Return to Peyton Place (1961)

The residents of Peyton Place Mass. are not happy when its most famous resident Alison Mackenzie writes a "shocking" novel detailing the sinful secrets of the town. Most outraged is malicious Roberta Carter who wants the book banned from the school library. Roberta's other mission is to destroy her son Ted's marriage to his Italian bride. Theirs however isn't the only marriage in trouble: Alison's book is causing a rift between her mother and stepfather who is also the school principal and one of the book's few defendants.System Requirements:Running Time: 123 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 024543162704 Manufacturer No: 2226270 Product Description

Half Misfire And Half Triumph

The much anticipated sequel to the 1957 box office sensation, somewhat rests in the middle of being a success and a failure. Most lamentably, none of the cast members of the original film reprises their roles, for whatever varying reasons, nor does the original director, Mark Robson. Miscasting and changes from the novel may account for some of the movie's awkwardness, but the quality of the performances and the last scene involving the town meeting which again, exposes the truth and the bigoted views of the townspeople, elevates it above other film sequels that suffered similar blows of comparison. Conversely, the fact that entirely different locations and sets are used, also gives the movie a sense of unfamiliarity - Mamouth, California for the ski lodge scenes, Fox's Malibu Ranch and backlots for the remainder of interiors and exteriors - the rest of the footage comes from the 1959 film "The Best Of Everything" (New York) and the first movie.

Allison MacKenzie (Carol Lynley) publishes an autobiographical novel, Samuel's Castle, based on her hometown of Peyton Place and the people she knows. She becomes romantically involved with Lewis Jackman (Jeff Chandler), her married publisher. He encourages her to be as truthful as possible and never to be frightened of it. But that's not the only repercussion that her book incites - the locals are offended by the truths that Allison's tome reveals. Her mother Constance (Eleanor Parker) is both angry and fearful of both her daughter's expose and of history repeating itself, while her husband Mike Rossi (Robert Sterling) refuses to remove the book from the school library and as a result, his job as principal is put in jeopardy. It also touches Allison's friend Selena Cross (Tuesday Weld), as she begins a relationship with a ski instructor, Nils Larson (Gunnar Hellstrom), when reading aloud passages of the novel cause Selena to flashback to the night she killed her stepfather in self-defense. And Ted Carter's (Brett Halsey) marriage to the fiery Raffaela (Luciana Paluzzi) is on the rocks thanks to his meddlesome, evil mother Roberta (Mary Astor), whose bigoted view of her daughter-in-law and determination to keep her son in her clutches has tragic consequences. Conflict ensues as Allison achieves literary fame and Connie's need to control her daughter surfaces yet again, climaxing in a showdown during a town forum in which the truth is again told, much to the dismay of Roberta, who is also on a mission to keep up the facade of moralistic hypocrisy.

Astor excels as the villianous matriarch, while Parker does a great job of taking on a role made famous by Lana Turner. Chandler is sufficent support but on occasion seems lost in the shuffle, while Lynley does a commendable turn as Allison, but she cannot eclipse the fine characterization of Diane Varsi. Halsey and Paluzzi were married at the time, which may or may not have factored into the casting, since Ted's wife in the novel was a woman from Boston named Jennifer rather than being an Italian model. Hellstrom, playing a role that was originally that of a summer stock actor, is a bit out of place (although quite humorous), and his jealousy of any man in Selena's life is alarming and distracting, while Sterling is respectable as Mike, who supports Allison and stands his ground. But by far the standout performance is that of Weld, who exceeds in touching the tormented past of Selena, never more so than in the scene where the past plays out in front of her, causing her to attack her boyfriend, and later resurfacing during the meeting, confronting the locals regarding their unfair treatment of her and Allison revelations of the hidden side of Peyton Place. While Selena has a significantly smaller role than in the original (it's interesting that both Weld and Hope Lange, who originated the character of Selena, would costar the same year in the Elvis Presley vehicle "Wild In The Country"), and does not compare to Lange's portrayal, it still makes the film watchable. The lovely score of Peyton Place has had lyrics added and wonderfully sung by Rosemary Clooney, who was then married to the film's director, Jose Ferrer. Some characters were eliminated, and it's a shame since it would have been great to see what became of Norman Page, Betty Anderson, the Harringtons, Doc Swain and Mrs. Thornton. There are also several inconsistencies that do not make sense or match with the film's predecessor. Selena and Ted were just friends? They wanted to get married, and since when is Ted wealthy? What happened to him having to save for law school? Selena was raped by her stepfather at 13? No, she was graduating from high school that same year, and since when was Lucas Cross called Luke? The story is also not entirely true to the period (post WWII). Sylvia Stoddard's commentary is enjoyable and informative, especially considering that she attended the Hollywood Professional School with Weld. Watch for Bob Crane's unbilled appearance. A moderate success at the boxoffice, Return To Peyton Place can never surpass the glory of the original, but it is intriguingly flawed, and an interesting follow-up. April 22, 2008

RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE

THIS IS WONDERFUL SEQUEL TO PEYTON PLACE, ALTHOUGH THESE TWO MOVIES STAND ON THEIR VERY OWN, CAST IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, IT CONTINUES TO ENTERTAIN AND HOLD YOUR ATTENTION BEAUTIFULLY. IT GIVES AN ACCOUNT WHAT LIFE IS LIKE IN A SMALL COUNTRY TOWN WHICH IS NOT ABLE TO MOVE OR CHANGE THEIR MORALS AND VALUES AND TO KEEP THEIR YOUNG PEOPLE TRIPPED IN THE PAST. August 10, 2007

Not too bad... considering

I enjoyed this movie because of its innocence of the future. The speech at the end (spoken by the one woman who seemed too righteous and prudish for the town) was practically prophetic. I understand that the young people were all upset about the hyprocrosy by the adults that lived in that town, and it was good that the book they were all up in arms about was written, but the truth of the matter is... a little bit of immorality goes a long way. Back then, I'm sure that movie had tongues wagging and we laugh at it now because we have seen so much more scandalous things in movie theatres since then. We think to ourselves "If they only knew what we would see in the theatres within the next few decades they wouldn't have been so quick to try to boost movie ticket sales with enticements of scandalous things that go on behind closed doors". July 23, 2007

romantic soap of the 50s

no lana turner but whit eleonor parker and mary astor.
romantic nice movie of the 50s June 3, 2007

Great sequel to Peyton Place

Return to Peyton Place begins with Rosemary Clooney singing the beautiful title song,(she sings it faboulously, and she is featured here because her then husband Jose Ferrer is the director (also see his State Fair..a hilarious mess) the Franz Waxman melody that enhanced so much of the 1957 film, Peyton Place. Then you get a whole new cast, and Carol Lynley, writing a book about Peyton Place with Jeff Chandler. She and he are 'artists", and they have to deal with Mary Astor, a pillar of morality in Peyton Place. Her performance is not to be missed; it is a thorough lesson in screen acting, lessons she shared with Bette Davis years before. If you are curious about how to dominate a low end script, watch Ms. Astor do it.

Then there is Tuesday Weld, who should have been cast as Allison but is Salina Cross and very good in her scenes with Mary Astor. She(Weld) has some harrowing moments in trying to defend herself from charges of lustiness with certain folk in Peyton Place. Eleanor Parker is the new Connie and she is not as good as Lana Turner, but she has moments with Lynley that define a new kind of melodrammatic acting..so over the top Everest would be a mole hill here. . Also, Lucianna Paluzzi is here, with her Italian ways,her accent is so thick she is mostly incomprehensible, and she is driven to ,literally, the heights and depths of despair.Her scenes with Mary Astor are seering moments of sado-masochistic behavior. Bret Halsey, an actor with incredible limitations, is puddy for Mary Astor, who plays his mother. Robert Sterling as Parker's officious husband, and principal of Peyton Place High School, is an unintentional bore and has odd facial expressions and an aversion to E. Parker that makes one wonder.

The ending of Return To Peyton Place is a treasure of great and bad acting..terrible direction, and incredible style and talent, complments of Ms. Astor, on how to do the whole thing and take the film away from everyone.

There's a lurid quality to it all, and this sequel is not as polite as the first Peyton Place(a very good film). This sequel shows Peyton Place to be a really disturbed town within, like Black Rock in Bad Day At Black Rock.
The mentality of all of them is small and pornographic, and Allison's book about the past goings on is the sum total of the town itself,illiterate, mean spirited and low vibration, and Allison is like this herself, splitting infinitives, her verb tenses all mixed up, and her continuous pouting and constant referral in every crisis to sexual repression. The book (written in the film)is, in an odd way, the best the town could ever do in this regard. In this sense Allison is more Peyton Place than anyone else; she is proud of her bad book, and wants to build a new Peyton Place on it.

See this film on DVD, and enjoy all of its craziness. You will not forget Mary Astor. Also check out the talk shopw scene with Lynley and the dubbing of the host by Jose Ferrer..unbelievable, and this man worked with David Lean. February 14, 2007

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