Watch it at Amazon
"Peyton Place" is typical of the melodramas that Hollywood churned out in the 1950s, a classy star-studded production aimed primarily at the female half of the movie-going public. Grace Metalious' blockbuster of a novel had remained on the New York Times best seller list for more than a year, and its film adaptation was highly anticipated by millions who had devoured the trashy book. Metalious was the Jacqueline Susann of her day, and allegedly had based her book on real events in the small New England town where she lived. Her fellow residents protested, but readers didn't care - they were fascinated by her tawdry tale of sex and scandal hidden away behind the white picket fences of small-town America.Peyton Place is peopled by a colorful array of characters, chief among them Constance Mackenzie, owner of a dress shop, a cold, repressed woman and single mother of poetic and virginal Allison, a high school student and aspiring writer. It is through Allison's eyes - and voice - that the tale unfolds. Selena Cross, a poor girl from the shanty town literally on the other side of the tracks, is her best friend; Norman Page, a shy mama's boy, her constant companion; Rodney Harrington, the playboy son of the local mill owner, her romantic dream. Mike Rossi is the stranger who comes to town to accept the job of principal at the high school; Matthew Swain is the doctor, and eventually the moral conscience, of the community. Morals run fast and loose here, as we soon discover - Peyton Place is a hotbed of hypocrisy, illicit sexual shenanigans, illegitimacy, incest, abortion, and murder.It's difficult to review "Peyton Place" with a 2005 mindset. There is much about it that holds up well. Screenwriter John Michael Hayes came into the project with an impressive resume, including three Hitchcock thrillers, and from Metalious' purple prose he managed to fashion a fairly literate script, with the occasional unfortunate excursion into bombastic speechifying (such as Doc Swain's over-the-top oration in the courtroom sequence). He was particularly adept at infusing Allison with the yearnings of a typical teen-aged girl, her realistic dreams and romantic desires. "Peyton Place" isn't all sex and sin; set during the period leading into World War II, it also captures the mood of a small town as it prepares to send its young sons off to war.What no longer stands the test of time is the acting of most of the cast. Perhaps director Mark Robson (who later helmed "The Valley of the Dolls") is to blame for not holding a tighter rein. The best performances are offered by players in secondary roles, particularly Mildred Dunnock as Mrs.Thornton, the teacher whose dream of promotion to principal is dashed by the arrival of Rossi; Arthur Kennedy as Lucas, Selena's hard-drinking, abusive stepfather; Terry Moore (who allegedly later married Howard Hughes in a secret ceremony) as Betty Anderson, who sets her sights on Rodney as a steppingstone to a better life; and Leon Ames as the elder Harrington, who scorns his son's choice of a bride. Most of the lead performers range from simply inadequate to often dreadful. Both Lana Turner as Constance, and Hope Lange as Selena, handle their quiet moments well, but hysterically over-emote whenever they're called upon to display emotion. Lee Philips, as the supposedly hot-blooded Italian Rossi determined to bring fire to Constance's drab life, is so stiff and one-dimensional that his portrayal borders on the laughable. Constance appears to be spurning his advances far more due to the fact he's a dull cardboard cutout than because of her own sexual repression. Diane Varsi's Allison is saccharine in the film's first half, and when she returns from New York later on, her new sophistication comes across more like a girl playing grownup with her mother's clothes and makeup than a truly acquired new level of maturity. (While none of the cast made any attempt at a New England accent, Varsi's speech pattern suggests a regional dialect that's both undefinable and at times grating.) In general, the acting styles on display here are those found in most sudsers of the decade, overly dramatic and punctuated by facial expressions rarely seen in real life."Peyton Place" seems ripe for a remake. Stripped of its soap opera trappings and censorship restraints, and featuring a modern cast performing in a far more modulated style, it could work well as either a period piece or an updated, contemporary version. The 1957 original isn't dreadful, but in the new millennium it would never win the critical acclaim or garner the number of Oscar nominations it did back then. Nor is it any longer the least bit controversial. In 2005, it's extremely tame, and far more an exercise in high camp than it is an example of quality film making. Keep it in perspective, and it's an okay way to spend two-and-a-half hours.
You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.
