Peyton Place (film)
Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson, and starring Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Diane Varsi, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn, and Terry Moore. It follows numerous residents of a small fictional New England mill town in the years surrounding World War II, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy belie its tranquil façade. It is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.
The film was developed with Metalious serving as a story consultant, though the screenwriters' exclusion of some of the film's more salacious elements resulted in Metalious abandoning the project and openly detesting the film.
Released in December 1957, Peyton Place was a major box-office success and was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, including Best Director for Robson, Best Actress for Turner, and Best Supporting Actress for Lange.
Plot
In the New England town of Peyton Place, drunkard Lucas Cross stumbles out of his house, just as his stepson Paul, fed up with his alcoholism, leaves town. Lucas's downtrodden wife, Nellie, works as housekeeper for Constance "Connie" MacKenzie, the owner of a local clothing shop. The daughters of both families, Allison MacKenzie and Selena Cross, are best friends and will soon graduate high school. While the MacKenzies live a privileged life, the Cross family is indigent. At Peyton Place High School, a newcomer, Michael Rossi, is hired to be the new principal by school board president Leslie Harrington; the students' choice for the position is long-time teacher Elsie Thornton. Rossi wins over Ms. Thornton by offering to work with her.For Allison's 18th birthday, Connie allows her to have an unchaperoned party, attended by various classmates, including the overtly sexual Betty and her boyfriend, Rodney. Connie is horrified when she returns home to find all of the teenagersincluding Allisonmaking out. The next morning, Allison goes to meet Selena for church, and witnesses Selena's stepfather, Lucas, beat her.
Later, Rossi announces that Allison has been named valedictorian, and asks Connie to chaperone Allison's graduation dance; the two slowly develop a romance. Meanwhile, Harrington informs his Rodney that he does not approve of Betty, so Rodney is forced to uninvite her. He instead goes with Allison, though she is in love with the shy, bookish Norman Page. At the dance, Rodney tries to make out with Betty, but she is still angry at him for dumping her. Principal Rossi asks Ms. Thornton to give a short speech and lead the song "Auld Lang Syne"; she graciously accepts. This annoys Marion Partridge, a member of the school board and malicious gossip.
After the dance, Selena is raped by Lucas and becomes pregnant. When she sees Dr. Matthew Swain, the town's leading physicians for an abortion, he refuses; she confides in him that Lucas raped her. Furious, Dr. Swain confronts him, and Lucas is forced to promise to leave town after signing a confession, all of which Nellie secretly witnesses. Now out for revenge, Lucas chases Selena when she returns home, and although she escapes, she falls, injuring herself. After treating her, Dr. Swain records that she had an "appendectomy", when in fact she has had a termination.
At the Labor Day parade, Rodney and Betty reunite and go skinny dipping; nearby, Allison and Norman go swimming in proper suits. Marion Partridge and her husband Charles see a naked couple and make an assumption, telling Connie it was Allison and Norman. Connie and Allison have a fight. In a fit of anger, Connie admits that Allison was an illegitimate child, as Connie was her father's mistress. A hysterical Allison runs upstairs, and finds Nellie' dead body; she has committed suicide. Sometime after, Rodney and Betty elope, infuriating Rodney's father. After recovering from the shock of Nellie's suicide, Allison leaves for New York City.
World War II erupts in 1941, and Peyton Place's men go off to war. When Rodney is killed in action, his father offers to take care of Betty and she is finally welcomed into the family. During Christmas of 1942, Connie visits Rossi to apologize for being dismissive to him. After confessing that she was a married man's mistress, Rossi decides to stay in Peyton Place, saying that his earlier marriage proposal to her is still open. A drunken Lucas returns from the Navy and tries to again rape Selena, but this time she bludgeons him to death in self-defense.
After Easter of 1943, Selena tearfully confesses Lucas's murder to Connie, and she is later arrested and tried by the District Attorney. Allison, still estranged from Connie, returns for the trial, as does Norman; the truth about Selena killing Lucas in self-defense, his physical and sexual abuse of her, as well as Dr. Swain's false report about her "appendectomy," all come to light. Dr. Swain admonishes the town for their gossipy ways and failure to offer Selena help. Ultimately, Selena is acquitted, and she and Ted are free to marry. Allison has a change of heart and approaches Connie with a hope of reconciliation, and Norman is welcomed into the house.
Cast
Cast notes- Both Diane Varsi and Lee Philips made their film debuts in Peyton Place.
- The films also marked the first time that David Nelson had appeared separately from his family, Ozzie, Harriet, and Ricky.
- Erin O'Brien-Moore, who played Mrs. Evelyn Page, would play Nurse Esther Choate in the 1960s Peyton Place TV series.
Production
Development
Less than a month after the novel's release in October 1956, producer Jerry Wald bought the rights from author Grace Metalious for $250,000 and hired her as a story consultant on the film, although he had no intention of actually allowing her to contribute anything to the production. Her presence in Hollywood ensured the project additional publicity, but Metalious soon felt out of place in the film capital. "I regarded the men who made Peyton Place as workers in a gigantic flesh factory," she recalled, "and they looked upon me as a nut who should go back to the farm."The screenplay, written by John Michael Hayes, omits numerous sexually explicit moments from the novel. The omissions of the novel's more controversial elements was a result of screenwriter Hayes having to contend with the Hays Code, which restricted depictions of content deemed explicit by the U.S. Motion Picture Production Code.
Metalious was horrified by what she deemed a sanitized version of her novel, and was also displeased with the thought of the casting of Pat Boone as Norman Page ; she subsequently returned to her home in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. She publicly derided the film, though she eventually earned a total of $400,000 in exhibition profits from it.
Filming
of Peyton Place began on June 4, 1957. The film's exterior sequences were shot primarily in mid-coastal Maine, mostly in the town of Camden, with additional exteriors filmed in Belfast; Rockland; and Thomaston, as well as Lake Placid, New York. Additional interior photography was completed on film sets in Los Angeles, California. All of Turner's scenes in the film were shot in California.Musical score
The film's original score was composed by Franz Waxman, and recorded with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The score was released for the first time on compact disc in 1999. Journalist Graydon Carter in 2016 praised the score as "haunting" and "instantly recognizable even today." The score was recognized by the American Film Institute in 2005 for the AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores, for which it received a nomination.;Track listing
Release
Box office
The film premiered in Camden one day before opening in 24 cities across the U.S. on December 12, 1957.Peyton Place was the second highest-grossing film released in the United States in 1957, and received significant public interest in April 1958, after star Lana Turner's daughter, Cheryl, killed Turner's abusive boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, during a domestic struggle. Though Cheryl was acquitted on the grounds of justifiable homicide, the press coverage boosted ticket sales for Peyton Place by 32% in April 1958. The film ultimately earned $11 million in domestic rentals.
Critical reception
While Peyton Place was a commercial hit, many critics noted that the most salacious elements of the Metalious novel had been whitewashed or eliminated completely. In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther remarked "There is no sense of massive corruption here." However, he did generally like the film, praising Hope Lange for a "gentle and sensitive performance" and finding Lloyd Nolan "excellent." '''s finger-pointingmost notably in a stunning montage of duplicitous citizens filing into a myriad of churches, all dressed in their Sunday best."Accolades
The film received 9 Academy Award nominations and no wins. The film's 9 Oscar nominations without a win also tied the record with the film The Little Foxes in 1941. This record was surpassed by the films The Turning Point in 1977 and The Color Purple in 1985.| Award | Category | Nominee | Result | |
| Academy Awards | Best Motion Picture | Jerry Wald | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Director | Mark Robson | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Actress | Lana Turner | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Arthur Kennedy | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Russ Tamblyn | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Hope Lange | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Diane Varsi | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium | John Michael Hayes | ||
| Academy Awards | Best Cinematography | William C. Mellor | ||
| Directors Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures | Mark Robson | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Mildred Dunnock | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Hope Lange | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Most Promising Newcomer – Female | Diane Varsi | ||
| Laurel Awards | Top Drama | Peyton Place | ||
| Laurel Awards | Top Female Dramatic Performance | Lana Turner | ||
| Laurel Awards | Top Male Supporting Performance | Arthur Kennedy | ||
| Laurel Awards | Top Female Supporting Performance | Betty Field | ||
| Laurel Awards | Top Female Supporting Performance | Diane Varsi | ||
| Screen Directors Guild of America | Best Director | Mark Robson | ||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Written American Drama | John Michael Hayes |