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.

---

Plot Keywords:

raped by stepfather | homosexual subtext | blockbuster | new england | hypocrisy | 

---

Taglines:

Small town America will never be the same again.

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

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

Susan Strasberg was initially set to play Allison. However, when she upped her salary, she was fired. For a short period, Debbie Reynolds was set to replace her. Eventually, twenty famous actresses were screentested before the unknown Diane Varsi got the role.

---

Goofs

At Selena's trial, the prosecutor recalls her to the stand. There are several errors in this. Under the Constitution a person cannot be compelled to testify against himself, so the prosecution could not force Selena, the defendant, to take the stand as a witness against herself; she could only take the stand if first called by her own side, the defense. This means that Selena could only have been "recalled" to the stand had the defense already called her. However, the order of trial is for the prosecution to present its case first, followed by the defense. Therefore, since Selena could not be called to the stand in the first place other than by the defense, and since the defense had not yet begun its case, it was not possible for the prosecutor to have "recalled" Selena.

---

Quotes

Michael Rossi: I kissed you. You kissed me. That's affection, not carnality. That's affection, not lust. You ought to know the difference.

---

Alternate Versions

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

---

Connections

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

---

Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

This is the place!

"Peyton Place" was historically very interesting cause it was virtually the first miniseries in movie theaters.After viewing it,you 've got the strange feeling of having been told ten stories or to have seen ten or twelve episodes of a miniseries.

Adapted from a bestseller which spawned a -real-TV miniseries this time- in the sixties,Dorothy Malone and Mia Farrow replacing Turner and Diane Varsi ,it is the granddaddy of the soap opera miniseries we've been seeing for all those years.Classy soap opera indeed.

Although the McKenzie (Turner and Varsi) are in the center of the plot,you can hardly call them "main characters"."Peyton Place" is made of many subplots which interfere or don't.It depicts life in a small provincial town where the main danger is gossips.The fear that" people will talk" is everywhere mainly if ,like Constance ,Serena and her mother you have secrets to conceal.Doctor Matthew Swain 's final speech deals with the talk of the town.

A soap opera maybe ,but one which depicts a not so rosy world: child abuse was not a subject movies often broached in the late fifties.My favorite scene is very short and might seem to some very down to earth: the drunkard's boy licks the home made cakes of the picnic,then stuffs himself with hot dogs and watermelon which he washed down with plenty of cola.This is not a comic relief,it makes you think:this boy is miserable,because ,even if the monster is away,he knows there's a crack in the mirror at home.Psychologically,they call that "compensation".

My favorite character is Russ Tamblyn's.Although many of the problems of PP are dated now,his is still around today: the shy boy,whose mother is over possessive ,who does believe he is "a sissy,a coward" and who thinks he will never know a girl's true love because he is too gauche.There are plenty of them even now.

Peyton Place is no masterpiece but it is really an entertaining film.

Like this?Try these....

Imitation of life Douglas Sirk 1959

Rebel without a cause Nicholas Ray 1955