Peyton Place (1957)

Peyton Place was one of the best-selling novels of all time, and no one thought it could be made into a decent movie. The subject matter was so steamy it was feared that it might be truncated and done as a pale soap opera. But the pundits were mistaken. Hayes' masterful adaptation of the book managed to keep all of the stories going on such a high level of taste that the Catholic Legion of Decency gave it their "A" rating, which meant it was "acceptable to all." Filmed in the small town of Camden, Maine, it's a terrific example of Hollywood's professionalism on all counts. The lives of seemingly "ordinary people" were examined in a small-town community, and the result was a box-office smash that became one of the biggest hits of the year. Set in the 1940s, it paved the way for a sequel, Return to Peyton Place, and a very successful TV series that was seen three nights per week in prime time.

Mildred Dunnock, a loving teacher of the children at Peyton Place's high school, is overlooked by the powers-that-be for the job of principal, and Philips, a sharp Ph.D., is brought in for the job. He has many new ideas for educational advances and the town wants fresh blood. In no time at all, he meets Turner, a widow with a teenage daughter, Varsi. Since he is such a dashing type, Philips is surprised when Turner spurns his amorous advances and he retaliates by sniping at her for the way she treats Varsi, specifically when the teen's birthday party turns into an innocent-enough petting fest. Varsi and her pals are due to graduate this semester. Wealthy Coe marries Moore, a sensuous young woman, despite his father's annoyance. Meanwhile, Varsi is having a sincere friendship with Tamblyn, whose mother, O'Brien-Moore, is a domineering woman who resents his friendship with anyone. At the same time, Lange, the stepdaughter of the school's drunken caretaker, Kennedy, is raped by Kennedy, and she later kills him accidentally. The war begins, and things begin to change rapidly in the town. Varsi finds she must flee Turner's influence and goes to New York, where she becomes the person who writes about life in the slow lane of Peyton Place. When Lange goes on trial for Kennedy's death, Varsi comes home to cover, is reunited with Turner, and learns her mother is finally going to marry Philips.

The reason for her reluctance to marry and her doting attitude toward Varsi is that Varsi was born out of wedlock and Turner didn't want her daughter to go the same way. Peyton Place is a jewel of a soap opera and manages to make all its points without ever becoming maudlin. The Academy gave it nine Oscar nominations, but it won none. Only The Godgather Part II garnered that many Best Supporting nominations. The details of the story are what make it exciting. Lange gets pregnant by Kennedy and has an abortion by kindly Doctor Nolan; Field, Kennedy's wife, kills herself over the anguish; Coe joins the service and is one of the first soldiers to be killed; Tamblyn finally escapes his mother's forceful ways; the Lange trial ends when Nolan produces a document he's forced Kennedy to sign, admitting the parenthood of his stepdaughter's baby, and so on. If someone had judiciously pruned 20 minutes out of this, it would have been even better, but since so many millions had bought the book (someone figured it out to be one out of every 37 people in the US), they feared a bad reaction from those who'd loved Metalious's work.

PERFORMER, CHARACTER

Lana Turner, Constance MacKenzie

Hope Lange, Selena Cross

Lee Philips, Michael Rossi

Lloyd Nolan, Dr. Matthew Swain

Diane Varsi, Allison MacKenzie

Arthur Kennedy, Lucas Cross

Russ Tamblyn, Norman Page

Terry Moore, Betty Anderson

Barry Coe, Rodney Harrington

David Nelson, Ted Carter

Betty Field, Nellie Cross

Mildred Dunnock, Mrs. Thornton

Leon Ames Harrington

Lorne Greene, Prosecutor

PRODUCTION CREDITS:

Producer, Jerry Wald

Director, Mark Robson

Screenwriter, John Michael Hayes based on the novel by Grace Metalious

Editor, David Bretherton

Cinematographer, William Mellor

Music Director, Edward B. Powell

Composer, Franz Waxman

Special Effects, L.B. Abbott