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Nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1957, Peyton Place has becomesynonymous with torrid soap opera. Though the novel by Grace Metalious iseven more sensational, the movie provides plenty of tantalizing storyturns--secrets, adultery, rape, bitter parents, frustrated teenagers,suicide, and murder. Multiple storylines deftly interweave: AllisonMacKenzie (Diane Varsi), an ambitious young girl struggling with theneurotic fears of her mother (Lana Turner, in a career-revivingperformance) and the neurotic fears of the boy she loves (Russ Tamblyn),while her best friend Selena Cross (Hope Lange) fights off the brutaladvances of her drunken stepfather. The movie had to sanitize the novel'sNew England town in order to get some of the more unsavory plot turns pastthe censors; ironically, the glossy "normal" surface makes these eventsall the more shocking, paving the way for David Lynch's Blue Velvetand Twin Peaks. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (30)

The secrets and scandals of a small New England town
Based the bestselling novel by Grace Metalious, Peyton Place is a hallmark of mid-20th century American culture and remains powerful melodrama to this day. Modern audiences in particular might notice similarities with the currently popular Dawson's Creek.

The story centers around shopowner Constance MacKenzie (Lana Turner), hiding a secret from her past; her daughter Allison (Diane Varsi), who dreams of escaping from Peyton Place and becoming a writer; Allison's best friend Selena Cross (Hope Lange), who lives literally on the other side of the tracks and suffers abuse at the hands of her drunken stepfather (Arthur Kennedy); Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn), a shy, quiet student yearning to break away from his domineering mother; Rodney Harrington (Barry Coe), the playboy son of millowner Leslie Harrington (Leon Ames), who disapproves of his son's relationship with the flashy Betty Anderson (Terry Moore); and Mike Rossi (Lee Phillips), the new high school principal smitten with Constance.

Screenwriter John Michael Hayes did a magnificent job of distilling Metalious's occasionally crude story, making it acceptable to film audiences, though it can be argued that Metalious's feminist slant was lost in the process. The film was beautifully directed by Mark Robson, who's never gotten enough respect, perhaps due to his reputation as a craftsman; well, Peyton Place is a finely crafted work, solid entertainment, with majestic location work in Camden, ME, much of which will be lost in the transfer to the small screen. The cinematography is by William C. Mellor and the wonderful score is by Franz Waxman.

Peyton Place received 9 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay-Adapted, Best Cinematography, Best Actress (Lana Turner--her only nomination), Best Supporting Actress (Hope Lange, Diane Varsi), and Best Supporting Actor (Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn). 1957 was the year of The Bridge on the River Kwai, so Peyton Place lost in every category.

Get this DVD-Peyton Place the classic soap opera
Peyton Place is one of my favorite books and one of my favorite movies. The filming and score are beautiful. The scenery of coastal Maine is fantastic. This is one of the most popular soap operas...the term "Peyton Place" has come to mean a gossipy community.

Most of the acting is great... the only actor that does not seem right for the role is Lee Philips. He is does not see the type of guy Lana Turner would go for.

Lana Turner and Diane Varsi have some great mother daughter conflicts. Lloyd Nolan is great as the doctor caught in the moral dilemma of covering up a miscarriage (which was an abortion in the book)

The DVD adds an interesting commentary by Russ Tamblyn and Terry Moore. You feel as if you are sitting with them as the watch the film. They give share stories of what it was like to be a young actor in the 1950s.

This is a great film and even better DVD. My wife and I liked the book and movie so much we named our daughter Allison after Peyton Place's main character.

The Darkside of Small Town Life
1957's Peyton Place was based on the tawdry best seller by Grace Metalious that depicts the sorted lives of the residents of the titular small New England town. The film was quite controversial at the time as it contains frank talk about sex, an incestuous rape, a hinted at abortion and murder. The film helped paved the way for the abandoning of the Hollywood moral codes. Everyone in Peyton Place, it seems, has something to Hide. Constance MacKenzie (Lana Turner) is an uptight single mother to Allison MacKenzie (Diane Varsi). She is fearful of scandal and rebuffs the advances of new high school principle Michael Rossi (Lee Phillips). Constance is hiding a secret from Allison and after Allison is wrongful accused of swimming naked with Norman Page (Russ Tamblyn) she reveals that Allison was born illegitimately as her father was living with Constance but was married. Allison leaves Peyton Place to go to New York City. Allison's best friend Selena Cross (Hope Lange) lives in a shack with her drunken stepfather Lucas Cross (Arthur Kennedy). Lucas is abusive and beats Selena and eventually rapes and impregnates her. Confronted by Dr. Swain (Lloyd Nolan), Lucas leaves town. He eventually returns and tries to take advantage of her again and Selena kills him. This leads to trial where Allison returns to town to speak on her Selena's behalf. She avoids her mother and in a bitter meeting tells her of her feelings towards her. At the trial, Selena refuses to let Dr. Swain speak about the rape. Dr. Swain's conscious gets the best of him and in an impassioned statement on the stand he reveals Selena's secret and chides the townspeople for their gossiping ways that led Selena to this position. Selena is acquitted and Allison reunites with Constance. The film was a huge hit and ironically Ms. Turner was embroiled in her our murder trial when her fourteen daughter stabbed her mobster boyfriend to death. It spawned a sequel and a popular television series. The film garnered nine Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Mark Robson), Best Actress for Ms. Turner (her only nomination) and two Best Supporting Actor & Actress nomination for Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Tamblyn, Ms. Lange & Ms. Varsi. The film holds the ignominy of having the most nomination without a single win.

Colorful soap classic/less than perfect DVD
Lana Turner and a terrific cast make this toned down version of Grace Metalious's steamy, sensational novel a real potboiling delight! The music, the cinematography, everything...it all evokes a long ago time and place and here it is all beautifully preserved for posterity! Fans will also enjoy its sequel, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE with luscious Carol Lynley and another good looking cast of youngsters and scenery-chewing veterans.

Unfortunately, this DVD has a few jumps and glitches which disrupt perfect viewing. The AMC Backstory documentary isn't all that informative, and you'd think they'd at least have edited out the commercial bumpers. The commentary track by Tamblyn and Moore is one of the most boring ever...nearly impossible to sit through. Neither actor offers much insight into the film they are watching, instead rattling off alot of their own movie credits and misinformation (ie. Dick Sargent was never in "that genie show," Ms. Moore). Who was producing this!?

The commentaries make this DVD a must-have
I already had a beautiful copy of this movie--the outrageously priced ($49.95) laserdisc set put out by Fox Home Video sometime in the 90s--but the selling point for me this time around was the promised audio commentaries by Russ Tamblyn and Terry Moore. I wasn't disappointed! I've always considered Tamblyn one of the unsung heroes of moviedom (his credits read like a list of the best films ever made--"Gun Crazy," "Father of the Bride," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "West Side Story," and this gem among others) and I'm certain that those viewers only familiar with his remarkable dancing and acrobatics in musicals would be surprised by his sure handling of a complex character in this film. The performance earned him a well-deserved Oscar nomination--a feat not shared by the majority of his musical colleagues. Tamblyn comes off as a very likable, unassuming guy in his audio commentary, and his memory of the long-ago events is pretty sharp--even to the point of remembering that a double for Lana Turner did a couple of the shots in the last scene rather than the actress herself. Along the way he has plenty of interesting stories about the other actors, the location shoot, and what was going on in his life at the time. Terry Moore is also very engaging in her commentary, although she's clearly less familiar with the movie itself--e.g., she registers surprise at the fate of Betty Field's character the same way a first-time viewer would. But Ms. Moore also has some intersting recollections, such as roasting in her winter coat while surrounded by fake snow in the blazing California sunshine. And her obvious respect for the story's themes and its characters (as significantly altered and arguably improved for the film adaptation) is very endearing, particularly if you're as enamored of the film as this viewer. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

absolutely outstanding
This movie, with the acting of Kathleen Quinlan, has got to be, by far, Kathleen's finest performance. Although the scream of Kathleen in "Nightmare in Blood" surpasses none. Kathleen Quinlan has always been a personal favorite of mine. When I saw her in "The Promise" she did me in. She is absolutely beautiful and her roles are varied and showcases her tremendous abilities. I adore her.

Sylvia Sydney should have received an oscar nomination. She protrayed Mrs. Corral the school teacher, coming back to the institution for a re-visit. She's been there before and the rest of the patients love her. When she was being checked in, four attendants had to carry her up the stairs, with Ms. Sidney yelling "cockroaches, Vermin!!!" When the attendants left after placing her in her cell, you see the bed flying out into the hallway (she threw it) yelling "YOU FORGOT TO TUCK ME IN"
That scene alone is worth the DVD.

A Good Movie!
I Never Promised you A Rose Garden is a very good movie, based on a book which I think was based on a true story. This movie stars Kathleen Quinlan as a schizophrenic teenager commited to a mental hospital and the psychiatrist played by Bibi Andersson who is trying to help her. Quinlan and Andersson are great and so is the rest of the cast!

The Film of The Book
Based on the cult book of the same name, this true story manages to capture and convey the atmosphere of the book, and the remarkable relationship bewteen Debbie, a young girl suffering from schizophrenia, living in a world peopled by gods of her own creation, and her psychotherapist, Dr. Fried - alias Frieda Fromm-Reichmann, the wife of Eric Fromm, the famous psychoanalyst.
This truly touching and remarkable tale emphasizes the kernel of human potential and light in Debbie, and the considerable insight and compassion in her therapist, whilst set in the most adverse conditions of a mental hospital.
The acting is highly convincing, the direction thoughtful, while the story and plot-structure complement each another, in masterfully portraying the essential elements of the classic book by Hannah Green.

GOOD MOVIE - LOUSY DVD
Again a good movie has been issued on a lousy dvd. Not only is the picture quality less than many vhs tapes, but they falsely advertise a full-length commentary by Kathleen Quinlan, the star, which is non-existant. There is an interview with her, separate from the film. This is a movie which deserves better, and this is just the rotten, greedy kind of job which is going to ruin the dvd industry eventually. How the morons who take part in this sort of product can live with themselves is above and beyond me.

When she tried killing herself, it was just the beginning
Director Anthony Page's treatment of the novel by Hannah Green, here adapted by Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino, presents Kathleen Quinlan as a schizophrenic admitted to a female asylum, with only one heartless attendant (male) who is quickly removed. However the focus is more on Quinlan than the other inmates, and when Page presents the inevitable scenes of ward panedomium, the women's personalities have more range than the men in the Milos Forman film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The number of women and this focus on Quinlan, actually precluded me from identifying Diane Varsi and Barbara Steele.
Quinlan's "sickness" is presented by her private world of a tribe enacted by Danny Elfman's Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo Temenos Theatre Group, who seem to be wardrobe-influenced by the American Indian. These demons say Quinlan is "poisonous" and fear her "betrayal", and the sessions with her psychiatrist Bibi Andersson aim towards Quinlan banishing them. However the title of the film is Andersson's qualifier, since if Quinlan chooses to join the real world, it still won't be easy. In spite of the way Quinlan's fantasy world hides her and her fear of betraying her Gods (Andersson is right when she calls them cruel, for they seem to have the power even though Quinlan has created them), no one comments on the remarkeable imagination it has taken to invent them, though I guess this feeds into the genius/madness thin line.
Clearly Quinlan's character is remarkable in herself - she's intelligent, funny, and of course lyrically sensitive. But the thing that Andersson tells Quinlan's parents seems truthful and also ties into the title idea - that she needs something to replace the sickness with. The cause for her condition isn't made clear - there is talk of abandonment by her mother after the death of a second child and some sexual phobia by her father - but Andersson is more intent on enabling Quinlan to feel emotion as a breakthrough. When Quinlan cries, touches Andersson and allows herself to be touched, and especially when Quinlan feels pain from self-inflicted cigarette burns, the music cues us that we are making advances. Of course, any cinematic representation of psychiatric treatment is false, since the chances of cure within 90 minutes are slim, but Page pleasingly suggests in the conclusion that Quinlan's Gods will never totally leave her.
The screenplay has the odd funny line - I liked Sylvia Sidney's "For the last 30 years, I've been analysed, paralysed, shocked, jolted, and revolted", and I was also grateful to lose the idea of Quinlan as the witness of conscience. Although Page wrongly introduces Quinlan to us in a rear view mirror image of her as animal, he does manage to hold back on the general hysteria among patients and also with Danny Elfman's group. I was happy to see the usually impossibly mannered Susan Tyrrell as a former nurse and even Signe Hasso as the resident thug - Hasso gets a laugh when she talks about being a former actress playing Joan of Arc "in Pittsburgh!".
As expected both Quinlan and Andersson are extraordinary. Quinlan looks a little like the young Jodie Foster though much more feminine, and occasionally Andersson's English sounds stilted, which is inexplicable since she has spoken English on screen before this. Watch for Dennis Quaid in a bit part towards the end. ... Read more