A Summer Place (1959)

A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Sloan Wilson (novel), Delmer Daves

Stars:

Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire, Sandra Dee

3 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Egan	...	Ken Jorgenson
Dorothy McGuire	...	Sylvia Hunter
Sandra Dee	...	Molly Jorgenson
Arthur Kennedy	...	Bart Hunter
Troy Donahue	...	Johnny Hunter
Constance Ford	...	Helen Jorgenson
Beulah Bondi	...	Mrs. Emily Hamilton Hamble
Jack Richardson	...	Claude Andrews
Martin Eric	...	Todd Harper, Handyman at Pine Island Inn

Storyline

Self-made millionaire Ken Jorgenson vacations with his wife and teenage daughter on Pine Island, Maine, where -- some 20 years earlier -- he'd worked as a lifeguard. Jorgenson now resumes a romance with island resident Sylvia Hunter who is trapped in a marriage as loveless as Jorgenson's. Scandal erupts when word of this romance becomes public, but it serves to draw together Jorgenson's daughter and Sylvia's teenage son who are appalled by their parents' mistakes and determined not to repeat them.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | adultery | love | divorce | family relationships | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 November 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Amores Clandestinos

Filming Locations:

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Troy Donahue who played Johnny Hunter died Sept. 2, 2001 in Santa Monica, CA. Dorothy McGuire who played Sylvia Hunter, his mother died Sept. 13, 2001 eleven days later in Santa Monica, CA.

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Goofs

When Johnny and Molly meet outside church during Christmas break, except for patches of (fake) snow, all foliage and grass is green.

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Quotes

Sylvia Hunter: We live in a glass house - we're not throwing any stones.

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Connections

Referenced in Blade: Trinity (2004)

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Soundtracks

"Liebestraum"
(uncredited)
Composed by Franz Liszt

User Reviews

A New Love Born, An Old Love Rekindled

One of the great young love romances ever done on the screen, A Summer Place is the story of two romances, one born and the other rekindled.

Richard Egan and Constance Ford with their daughter Sandra Dee are returning to Pine Island, Maine where years ago before Egan became wealthy as a research chemist he was employed as a lifeguard and where he romanced one of the town beauties. Pine Island is like Kennebunkport, the private reserve of the Bush family. This is the private reserve of several old Yankee families who if they can't trace their ancestors on the Mayflower at least they go back to Puritans who might have found New England more hospitable than Restoration Great Britain.

Egan's rented out several rooms from thinning blue blood Arthur Kennedy and his wife Dorothy McGuire. It was McGuire who Egan loved and lost those many years ago.

Neither Egan and McGuire have found much happiness in their second choice for spouses. Constance Ford, a truly uptight and frigid woman from Buffalo has not kanoodled with Egan for years. You know he's good and ready. As for McGuire's marriage, Kennedy has all the airs of a patrician, but not the money any more. Did he lose it because of his alcohol problem, or is he drinking because the family fortune has gone? It's your choice.

So Egan and McGuire discover each other and Sandra Dee discovers Kennedy and McGuire's son, Troy Donahue. Because of her mother, Dee's led a sheltered life and I'm betting the isolation of Pine Isle with its very few inhabitants hasn't improved Donahue's social skills either. The two kids are sadly a textbook case for sex education.

Feeling betrayed by their parents, all of them when you come right down to it, the young people feel they have only each other. The passion multiplies exponentially.

Right up there with the human cast members in making A Summer Place a big commercial hit for Warner Brothers is Max Steiner's theme, played when Dee and Donahue are together. It's popularity on the radio and jukeboxes sold many a ticket to this film.

Egan and McGuire are also appealing in their way to discover their passions are still the same. The odd spouses out are also turning in fine performances. Arthur Kennedy who was never bad in any film he ever did is both arrogant and yet pitiable as the sad sack alcoholic. The villain of A Summer Place is really Ford, she's made life hell for Egan and Dee. Yet you wonder throughout the film what must have she been like back in the day for Egan to fall for her in the first place and what changed her.

It's Eisenhower era America and the story is dated somewhat, but not all that much. I can see A Summer Place being a candidate for a remake, who would you cast in a remake among today's players?