A hopelessly corny and stodgy piece of 1950s film-making that thinks racy subject matter alone makes it important. Well, it doesn't.
"Peyton Place" is a static adaptation of a scandalous book, filled with a cast of females who all look the same -- as blonde and coiffed as the most stereotypical image of a 50s housewife. Of them, Hope Lange does the best with the material given her, playing a sweet kid with a lousy dad, who rapes and beats her in glorious Technicolor. Arthur Kennedy growls his way through the movie as said dad, providing it with some much-needed testosterone, even if that testosterone is somewhat misdirected. Also technically providing some male hormones to the film, though in much diluted form, is Russ Tamblyn, who plays a shy nerd smitten with the movie's narrator, played by Diane Varsi. And bringing the film its star voltage, Lana Turner delivers an imperious performance as an uptight mom, all pointy breasts and platinum blonde hair.
"Peyton Place" supposedly takes place in the early 1940s, but you'd never know it from the film's production design. The clothes, hairstyles and saturated color are all pure 50s -- in fact, this movie is the kind of hokey 1950s melodrama that later films making fun of the 50s would parody.
Grade: C+
"Peyton Place" is a static adaptation of a scandalous book, filled with a cast of females who all look the same -- as blonde and coiffed as the most stereotypical image of a 50s housewife. Of them, Hope Lange does the best with the material given her, playing a sweet kid with a lousy dad, who rapes and beats her in glorious Technicolor. Arthur Kennedy growls his way through the movie as said dad, providing it with some much-needed testosterone, even if that testosterone is somewhat misdirected. Also technically providing some male hormones to the film, though in much diluted form, is Russ Tamblyn, who plays a shy nerd smitten with the movie's narrator, played by Diane Varsi. And bringing the film its star voltage, Lana Turner delivers an imperious performance as an uptight mom, all pointy breasts and platinum blonde hair.
"Peyton Place" supposedly takes place in the early 1940s, but you'd never know it from the film's production design. The clothes, hairstyles and saturated color are all pure 50s -- in fact, this movie is the kind of hokey 1950s melodrama that later films making fun of the 50s would parody.
Grade: C+