Peyton Place

Peyton Place has all the drama for its day and still remains top entertainment after 60 years. Great acting from a cast that have mostly left us today but they have left behind a magnificent drama from a mesmerising book.

A sheer number of society issues this film covered is staggering, and it was done in warm and kind way, with great scenario and good performances from the actors. The only sad thing is that most of the themes they covered are still taboo and unresolved in 2020. Really enjoyable film, glad I had the chance to watch it!

The Granddaddy of all soap operas, Peyton Place has its place in film and television history. When the steamy best seller by Grace Metalious and film by Jerry Wald and 20th Century Fox were converted into a television series, it set a standard for evening prime time soap operas that some will argue has never been equaled.

Times have surely changed. Set in New England as it is if Peyton Place existed it's now in the vanguard of blue state America. But in 1941 Peyton Place in New England would probably have enjoyed keeping cool with native son Calvin Coolidge and no doubt voted for Hoover, Landon, and Wilkie instead of that radical FDR in the White House.

In this prim and proper New England town it's all about keeping up appearances. Everybody knows everyone so if things aren't quite fitting the America of Norman Rockwell you keep them behind closed doors.

Like Lana Turner never bothering to tell daughter Diane Varsi that she's an out of wedlock child, like poor Russ Tamblyn not being able to relate to the opposite sex in his teen years, like Hope Lange living with a brutal rampaging father in Arthur Kennedy who physically abuses her mother Betty Field and does more than that with her.

Leon Ames as the town's employer, owner of the mill where most of the town works maybe the leading citizen, but the town's moral authority is Lloyd Nolan, a very wise and caring doctor, the kind of small town doctor who's a passing memory.

It's impossible to describe the plot of Peyton Place because there are so many strands in the plot fabric. It all works very well courtesy of screenwriter John Michael Hayes and director Mark Robson. The whole thing is narrated by Diane Varsi as Allison McKenzie who grew up and wrote a book about her home town.

Peyton Place got nine Oscar nominations, but unfortunately lost a lot of awards it was up for to The Bridge On The River Kwai. Lana Turner's one and only nomination came in a year that the Academy voters gave the Best Actress Award to relative newcomer Joanne Woodward. Russ Tamblyn and Arthur Kennedy split the vote and Red Buttons won for Sayonara for Best Supporting Actor and the same thing happened with the Best Supporting Actress with Diane Varsi and Hope Lange splitting for Miyoshi Umeki to win for Sayonara as well.

The Code was still firmly in place and had it not been I think Russ Tamblyn's character would have been more explicitly gay. Here he's a timid young man not comfortable with the opposite sex and not real popular among his own heterosexist males. Then as now, gays are not real comfortable in most small towns.

Still for those who like their big screen soap operas, you'll love Peyton Place, even with changing mores the film holds up well.

Grace Metalious' explosive best-selling novel is given the Hollywood treatment in 1957's "Peyton Place". Devoid of so much of the nonsense that has been known to permeate other melodramas, "Peyton Place" is a beautifully filmed, effective film that uncovers the hidden scandals of a quaint, New England town. With fine acting, score and cinematography, this screen classic translates well from its literary heritage. And the film's unraveling of the town's secrets is handled well - building up like a ball of snow as each successive scandal is unearthed.

We meet the townspeople from the point-of-view of Allison Mackenzie(Diane Varsi), the sweet and sheltered daughter of Constance(Lana Turner). Constance struggles to be a good mother and community member, while rebuffing the advances of handsome school principal, Michael Rossi(Lee Philips). On the other side of the tracks live Constance's housekeeper whose daughter, Selena(Hope Lange), struggles as a victim of abuse by her own step-father. In the midst of these primary plots are several other tales revolving around sex, love and the war. No one is immune to the reveal of secrets, which have a domino effect all across town.

"Peyton Place" shook the foundation of Hollywood's censorship board by exposing such taboo topics as sexual abuse and abortion, but not once does it come off as exploitative. On the contrary, the film is firmly grounded in emotion and genuine feeling. And while the movie straddles the line of good taste, a plot involving the war effort and its effect on the young men of Peyton Place proves to be profound. Lana Turner does her job well as the repressed mother. In fact, heated passion can be sensed underneath her aloof, icy-cold exterior - a chill factor even more effective 2 years later in "Imitation of Life". And the incredibly good-looking Lee Philip is a perfect match the screen beauty. But it is really with the sensitive performances of Diane Varsi and Hope Lange that this film gains its legs. And Lloyd Nolan cannot be overlooked as the town's warm-hearted doctor. "Peyton Place" could have been a heaving, overblown showcase, but instead made its way into becoming an important melodrama that has stood the test of time.

When I saw "Peyton Place" recently on AMC for the first time, my thought was: "This is it? This is what drove the puritans into a foaming frenzy 42 years ago? There's more filth and dirt in the dumpster!" While it's true that the world has taken more than a few spins since 1957, and while it's true that the film tends to date a bit, "Peyton Place" is still, at it's best, top-notch entertainment.

Lana Turner, in what was, regrettably, her only Oscar-nomination, scores solidly as the pivotal character of Constance McKenzie. Diane Varsi, whose life and career would go out of control soon after (remember "Wild in the Streets?"), is equally compelling as Allyson McKenzie, her daughter. Arthur Kennedy lends his usual understated but powerful presence to the principal heavy of the piece, Lucas Cross, and the young Hope Lange, whom a later generation probably remembers best for TV's "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," gives a solid performance as Selena Cross, the girl with a secret from the wrong side of the tracks. Others in the notable cast include such reliable performers as Lloyd Nolan, Russ Tamblyn, Betty Field, and a two years pre - "Bonanza" Lorne Greene, all turning in fine performances.

If you can, see this film in letterbox, if only for the beautiful Camden, Maine, scenery, beautifully captured by William C. Mellor's cameras. And, if you don't think this film's been influential, look at all it's successors, including the only TV series ever to have been on three times a week during the '60's, and today's "Dawson's Creek" and "Melrose Place." Here's the film that started it all, though, and it's still solid entertainment, especially if you put yourself in a late-'50's mindset while watching it.