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.
Can you picture Cersei starring in a comedy? "Bodyguard" star Richard Madden can.
Related News
-
The Hanging Tree
13 January 2018 | Trailers from Hell -
From Lollobrigida to Gidget: Romance and Heartache in Italy
24 June 2017 | Alt Film Guide -
Peyton Place
28 March 2017 | Trailers from Hell
User Lists
Related lists from IMDb users
Share this Rating
Title: A Summer Place (1959)
Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.
Learn more
More Like This
No Down Payment
(1957)
Drama
Director:
Martin Ritt
Stars:
Joanne Woodward,
Sheree North,
Tony Randall
Parrish
(1961)
Drama
Director:
Delmer Daves
Stars:
Claudette Colbert,
Troy Donahue,
Karl Malden
Susan Slade
(1961)
Drama
Director:
Delmer Daves
Stars:
Troy Donahue,
Dorothy McGuire,
Connie Stevens
Peyton Place
(1957)
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
Mark Robson
Stars:
Lana Turner,
Lee Philips,
Lloyd Nolan
Ever in My Heart
(1933)
Drama
|
Romance
|
War
Director:
Archie Mayo
Stars:
Barbara Stanwyck,
Otto Kruger,
Ralph Bellamy
Berkeley Square
(1933)
Fantasy
|
Romance
Director:
Frank Lloyd
Stars:
Leslie Howard,
Heather Angel,
Valerie Taylor
Too Much, Too Soon
(1958)
Biography
|
Drama
|
Romance
Director:
Art Napoleon
Stars:
Dorothy Malone,
Errol Flynn,
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Edit
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 |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
See All (47) »
Storyline
The Hunter family has long owned a mansion on Pine Island, a summer resort located off the Maine coast. Bart Hunter's now deceased father was able to open the mansion for free when Bart was younger, but current owner Bart, a drunkard and weak man, must now live there year round for financial survival with his wife Sylvia and their late teen-aged son Johnny, the family who are barely able to eke out a living with the mansion now as a year-round inn which is in an extreme state of disrepair. Bart and Sylvia are in a quietly unhappy marriage due largely to Bart's drinking. The Buffalo-based Jorgensons - husband Ken Jorgenson, his wife Helen Jorgenson and their late teen-aged daughter Molly Jorgenson - have rented rooms at the inn for the summer, while Ken looks for a summer house on the island. Ken lived on the island twenty years ago, he actually a working class lifeguard for Bart's father at that time. Ken is now a self-made millionaire as a research scientist, who had never been back ... Written by Huggo
Plot Keywords:
divorce | smother mother | husband wife relationship | reference to fay wray | possessiveness |Taglines:
The Sensations...of the Great Best-Seller!Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents »
Edit
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
18 November 1959 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Die Sommerinsel See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording)Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
While the events in the original novel take place over about twenty years (including a period where Ken buys a Florida motel and asks Bart and Sylvia to run it in the wintertime, putting them back on solid financial footing), the movie compresses events to a single year. See more »Goofs
When Molly and Johnny are out in the sailboat being tossed by the waves, part of the boat (or platform) the camera is on briefly appears in the lower left of the frame. See more »Quotes
Helen Jorgenson: [to her daughter] Must you parade before open windows like a... like a stripteaser?See more »
Despite being almost overwhelmingly melodramatic when treating the subject of sex in the context of its time, A SUMMER PLACE manages to rise above the soap suds when dealing with mismatched parents and a rekindled love affair (DOROTHY McGUIRE and RICHARD EGAN) that almost destroys everyone's happiness.
It's all very lush looking in magnificent color, a Pine Island resort in Maine photographed principally in Northern California along the Monterey coast. Whenever emotions soar, whether quiet emotions or full throttled ones, Max Steiner's music is there ready to lend a helping hand.
As the teen-aged lovers, SANDRA DEE and TROY DONAHUE are just as photogenic as the landscapes they're photographed against, especially when the color cameras turn their close inspection on the two bronzed, blue-eyed stars. While not quite as photogenic, DOROTHY McGUIRE and RICHARD EGAN are quietly having a love affair of their own which must be kept hidden from their respective spouses until a showdown that leads to a rather satisfying conclusion.
The handsome production values and earnest performances are matched well against Max Steiner's famous score. His "The Theme from A Summer Place" is as gorgeous and popular as ever with soundtrack fans.
A SUMMER PLACE can take its place alongside other handsomely produced soapers of the '50s. CONSTANCE FORD and ARTHUR KENNEDY do very well in strong supporting roles and it's all a bit more substantial than it sounds on paper.
Easy to see why Max Steiner's "Theme from A Summer Place" hit the top of the music charts for a long, long time in the summer of '59.