CommentsXp Best movie ever!

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Bob Taylor I was 10 the year this came out; I remember seeing the trailer (on TV?) and thinking it must be wonderfully salacious. Seeing it for the first time today, I can say it is wonderfully sexy, even erotic in a restrained way. The Code was weaker by the late 50's, but you still couldn't show sexual positions--Norman and Allison are vertical on that rock, not horizontal.The excitement is verbal more than physical: Cross haranguing his stepdaughter Selena, before raping her. Rossi berating Constance for her coldness to him, just after she delivers the memorable line about men always being the same at heart, even if the situation changes. Norman and Allison circle around each other coolly, as do Rodney and Betty, not wishing to commit themselves for fear of parental disapproval, which comes anyway.Lana Turner and Diane Varsi are excellent as mother and daughter. Russ Tamblyn outshines the rest of the young actors easily. I guess they couldn't get Rock Hudson for Rossi and had to settle for a nobody--it's a shame. Lloyd Nolan gives it all he's got in the courtroom scene. This is one of my favourite films from the 50's.

Gideon24 Peyton Place is the 1957 classic based on Grace Metalious' best seller about sex, sin, and secrets in a small New Hampshire town.Despite John Michael Hayes' somewhat watered down screenplay, the spirit of Metalious' steamy novel still pervades as we watch small town morality being challenged and championed at every turn. This glossy soap opera weaves multiple stories and characters to great effect. Lana Turner heads the all-star cast as Constance MacKenzie, the owner of a dress shop and mother of 18-year old Allison (Diane Varsi) a sensitive teen who dreams of being a writer and has a mad crush on Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn) who Allison has been throwing herself at without much success. Allison's best friend is Selena Cross (Hope Lange) who works in Constance's dress shop, even though she lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her drunken stepfather Lucas (Arthur Kennedy). Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe) constantly butts head with his father (Leon Ames) over his romance with the town tramp, Betty Anderson(Terry Moore). Lee Phillips plays Michael Rossi, a newcomer to Peyton Place who has been hired as the new high school principal, a job that all the students were sure would go to beloved English teacher Ellie Thornton (Mildred Dunnock), who finds himself attracted to Constance MacKenzie.Despite John Michael Hayes' somewhat watered down screenplay, the spirit of Metalious' steamy novel still pervades as we watch small town morality being challenged and championed at every turn. This glossy soap opera weaves multiple stories and characters to great effect. Lana Turner heads the all-star cast as Constance MacKenzie, the owner of a dress shop and mother of 18-year old Allison (Diane Varsi) a sensitive teen who dreams of being a writer and has a mad crush on Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn) who Allison has been throwing herself at without much success. Allison's best friend is Selena Cross (Hope Lange) who works in Constance's dress shop, even though she lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her drunken stepfather Lucas (Arthur Kennedy). Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe) constantly butts head with his father (Leon Ames) over his romance with the town tramp, Betty Anderson(Terry Moore). Lee Phillips plays Michael Rossi, a newcomer to Peyton Place who has been hired as the new high school principal, a job that all the students were sure would go to beloved English teacher Ellie Thornton (Mildred Dunnock), who finds himself attracted to Constance MacKenzie.There are some dated elements here, but this film pretty much invented the genre known as soap opera and a few years later, in addition to a sequel, would become the first prime time television soap opera, which was actually broadcast two days a week.Mark Robson's sensitive direction is a big plus and the cast is first rate. Lana Turner received her one and only Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress for her work here. Varsi, Lange, Kennedy, and Tamblyn also received supporting nominations. If you're a sucker for good old fashioned melodrama, have your fill here. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

bg11215-366-263177 I first saw this movie more than 10 years ago, and it really affected me. The themes of the story are classic and timeless; about the walls we put up between ourselves and others, and about how judgmental we can be. And the performances are dramatic, especially that of Lana Turner, she's phenomenal. I just watched it again and thought it seemed a little bit hokey, and the story not as strong as I'd remembered it, keeping in mind however that it was made in 1957, based on a book that was written well before that. What was seen as scandalous back then it probably routine today (teenage pregnancy for example), but again keeping in mind when it was made, the themes are timeless. I don't think it would have been half the film it turned out to be had it not been for the indelible Lana Turner. Such an amazing actress with a magnetic presence, she was one of the main driving forces behind the picture in my opinion. I was especially affected by the voice over at the very end "We'd finally discovered that season of love. It is only found in someone else's heart. Right now someone you know is looking everywhere for it, and it's in you". The world of the movie represents something that seems impossibly almost wholesome, yet still leaves one yearning for a return to closeness among community, something more wholesome than the world we live in today.

JLRMovieReviews Lana Turner gets top billing in this film adaptation of Grace Metalious' scandalous novel, Peyton Place, a small town in the New England states just before WWII. The reason the book was so scandalous at the time was because it dealt with things that were not dealt with in families nor spoke of in decent company: getting involved with a married man, incest, or just being lonely and scared of growing up or the opposite sex. Family #1: Mother Lana Turner owns a dress shop, and her daughter Diane Varsi is the class valedictorian. There's a story there. Another family: Betty Field's first husband died, so she married Arthur Kennedy, so that her three children would have a father figure. But he drank and was rough on the boys, particularly the oldest son, Ben, which led up to him leaving home, which begins the movie. That leaves daughter Hope Lange and a younger boy at home. Another family: Father Leon Ames, whose son Barry Coe likes the school tramp Terry Moore, and vice versa. Then there's Mildred Dunnock who's a teacher who has seniority to become principal, now that the last one has recently died. But the school board elects to hire one from out of town. Enter Lee Philips. Then, there's Russ Tamblyn, whose life is being monopolized by a domineering mother who is trying to make him hate all girls. Then there's Lloyd Nolan, who's the friendly town doctor, who is pressed to go beyond the call of duty to help others. And, there's also the town gossipers, who spread it like wildfire.Being a Lana Turner fan, I may have seen this film more than the average person. But instead of falling head over heels for it, I do see its limitations. One of the film's strengths is almost its undoing or worst criticism. Its study or treatment of the town's citizens (and their problems) is like that of a bird's eye view, allowing us to see their world without being judgmental of their actions or feelings, and is therefore a straightforward account of what happens to them. But, by doing so, it feels emotionally aloof and we, the viewer, don't connect enough to anyone in particular. The film's main success is in the production values and how they complement the actors using their craft. The actors that really come off the best are Terry Moore, as the town tramp (who's really not that bad;) Diane Varsi (as the daughter who discovers who or what she really is;) Arthur Kennedy as the town drunk, who's totally in character; Lloyd Nolan, as the doctor providing care and common sense to those that will listen; and lastly Lana Turner, who was given only one Oscar nomination in her movie career, for this film. In fact, in my opinion, the film's best scene belongs to her and the principal, played by Lee Philips, when he tells her that he cares for her and he expects the same adult feelings from her, without it being dirty. That may be the scene that earned her the nomination more than the courtroom scene.While I have always liked Hope Lange, the presentation of the events in her life does not draw the viewer in or make us care enough. It feels too artificial to matter and does not come across as real. But the opening score that accompanies the credits is so moving, that the last time I saw this film, I had to listen to it twice and I was almost brought to tears. "Peyton Place" may be from the imagination of Grace Metalious, but these people and events are portrayed in the film, as if this could have been, but for the Grace of God, you or me given the circumstances, and that we are all looking for love and acceptance in another. This also is showing the misfortune of people to allow you the chance to see things from a different perspective. Open your heart and see yourself in another's place. "Peyton Place" is a film about people.