I was dreading having to view this after renting it. But for once, it's a pleasure to see a movie from the 50s (a decade drowning in conformity and fronting) show a wholesome social structure... then demolish it, to expose the seriously screwed up families and social problems of an outwardly hunky-dory, whitebread town.
While generally dismissed as melodrama, this is no 'Perils of Pauline.' The scandals in this movie are still scandalous and shocking. I can't believe this movie got away with what it did (fratricide via lumber?). I find it amusing that people talk about the dated melodrama in a movie which didn't receive critical consensus... but they're more than willing to ignore it in something like 'Notorious,' a movie I can't stand.
Russ Tamblyn is quite good here embodying the major concern of the '50s; molly-coddling! ...which was also an issue in 'Rebel without a Cause' and 'Tea and Sympathy.' It may also remind you of 'Splendor in the Grass.' Tamblyn later turned up in Twin Peaks, which plays like a trippier Peyton Place and uses the same construct; we get to know an entire town of characters, and learn the secrets that are rotting their souls.
While generally dismissed as melodrama, this is no 'Perils of Pauline.' The scandals in this movie are still scandalous and shocking. I can't believe this movie got away with what it did (fratricide via lumber?). I find it amusing that people talk about the dated melodrama in a movie which didn't receive critical consensus... but they're more than willing to ignore it in something like 'Notorious,' a movie I can't stand.
Russ Tamblyn is quite good here embodying the major concern of the '50s; molly-coddling! ...which was also an issue in 'Rebel without a Cause' and 'Tea and Sympathy.' It may also remind you of 'Splendor in the Grass.' Tamblyn later turned up in Twin Peaks, which plays like a trippier Peyton Place and uses the same construct; we get to know an entire town of characters, and learn the secrets that are rotting their souls.