[Theodore R.]

You know, the late socialist novelist Theodore Dreiser wrote a two-part novel about a case similar (but less flamboyant) than this one. In "An American Tragedy" Dreiser seemed to blame the capitalist system for fostering a climate in which a man would feel compelled in that case for financial reasons to murder his pregnant girlfriend. Wasn't the character named Clyde Griffiths? Was the movie role played by the late Montgomery Clift?

[society-by-contract]

You know, the late socialist novelist Theodore Dreiser wrote a two-part novel about a case similar (but less flamboyant) than this one. In "An American Tragedy" Dreiser seemed to blame the capitalist system for fostering a climate in which a man would feel compelled in that case for financial reasons to murder his pregnant girlfriend. Wasn't the character named Clyde Griffiths? Was the movie role played by the late Montgomery Clift?

I assume this is the same Dreiser who H.L. Mencken was so fond of and collaborated with in the periodical The Smart Set. Mencken wrote a favorable review of Dreiser's second novel Jennie Gerhardt, but Theo's work apparently took a turn for the worse after his first book. I gleaned this from Terry Teachout's excellent new book: The Skeptic-A Life of H.L. Mencken.

[An American In Dairyland]

>>You know, the late socialist novelist Theodore Dreiser wrote a two-part novel about a case similar (but less flamboyant) than this one. In "An American Tragedy" Dreiser seemed to blame the capitalist system for fostering a climate in which a man would feel compelled in that case for financial reasons to murder his pregnant girlfriend. Wasn't the character named Clyde Griffiths? Was the movie role played by the late Montgomery Clift?<<

The movie was named "A Place in the Sun." Shelly Winters was the obnoxious pregnant girlfriend. Elizabeth Taylor played the beautiful socialite girlfriend Montgomery Clift falls in love with after impregnating Shelly Winters. Monty took care of the Shelly problem by renting a boat, and rowing out to the middle of an empty lake and beating her over the head with the boat oar. He did get caught eventually and was executed for the murder.