Peyton Place (1957)

A peaceful New England town hides secrets and scandals.

Director:

Mark Robson

Writers:

John Michael Hayes (screenplay), Grace Metalious (from the novel by)

Stars:

Lana Turner, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan

Nominated for 9 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lana Turner	...	Constance MacKenzie
Lee Philips	...	Michael Rossi
Lloyd Nolan	...	Dr. Swain
Arthur Kennedy	...	Lucas Cross
Russ Tamblyn	...	Norman Page
Terry Moore	...	Betty Anderson
Hope Lange	...	Selena Cross
Diane Varsi	...	Allison MacKenzie
David Nelson	...	Ted Carter
Barry Coe	...	Rodney Harrington
Betty Field	...	Nellie Cross
Mildred Dunnock	...	Miss Elsie Thornton
Leon Ames	...	Mr. Harrington
Lorne Greene	...	Prosecutor
Robert H. Harris	...	Seth Bushwell

Storyline

It's the pre-WWII era. Peyton Place is a small town in New England, whose leading adult citizens rule the town with their high moral standards, which they try to pass on to their offspring. The adults, especially those that wield power largely through their positions and/or through their wealth, will not tolerate anything they believe morally improper, even if there is a hint of impropriety without comprehensive evidence to back up the hints. As their offspring grow from teenagers to adults, the offspring learn that there is much hypocrisy by the adults lying underneath that façade of proper Christian morals. The offspring begin to rebel in different ways, which is brought to public scrutiny with the arrival into town of an "outsider", the new young high school principal Michael Rossi, and through a murder trial.

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Plot Keywords:

raped by stepfather | homosexual subtext | new england | hypocrisy | small town | 

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Taglines:

Small town America will never be the same again.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1958 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Jerry Wald's Production of Peyton Place

Filming Locations:

Belfast, Maine, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$25,600,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Jerry Wald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

157 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The real-life murder of Lana Turner's mobster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato by Turner's daughter was later fictionalized in Where Love Has Gone (1964), also scripted by "Peyton Place (1957)" writer John Michael Hayes.

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Goofs

Allison plays classical music on an LP (33 1/3) record changer. The LP was not developed until 1949.

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Quotes

Mr. Harrington: This job starts at 3,000 a year.
Michael Rossi: Then we're all wasting our time. That's only $5 a week more than I was making as a teacher, Mr. Harrington
Mr. Harrington: But this offers you security -- a long term contract.
Michael Rossi: Guaranteed poverty is not security.

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Alternate Versions

Laserdisc version cuts out some dissolves between scenes, or replaces them with fades to black (in order to accomodate side breaks).

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Connections

Referenced in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman: Witness (1994)

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Soundtracks

Joy to the World
(uncredited)
Music arranged by Lowell Mason (1839)
Played at Christmas time

User Reviews

A soap opera--but a great one!

The book "Peyton Place" came out in the early 1950s. It blew off the lid of a small New England town full of rape, murder, sex, abortion, infidelity, suicide etc etc. Even though the town (and residents) were fictitious, this book created an uproar. It was a huge best seller but condemned as utter trash by all book critics and "moral" people everywhere (of course they were buying the book themselves). Now, almost 50 years later, it's considered a great literary novel and taught in colleges!

Hollywood took the book, toned it down considerably, went all the way to Maine to film it and basically gave it Grade A treatment. It has a great cast, a stunning score by Franz Waxman, gorgeous New England photography and moves along at a fast clip. The once racy stuff is very tame by today's standards but it's kind of amusing to watch--the dialogue scene between Diane Varsi and Russ Tamblyn (about sex) is giggle-inducing. An abortion is never called that--it's called "inducing a miscarriage". A rape becomes "forcing himself on her". Still, the main stories in the book come across...and it works very well. The cast really helps.

Lana Turner is just great as Constance MacKenzie--a woman with a deep secret. Lloyd Nolan is perfect as Doc Swain--he even gets the New England accent down right! Arthur Kennedy is downright terrifying as Lucas Cross and Hope Lange is fantastic as his step-daughter. Everybody else (with one exception) is good but the ones mentioned above were the best. The one debit is Diane Varsi--she's TERRIBLE as Alison MacKenzie. Unfortunately, she's the main character. Her face is always blank and her readings are in a monotone. Especially bad are her narrations over the scenery. You see just jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery---and her drab, toneless voice droning on. Still, everything else is so good she's easy to overlook.

OK--it's a soap opera but a VERY good one. The 2 1/2+ hours just flew by. Highly recommended.