That was an excellent one.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Really Surprised!

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Interesting, but overwrought, look at 1940s society.Peyton Place is an effective snapshot of life in the early-1940s: the morals, mores and conventions of the time, and how some of these were made to be broken. Has some engaging characters and interesting commentary on old vs young, women's rights, morality.However, there are too many threads, too many characters with parallel stories, and these stories don't seem to know when to end. There are plenty of climatic moments in the movie, where usually a movie would have ended. Here, it is just a temporary peak in a long rambling story. Then we have some unnecessary drama - drama for drama sake. After a while it starts to feel like a soap opera.Ultimately, an interesting and engaging movie, but much more conciseness and focus were required.

I first saw this movie more than 10 years ago, and it really affected me. The themes of the story are classic and timeless; about the walls we put up between ourselves and others, and about how judgmental we can be. And the performances are dramatic, especially that of Lana Turner, she's phenomenal. I just watched it again and thought it seemed a little bit hokey, and the story not as strong as I'd remembered it, keeping in mind however that it was made in 1957, based on a book that was written well before that. What was seen as scandalous back then it probably routine today (teenage pregnancy for example), but again keeping in mind when it was made, the themes are timeless. I don't think it would have been half the film it turned out to be had it not been for the indelible Lana Turner. Such an amazing actress with a magnetic presence, she was one of the main driving forces behind the picture in my opinion. I was especially affected by the voice over at the very end "We'd finally discovered that season of love. It is only found in someone else's heart. Right now someone you know is looking everywhere for it, and it's in you". The world of the movie represents something that seems impossibly almost wholesome, yet still leaves one yearning for a return to closeness among community, something more wholesome than the world we live in today.

Lana Turner gets top billing in this film adaptation of Grace Metalious' scandalous novel, Peyton Place, a small town in the New England states just before WWII. The reason the book was so scandalous at the time was because it dealt with things that were not dealt with in families nor spoke of in decent company: getting involved with a married man, incest, or just being lonely and scared of growing up or the opposite sex. Family #1: Mother Lana Turner owns a dress shop, and her daughter Diane Varsi is the class valedictorian. There's a story there. Another family: Betty Field's first husband died, so she married Arthur Kennedy, so that her three children would have a father figure. But he drank and was rough on the boys, particularly the oldest son, Ben, which led up to him leaving home, which begins the movie. That leaves daughter Hope Lange and a younger boy at home. Another family: Father Leon Ames, whose son Barry Coe likes the school tramp Terry Moore, and vice versa. Then there's Mildred Dunnock who's a teacher who has seniority to become principal, now that the last one has recently died. But the school board elects to hire one from out of town. Enter Lee Philips. Then, there's Russ Tamblyn, whose life is being monopolized by a domineering mother who is trying to make him hate all girls. Then there's Lloyd Nolan, who's the friendly town doctor, who is pressed to go beyond the call of duty to help others. And, there's also the town gossipers, who spread it like wildfire.Being a Lana Turner fan, I may have seen this film more than the average person. But instead of falling head over heels for it, I do see its limitations. One of the film's strengths is almost its undoing or worst criticism. Its study or treatment of the town's citizens (and their problems) is like that of a bird's eye view, allowing us to see their world without being judgmental of their actions or feelings, and is therefore a straightforward account of what happens to them. But, by doing so, it feels emotionally aloof and we, the viewer, don't connect enough to anyone in particular. The film's main success is in the production values and how they complement the actors using their craft. The actors that really come off the best are Terry Moore, as the town tramp (who's really not that bad;) Diane Varsi (as the daughter who discovers who or what she really is;) Arthur Kennedy as the town drunk, who's totally in character; Lloyd Nolan, as the doctor providing care and common sense to those that will listen; and lastly Lana Turner, who was given only one Oscar nomination in her movie career, for this film. In fact, in my opinion, the film's best scene belongs to her and the principal, played by Lee Philips, when he tells her that he cares for her and he expects the same adult feelings from her, without it being dirty. That may be the scene that earned her the nomination more than the courtroom scene.While I have always liked Hope Lange, the presentation of the events in her life does not draw the viewer in or make us care enough. It feels too artificial to matter and does not come across as real. But the opening score that accompanies the credits is so moving, that the last time I saw this film, I had to listen to it twice and I was almost brought to tears. "Peyton Place" may be from the imagination of Grace Metalious, but these people and events are portrayed in the film, as if this could have been, but for the Grace of God, you or me given the circumstances, and that we are all looking for love and acceptance in another. This also is showing the misfortune of people to allow you the chance to see things from a different perspective. Open your heart and see yourself in another's place. "Peyton Place" is a film about people.

Episodic, overlong soaper is a compendium of small town clichés and stereotypical characters tastefully done, but also stodgy and overly long. It's episodic nature was ideally suited to a TV series which this material became. The most shocking thing about Peyton Place is that it was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, the same year Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory failed to receive a single nomination in any major category! Mark Robson who gave us enjoyable trash like Valley of the Dolls and Daddy's Gone A-Hunting takes a reverential tone towards the material, and despite the pretty postcard exteriors it plays like a TV series with the whole thing becoming a courtroom drama. There's hardly a genuine emotion anywhere in the film, nor is there any sense of real life going on. The film exists somewhere between Imitation of Life(1959) and The Last Picture Show(1971)without the deliberate heightening of the former and the realism of the latter. And despite an impressive 5 Oscar nominations for acting, the performances are just adequate, and Lee Phillips is the dullest leading man this side of Efram Zimbalist Jr.