Peyton Place

Peyton Place is a great and realistic observation of human behavior taken in the context of when and where it was written, no matter how shocking truth may appear. After years of medical practice, I have lived many experiences not unlike that of Dr. Swain in this novel/movie. I saw "Peyton Place" for the first time in my late forties as part of a CineClub presentation. I grew up naively in a small North East farm town in the late 50's. My grand uncle was our local Country Doctor. I was frightened if not scandalized by the big city lifestyle when I moved to the city to attend medical school. He assured me that "we" had the same "scandals" in our community, it was just "hidden or kept secret". In all honesty, I had already witnessed some of these issues as they shook my own family of origin. Later, I returned to practice in a rural town. As I got closer to the native citizens, I discovered many secrets, secrets not unlike some of the tragic events that took Peyton Place by storm. As I grew older (and hopefully wiser), I realized that each town has their own "Peyton Place". It's all around us, it's is part of our human nature, part of it is in each one of us. Mrs. Metalious, the author of this great novel, paid the price of her own honesty with her life. This novel and the movie that it is based on, have to be taken in the time context it was created. Unfortunately, many of these events are still taking place around us today. I have witnessed them through my interaction with many patients and friends. Love, lust, passion, ambition, greed, envy... are all basic instincts that drive us through the meanders of life, some leading us to good outcomes others to tragedy. I recently returned from our occupation in Iraq where I was severely injured in combat, ending my career as a physician. I saw the best and also the worst of what man can do to mankind. I witnessed many issues that I saw in Peyton Place, only on a larger scale. Peyton Place bears witness to a part of the world we live in, it is in all of us. The events taking place in her youth were the source of Grace Metalious' novel and shaped the course of her story. I highly recommend this movie, it is part of history, our American history, good or bad. Finally, I greatly appreciate all the viewers that take time to share their opinion about movies with the readers through IMDb's Comments Place. May God or your "Higher Power" bless you all, GLN.

Grace Metalious' bestseller comes to the screen with lavish good taste, but the small town scandals depicted are not entirely white-washed. Glossy melodrama directed by Mark Robson allows star Lana Turner to suffer nobly, playing single mother to graduating teenager Diane Varsi, harboring a skeleton in her family closet while being romanced by high school principal Lee Philips (in an appealing performance). Varsi and her friends are all awakening to the joys of boy-girl coupling, unsure about sex and not about to ask their parents for help. Involving and polished, though just a bit stiff or starchy. The courtroom climax (with shopgirl Hope Lange on trial for killing her abusive step-father) is really corny, but fans of the soap genre will be enthralled. Fashioned into a popular television serial starting in 1964. Followed by "Return to Peyton Place" in 1961, which featured none of the talents assembled here. *** from ****

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!

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.

"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.

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