User reviews

I saw A Summer Place for the first time very recently, and one thing that really struck me was just how gutsy Constance Ford's portrayal of Helen Jorgenson was. Not many actors can pull off a character who has absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Most actors would pressure the director and writer into giving their characters at least a small bit of sympathy, but Ford was excellent at playing someone thoroughly bad.

I'm sure she got static for her portrayal when she visited the supermarket or whatever in her daily life.

I'm not kidding, Bruno Ganz' portrayal of Adolf Hitler in Der Untergang/Downfall was more sympathetic and likable than Constance's portrayal of Helen.

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.

This movie has only one thing on its naughty little mind - sex. There are those who are getting it, those who aren't getting it but want it, and those who aren't getting it and are pretending they don't want it. One character in the latter category bandies words like "slut" and "harlot" about freely, but she didn't fool me. The four adults have managed to screw up their relationships, but the two very cute teenagers, played by Sandra Dee and Troy Donohue, look as if they'll get by okay if they just follow their hearts. I can't pretend that this is a great movie, but I had fun watching it. That's because the dialogue is way over the top and the actors deliver it with relish. In particular, Constance Ford (as Dee's evil, neurotic mom) and Arthur Kennedy (as Donohue's drunken sot of a dad) get all the best verbal poison arrows, and some of them are quite funny (sometimes unintentionally so). At one point Dee asks Donohue straight out: "Have you been bad with other girls?" That's the temper of the screenplay - everybody says precisely what's on their minds. I have to give the film credit for depicting the utter helplessness of adults in trying to manage their children's lives. Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire (as lovely as ever) try to behave with stoic dignity which is hard to do when you're sneaking out to the boathouse for a midnight rendezvous and maybe a little you-know-what. The Technicolor location photography is very beautiful, with California doubling, I hear, for New England. And I enjoyed the costumes (okay, okay, I also enjoyed what was in them).

This was an OK movie. The big draw was Troy Donahue in his first starring film role. A fine looking young Sandra Dee was also a big draw, although not as big as Donahue. I remember that I was a lad in high school when the film was released and all of the girls raved about the fantastic looking blonde wonder boy, Troy Donahue. Whenever one of the guys started acting a little too cool, he was brought quickly back to reality with the question, "Who do you think you are? Troy Donahue?" The Theme song of the movie was played by Percy Faith and his orchestra and was called simply "Theme from a Summer Place" and was on the pop charts for months. Guys loved the song as much as girls because it had a slow and lilting rhythm that even the most awkward oaf could dance to and the girls just loved to be held tightly when it was playing. The scenery was delightful as the film was shot at the seashore where there was lots of water, sand and lush greenery. The plot was fairly comprehensive and involved affairs and marital deceit compounded by the love that developed between Troy and Sandra's characters. All in all not a bad movie, certainly worth the 45 cents admission that I paid to see it in 1959.

Ken and Helen Jorgenson (Richard Egan and Constance Ford) have a dead marriage. They haven't slept together for years, by her request. Helen is also a spiteful, nasty bigot who tries to indoctrinate to her daughter, Molly (Sandra Dee), that sex is dirty and evil. This highly dysfunctional and sad lot are on vacation at Pine Island, Maine...a place where Ken was a lifeguard two decades ago. There is more to the history of Pine Island than that, however, as Ken had once had an affair with a girl, Sylvia Hunter (Dorothy McGuire). Now Sylvia and her husband, Bart (Arthur Kennedy), run a hotel on the island...the hotel where the Jorgensons are coming for their summer vacation. As for the Hunters, Bart is an alcoholic and has checked out of his marriage from the very beginning. Not surprisingly, Ken and Sylvia are miserable and fall back in love. What is a bit surprising is that their children, Molly and Johnny Hunter (Troy Donahue) have fallen in love as well.

The writers and filmmakers did a great job of showing how adultery and premarital sex are NOT necessarily black & white issues. In the case of Sylvia and Ken, both have been emotionally abandoned by their selfish and detestable partners. And, in the case of Molly and Johnny, they are normal hot-blooded teens who have been thrust together by Molly's mother and her rants about the evils of sex. So, it's all very understandable...and all very, very risqué for 1959. But because the story is so well written and the production so glossy, it makes difficult moral issues and choices much more palatable--and provide for a lot to consider. It also makes for a wonderful film for young married couples to watch...sort of a morality tale about what NOT to do!

A highlight of this film is the speech Ken makes to Helen early in the film...about her many, many, many prejudices. According to IMDb, the crowd at one performance gave it a standing ovation! A very powerful scene indeed.

Overall, this film has many strong scenes, excellent acting, nice music and all the gloss a Hollywood production could have. It also has quite a bit of depth and raises many interesting issues...making it perhaps the best soap opera movie of the day. And, fortunately, while the film might seem a tad dated (such as the custody arrangements), it also is timeless with its themes.

Sloan Wilson's best-seller was the kind of novel people read on the beach and was described at the time as 'steamy'. In 1959, this film version by Delmer Daves would have been considered 'daring' or even 'salacious' since it deals, quite frankly as it turns out, with the subject of sex. Of course, it's soap-opera but it's very enjoyable and surprisingly grown-up of it's kind and it's got some really good performances.

As the young lovers, both Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee handle the material with unusual delicacy. We aren't talking Oscars here but neither do they disgrace themselves. (Dee is particularly fine, Donahue less so, hunky but also a bit wooden, reminding you of the song from "A Chorous Line" that went 'If Troy Donahue can be a movie star, then I can be a movie star; funny how both he and Sandra Dee were immortalized in song).

As the cuckolded spouses Arthur Kennedy and Constance Ford are first-rate, (they are the villains of the piece and have the meatier roles). Unfortunately, neither Richard Egan nor Dorothy McGuire, (perpetually saint-like), have much charisma as the adulterous parents. Daves has always been an under-rated director. He made a handful of excellent westerns before embarking on a series of romantic melodramas of which this was the first and the best. It's no classic but more than serviceable for a rainy Saturday afternoon.

One of the great young love romances ever done on the screen, A Summer Place is the story of two romances, one born and the other rekindled.

Richard Egan and Constance Ford with their daughter Sandra Dee are returning to Pine Island, Maine where years ago before Egan became wealthy as a research chemist he was employed as a lifeguard and where he romanced one of the town beauties. Pine Island is like Kennebunkport, the private reserve of the Bush family. This is the private reserve of several old Yankee families who if they can't trace their ancestors on the Mayflower at least they go back to Puritans who might have found New England more hospitable than Restoration Great Britain.

Egan's rented out several rooms from thinning blue blood Arthur Kennedy and his wife Dorothy McGuire. It was McGuire who Egan loved and lost those many years ago.

Neither Egan and McGuire have found much happiness in their second choice for spouses. Constance Ford, a truly uptight and frigid woman from Buffalo has not kanoodled with Egan for years. You know he's good and ready. As for McGuire's marriage, Kennedy has all the airs of a patrician, but not the money any more. Did he lose it because of his alcohol problem, or is he drinking because the family fortune has gone? It's your choice.

So Egan and McGuire discover each other and Sandra Dee discovers Kennedy and McGuire's son, Troy Donahue. Because of her mother, Dee's led a sheltered life and I'm betting the isolation of Pine Isle with its very few inhabitants hasn't improved Donahue's social skills either. The two kids are sadly a textbook case for sex education.

Feeling betrayed by their parents, all of them when you come right down to it, the young people feel they have only each other. The passion multiplies exponentially.

Right up there with the human cast members in making A Summer Place a big commercial hit for Warner Brothers is Max Steiner's theme, played when Dee and Donahue are together. It's popularity on the radio and jukeboxes sold many a ticket to this film.

Egan and McGuire are also appealing in their way to discover their passions are still the same. The odd spouses out are also turning in fine performances. Arthur Kennedy who was never bad in any film he ever did is both arrogant and yet pitiable as the sad sack alcoholic. The villain of A Summer Place is really Ford, she's made life hell for Egan and Dee. Yet you wonder throughout the film what must have she been like back in the day for Egan to fall for her in the first place and what changed her.

It's Eisenhower era America and the story is dated somewhat, but not all that much. I can see A Summer Place being a candidate for a remake, who would you cast in a remake among today's players?

I saw this movie as a teen in January 1960 and was totally mesmerized. So much so that I returned to watch it eight days in a row... It was so incredibly right for me at that time. Sandra Dee became like my goddess. I learned the dialogue practically by heart. I saw it again on DVD after 47 years. Very moving reminiscences. As the scenes unrolled it all came back, word for word. Few people seem to realize BTW(as to the music) that there are really two major themes in the film: the young love theme, which you hear for the first time around minute 15 (when Sandra is shown around the estate and its garden), and which while quite wonderful is relatively muted in comparison to the pop version (which should have somehow been included in the special features). And the quite different, and superb, main theme (slightly less than 2 minutes long) which opens the film. Frankly, in the context of the whole story I prefer the latter. The message of the movie remains as compelling as ever: there is nothing stronger than love, and love conquers all, or should. You bet! I don't know of any film which says it better.

Gorgeous-looking soap opera, with Sandra Dee swaying, swooning and suffering her way through role as young woman determined to do the deed with stodgy, windbreaker-wearing Troy Donahue. Their parents disapprove of course, that is until her father and his mother have an affair of their own! Surprisingly absorbing plot really lays on the melodrama, but so what? It's a roller-coaster ride of teen angst, romantic emotions gone too far, all blissfully filmed in beautiful color. Probably Donahue's best performance, although Dee continues her fight against a thick layer of phoniness that always seems to seep into her work (she's just not a natural, the way Connie Stevens or Tuesday Weld were). The picture is famously scored with Max Steiner's music which forever lives on oldies radio-stations, and will forever live in your head once you've heard it. It's quite lovely, but played ad nauseum. *** from ****

I bought this film while collecting older fun, 50's movies, and was looking forward to it having recently become a fan of the Sandra Dee romantic comedies from the era. After watching the trailer, I realized it was much more serious and put off watching it quite a while because I am just not a big fan of "watch others lives in ruins" movie genre.

While the movie was filmed okay and seemed pretty typical for the time, the story just didn't interest me. I don't know people like that, hang out with people like that, bother wasting time with people like that. Didn't seem to have any heroes or positive models or good ending or anything. With each new revealed negative event, I began hitting 1.5x speed on the remote to just get it over with. Again, it just wasn't my thing I guess. I will never watch this movie again. And play to re-watch "That funny feeling" again soon to get the disgusting taste of this movie out of my mind.

The things I enjoy in these older classics is the time travel back to live scenery of the cities, the cars, locations, houses, even decorations and it delivered that pretty good. I understand the impact it probably had in it's day, but it offered me little in the way of "movie entertainment"

This is one of the first films to deal with young love, and is by all means one of the best! The story centers primarily on Molly and Johnny, two teenagers who are deeply, madly, and wildly in love, but their parents just won't have it. It seems their parents are willing to do just about everything to keep them apart. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue are both magnificent as the star-crossed lovers. All right, so Troy seems a little stilted at times, but Sandra is perfection as the beautiful young girl who constantly finds herself at odds with her eagerness to do the right thing, and fulfilling her love for Donahue. Dee hits all the right marks as the emotionally troubled girl, delivering what is possibly her all-time best performance. It was certainly a breakthrough for the gifted young star who proved that she could do more than play smiling, giggling, relentlessly perky teens. It's a magnificent achievement, and anyone who has ever doubted Sandra's acting abilities are in for a big surprise when they see her in this film. Other acting honors go to Richard Egan and Constance Ford as Dee's unhappy parents, and the always marvellous Dorothy McGuire as Egan's old flame. That's not to say that the actors don't stumble at times with some supremely silly dialogue, but their star power and great talent rides rather smoothly over the film's bumpy spots, making this film an enjoyable classic of the teenage-angst genre. It's also one of the most stylishly done films in the genre. The great director Delmer Daves gives the film his full attention, and it's a sleek, colorful production that ranks right up there with other films with similarly-related themes like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS for example. It all may seem rather dated, but truthfully, this film is just as enjoyable now as it was when it was first released in 1959, and that title theme is still hauntingly beautiful and memorable.

This film from the fifties predates the coming sexual revolution. Just about every character has pretensions of morality. They are do-good nosey parkers whose greatest joy is to find flaws in others. Certain things are automatic triggers for their scorn-like divorce, promiscuity, or wearing white after Labor Day.

When the Jorgenson family comes to Pine Island, Maine for the summer, the entrenched residents greet them with prejudice because the father, Ken (Richard Egan), used to be a lowly worker on the island. He also used to be involved with the mother of the family who owns the inn where they are staying.

The melodrama of the story---emphasized by an overly-dramatic score---has the characters using the words "good" and "bad" with frequency, as in "I've been a good girl" and "are you a bad boy?" Everyone fears being bad, which means acting contrary to contemporary morals, but they can't help themselves; human nature drives some to thwart approved behavioral standards.

The film is a "story of stolen moments", where lovers struggle to maintain appearances and to fight their own impulses. Every romantic gesture is countered by feelings of guilt or condemnation, so the passion in the film is undermined.

Despite the overdone score, the movie's theme---which is the theme of the young lovers---works well. It has a carefree feeling that, unfortunately, belies the judgmental drama that permeates every scene.

Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue play the young lovers, Molly and Johnny, and the actors symbolize an idyllic young couple. (Dee also appeared in "Gidget" the same year, as a chaste young lady who pines for James Darren.) Their struggle against society does contain some basic truths about what people had to deal with in that era.

As far as scorching, melodramatic (and sometimes over-the-top) soap operas go - A Summer Place's scandal-ridden story (from 1959) actually held up surprisingly well (until about the point when Ken & Sylvia's shocking, little infidelity made newspaper headlines).

It was following this climatic moment (which happened at about the 60-minute point) that A Summer Place then began to seriously lose a lot of its initial steam as it inevitably petered out into a rather sappy, "happy ending" fizzle.

Featuring a pretty competent cast, headlined by the likes of Richard Egan and (teen idol) Troy Donahue, A Summer Place was definitely quite an emotional, little roller-coaster ride at times, containing plenty of vicious muck-slinging, punctuated by equally damning jabs of biting dialogue.

When dealing maturely with sexual issues, A Summer Place was certainly a very frank and racy story for its day.

The one real standout performance that I think is worth mentioning in the film was that of Constance Ford who played Helen Jorgenson, Molly's brittle and hateful mother who repeatedly reared her ugly head as a nasty, sanctimonious hypocrite.

I read through some of the reviews here on IMDb, and I lament that I was a little too young when this film came out to remember all the hoopla surrounding it. I have a vague memory, but that's about it.

"A Summer Place" was released in 1959 and stars Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee as Johnny and Molly, who meet and fall in love when Molly's family comes to stay at his parents' guest house in Pine Island, Maine during the summer. Dorothy McGuire, Arthur Kennedy, Constance Ford, and Richard Egan are their mismatched, dysfunctional parents.

The best roles belong to Ford and Kennedy. Ford, as Molly's mother, is a disapproving, strict woman who seems to be against sex but sees it everywhere. And though she doesn't admit it, she's fascinated by it. When Molly comes home after she and Johnny are shipwrecked overnight, her mother calls a doctor to have her examined and make sure she's still a virgin.

Molly's father is played by Richard Egan, and he and Ford seem completely mismatched. He is gentler and more understanding...and has been in love with Johnny's mother Sylvia (McGuire) since he worked on Pine Island as a lifeguard twenty years earlier. Sylvia, married to the drunken, bitter Bart (Kennedy) has always been in love with him, and the two almost immediately rekindle their romance. This leads to a lot of turmoil between the families and Helen particularly wants Johnny and Molly apart.

It's easy to see why teens loved this back in the day with the family problems, attempts at keeping the two lovers apart, and the good old how far shall we go discussion, not to mention all the romance.

Troy Donahue -- his run as a teen idol was a bit before my time -- I probably missed his peak by two years. I did watch his TV shows but I don't remember him, only Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Roger Smith from the various shows. And that was Troy's problem. Hunky good looks but ultimately forgettable with his monotonous line readings and facial expressions, and general stiffness. Besides his looks, the only thing he had going for him was a nice speaking voice. Sandra Dee fares better. She was a natural actress and often called up to be emotional, so she had a wider range. She and Donahue are very cute together.

Ford and Kennedy both do excellent jobs; Egan and McGuire have much less to do. McGuire and Donahue were two Delmar Daves regulars, which is why when you look at a description of the movies, you're not sure which ones you've seen.

Max Steiner wrote the beautiful theme for the movie (which he originally wrote for High Noon) which one still hears played today. It's a good match for the film.

Delmar Daves' films are generally on the long side but the soapy films he made in this period are beautiful to look at. And his message is great about love and a sense of humor -- "These are the weapons of the angels."

I could not believe how many people on IMDb love this movie, and carry on about it as it if was Citizen Kane. Some silly even said that this was one of the greatest films ever made. My advice to this person is that you have to do some serious film watching. Maybe take a film class in some college in your town. Released in 1959 (and shown at Radio City Music Hall no less) it was even then poorly reviewed and with good reason. It stinks. The direction is sloppy and plodding. It just lays there for over 2 hours. This is the kind of melodramatic soap opera that a director like Douglas Sirk could turn into pure cinema magic, and in fact he did just that in the same year with the fantastic Imitation Of Life, with our dear little Sandra Dee once again playing a troubled daughter. I was also bothered by the obvious California coast trying to look like Maine. Why the hell didn't they just set the film in California? As far as the performances go they were OK. The usually fine Dorothy McGuire did what she was getting paid for, and Richard Eagan was his same old wooden self. An attractive man but a bad actor was he. The only tangy performances were given by Arthur Kennedy, (his final drunken scene had some real depth and feeling to it) and the always watchable tough as nails Constance Ford. I guess one can watch this trash as pure camp if it wasn't so damn boring.

A piece of honeyed excess if ever there was one this overblown film is a tasty treat for any fan of this kind of 50's melodrama.

Lushly filmed with beautiful people against gorgeous settings in fabulous clothes even the characters who are supposedly destitute are dressed in the height of fashion. The famous theme song plays constantly in the background imparting a romantic feeling throughout.

The story and mores are dated but that adds to the over top feeling of the whole enterprise.

As far as the performances-Dorothy McGuire & Richard Egan are dignified as the lonely couple married to the wrong people. Arthur Kennedy makes much more of his thinly written character than is in the script showing flashes of humanity through his alcoholic haze. Sandra Dee is frenzied and suitably desperate as the young sheltered daughter and Troy Donahue very good looking as the son but he seriously could not act. He makes a cigar store Indian appear lively! However acting honors are handily stolen by the great under rated Constance Ford. Her ice cold harridan steals every second she is on the screen as she bites off large chunks of the scenery and makes a memorable villainess.

I was 54 years late, but I finally got around to watching this well-known soap opera. Released in 1959, the story has to do with a couple (Arthur Kennedy and Dorothy McGuire) who own a vacation inn off the coast of Maine. It's a beautiful old mansion but they're barely above poverty and Kennedy's a sad alcoholic. That's when an affluent couple visits for the summer (Richard Egan and Constance Ford). Egan was a lifeguard on the island when he was a teen and knows the couple from his youth. He and McGuire dated back then and Egan wants to reignite the flame, likely because his wife is utterly frigid. On top of this, both couples have teens (Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee) and they strike up a secret romance as well. There are drastic consequences to these liaisons.

What separates this film from a television soap opera is the location shooting. I should point out, however, that it was shot on the coast of California, not Maine (Pacific Grove and Carmel-by-the-Sea).

"A Summer Place" is a worthwhile film because, watching it, is like going back in time where mores were more reserved and much less hedonistic. A girl wasn't expected to have sex until she married and, if she did, it was scandalous. It was the same thing with adultery, which still is scandalous, but even more so back then. It's also interesting to see how people dressed while lounging around the house, all dressed-up. Despite the differing mores, people are still human and face the same human needs and temptations that people do in any time period.

The social dynamics are also interesting: It's wrong for Richard and Dorothy to commit adultery, but who can blame them in the face of Constance' cold legalism and Arthur's pathetic alcoholism? Constance seethingly condemns Dorothy as a monstrous adulterous, but she's oblivious to her own loveless arrogance. Which is the greater transgression? Would Richard have strayed in the first place if Constance wasn't such an impassive ice queen? And without Richard's advances Dorothy would've never been tempted to cheat on Arthur. O what a tangled web we weave.

The first half is great for the reasons cited above, including the gorgeous locations, but the second half moves away from the island and focuses on the relationship of Donahue and Dee, which simply isn't as interesting as the adult entanglements. Thankfully, the story picks up in the final act and the core message rings loud and clear: love conquers all (and I'm not talking' bout mere physical lust).

FINAL WORD: The film runs 130 minutes and is overlong by about 10-20 minutes, but it's an interesting period piece with some fascinating gems to extract, not to mention the beautiful coastal locations.

GRADE: B