have agreed with him.... I eliminated the sociological elements which, in my opinion, were far from being responsible for the dramatic accident with which Dreiser concerned himself.” Phillips Holmes portrays the callow youth who is drawn up the social ladder by the allure of a wealthy debutante (Frances Dee), and then faces murder charges for the drowning of his textile-worker girlfriend (Sylvia Sydney). With the help of cinematographer Lee Garmes, Sternberg sets his tale against the unpredictable, inpenetrable vicissitudes of fate: “Whereas Dreiser minutely portrayed his textile factory as the definition of an environment and an era, Sternberg concentrates on a single, incredibly long row of sewing machines, which his pendulum-like tracking shots convert into a symbol of abstract fate akin to the dredge in The Salvation Hunters, the desert in Morocco, the church bells in The Scarlet Empress (or) the waves in Anatahan” (PFA's “Treasures from the UCLA Film Archives”). These forces come together in the impressive trial scene that forms the dramatic centerpiece of the film.