Peyton Place on TCM Right Now...

Lee Phillips left acting in the 1960s to become a TV director. He directed a lot of the latter part of the Andy Griffith show.

He was a handsome devil.

This was a scandalous book when I was a kid. As a young adult, I lived briefly near the town it was based on: Gilmanton, NH -- pretty much a collection of rundown trailer homes by then.

I liked PP & also the sequel, "Return to Peyton Place", with Tuesday Weld as Selena & Mary Astor.

Then PP became a nightime soap launching Mia Farrow & Ryan Oneal, & "Return" became a daytime soap.

The author was a fat housewife who died a drunk at the age of 39. Her story would make a good movie -- Wikipedia says that Sandra Bullock was going to do it but the project fizzled.

She also died BROKE.

Stupid her, signing away her rights. While 20th Century made a mint off the movie and the TV series.

That's right - Grace Metallious was a character herself. I didn't know that she was of French-Canadian descent.

I enjoyed it but the sequel was jarring because none of the original actors were in it. Does anyone know why they couldnt at least get lana turner? Most of the cast got oscar nominated for it including lana her only oscar nom. I would think they would wanna be in the sequel. Even though the script wasnt as good. Maybe that was it.

Oh yes, Lana did so much better with Love Has Many Faces.

And someone SANG the theme music!

It didn't do well at the box office until Cheryl Crane killed Johnny Stompanato.

By the late 1950s Lana was usually paired with a relatively unknown HOT young leading man who was mostly just hired to give her a reason to come to the studio every morning.

I am surprised at how well Lana was able to portray sexual repression, 'cause that is one thing she was not, sexually repressed.

I like looking at the Camden, ME, scenery.

I wish the books had never ended, frankly!

Lee Philips became a film and TV director.

Beautiful musical score too.

Wow--I never knew what a one-not shitty actress Lana Turner was!

Er...one-note, that is.

Lana's zombie act is very convincing. You have to go way, way back to her early ones to figure out why the public made her a star. In that way, she's not unlike Crawford, whose performances also got more and more limited as she aged.

I just love this movie.

Was Norman gay?

The TV serious was brilliant for its time. I got it off of Netflix and loved it.

I must be the only one who likes Lana's performance in this film.

Lana was never a really good actress, but I agree this was one of her best efforts.

I think the book is a much more fun read. The movie was too neutered. Norman is one freaky kid, Rodney Harrington dies a kinky death ... and the girl who loses her arm in the funhouse...

Nah, r20. I think she's just fabulous. I just didn't want to get into it with the DL critics.

I disagree. She was adorable and winning as a young gorgeous star at MGM in films like Ziegfeld Girl.

By the 1950s she had really hardened. By the 1960s she was pure camp.

Lee Philips had a voice like Mickey Mouse, and though he did become a director, he was always bitter that he didn't make it in the movies. He gave a great performance in a Robert Mitchum film called The Hunters.

I like Lana, Hope, and Diane and everyone in this film....even David Nelson. I don't like Arthur Kennedy who always played such unlikable men (see A Summer Place) - he can ruin a movie for me....

Yup the scenery and the music are just icing on the cake.

On the DVD, Terry Moore does a commentary - it's fun to listen to her talk about making the movie and being under contract. She claims she hadn't really seen the movie since it first came out.....the scene where Betty Fields' body is discovered in the closet made her gasp...."Oh no....I had forgotten that...oh...is she dead?"

LOL.....

Oh and yes, read the book!

Kind of like people who see Gone With the Wind think they know the story.....

You have to read the book.

How does Rodney die, r22?

She was good in PP and IOL, but earlier she showed a flair for comedy in movies like SLIGHTLY DANGEROUS. In SD she was sexy, funny and warm. As she was in her earlier dramatic efforts. She lost the humor and much of the warmth when she became Tragic Lana, but the sexy was still there for the most part.

I also enjoyed her in Green Dolphin Street. That's a hard movie to find. Great story with her and Donna Reed as her sister.

Vanity Fair article about Grace Metalious at link.

The biography "Inside Peyton Place: The Life of Grace Metalious" is fascinating. You should really read "Peyton Place" first, to get all the context.

CPR on a dead thread STAT!

What a sad story about Grace. I didn't realize that French-Canadians faced such prejudice in the US.

Peyton Place is on TCM On Demand this month.

Lee Phillips is good to look at in Peyton Place, but he does't bring much to the role. On the other hand, he had a small part as Kim Novak's ex husband in 1959's Middle of the Night. He's in one scene, which is rather lengthy, but he's pure sex in that movie.

[quote]I didn't realize that French-Canadians faced such prejudice in the US.

They're still called "canucks" & looked down upon by some old folks in New England, much like some elderly southerners sneer at "nigras" & "colored".

I visited Camden, Maine last year, specifically to visit Peyton Place sites (altogether now; OH, MARY!) and it was great to see how many of the locations are exactly the same: the arch entering the town, the view of the harbor as Norman and Allison walk past the library, the scenic vista from the mountaintop, the street where the MacKenzies live. The only surprise was that the town doesn't play up the PP connection in any way whatsoever. Not a single souvenir, tourist trinket or movie paraphernalia could be found anywhere.

Lee Phillips was a very sexy guy, but he couldn't hold his own against Lana Turner, who tried to steal every scene she was in. People say that this was probably her best performance, but I thought she was laughable in some scenes, especially her big meltdown on the witness stand. I thought the best performances in the film were from Lloyd Nolan, Mildred Dunnock (a poignant performance as teacher Mrs. Thornton), Hope Lange, and Arthur Kennedy. Diane Varsi and Leon Ames (in a small role) were also effective, though a little raw. Barry Coe and David Nelson couldn't act for shit, but they were pretty dreamy looking.

I wanted to attack Barry Coe. So purty. But why do some of the actors, Leon Ames in particular, talk with Southern accents in a film that takes place in New England.

I think Leon Ames was trying to affect a thick New England accent, but yeah, he does sound a bit Southern. Terry Moore had the same issue, come to think of it. She sounded more like a southern belle at times rather than a New England tramp.

r9 lied. Peyton Place was an immediate box office hit when it was released in December, 1957 -- and not surprisingly, as it was based on what was, at the time, the best-selling novel ever (more than Gone with the Wind, believe it or not).

The movie got 9 Oscar nominations (Best Picture, Director, Actress, 2 for Supporting Actor [Russ Tamblyn, Arthur Kennedy], 2 for Supporting Actress [Hope Lange, Diane Varsi], Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography -- shockingly, Franz Waxman's classic score was not nominated). The movie lost in every category.

It was a week after the Oscar ceremony when Cheryl killed Johnny and, yes, there was another surge at the box office for the film.

The movie was a true blockbuster: adjusted for inflation, its box-office take was $412 million!!!

Can you imagine a straight-forward adult melodrama making that kind of money today?

[quote]Can you imagine a straight-forward adult melodrama making that kind of money today?

No. Never again. Was "The Godfather" series the last adult melodrama that captured the national imagination?

I can't imagine a book of that sort becoming a national sensation, either. Is "50 Shades of Grey" the heir to the PP audience? (Haven't read either, so don't know the answer.)

AMC backstory-

[quote]Can you imagine a straight-forward adult melodrama making that kind of money today?

As you said in your post it was an adaptation of the then best selling book of all time and got a huge amount of attention due to a man's death. But otherwise, no. I don't think "The Godfather" was the last - what about "Chinatown" (if "The Godfather" counts that must) or "Mommie Dearest".

Chinatown was released in 1974, the same year as The Godfather Part II. And Mommie Dearest, then and now, appeals primarily to gay men -- I talking about a straight-forward adult melodrama that had appeal to all generations and that was reflected in its success. I don't think we've seen one in a long time and, as r39 states, I doubt we ever will.

The shift is almost perfectly represented by the success of Star Wars in 1977 -- theaters were afraid to book the film so 20th Century-Fox threatened to withhold The Other Side of Midnight, which was based on a Sidney Sheldon bestseller and expected to be one of the year's big hits -- but families, and especially teenage boys, made Star Wars a monster hit and Hollywood was forever changed.

The adult melodrama moved to TV, in the form of mini-series, TV movies and prime time soaps; now, even the first two of those are pretty much gone from TV, while the prime time soap has morphed into the gimmick serial (the one exception is the revival of Dallas).

[quote]The adult melodrama moved to TV, in the form of mini-series, TV movies and prime time soaps; now, even the first two of those are pretty much gone from TV, while the prime time soap has morphed into the gimmick serial (the one exception is the revival of Dallas).

There are a few high quality drama series, although none on a major network.

1999's "American Beauty grossed 356 million. 1999 isn't that far away but I can't imagine that movie having a comparable success (accounting for economic changes) now.

r43, American Beauty is good example, though I'd argue that it is done partly as ironic satire; movies like Peyton Place and The Godfather are thoroughly serious (if there is comedy, it's a throw-away bit).

Hope Lange was beautiful in this movie. She had the perfect complexion.

This is just a little Peyton Place and you're all Harper Valley hypocrites!

Watching it for the first time now on RetroPlex -- love the Down East accents. Didn't realize until I dug through some old threads that they filmed in Camden, ME. I'm a Southerner who got to visit there 10 yeares ago ... lovely little town with lovely people.

My parents grew up just a short way down the coast from Camden, Maine. They spoke with the same Down East accent, which I am sad to say is sort of passing away. TV taught many of us in Maine to ignore the way our parents and grand-parents talked.

Old people here still recall the excitement surrounding Camden during the filming of Payton Place. The town had a 50th Anniversary celebratory screening in 2007. They probably never played up the town's connection to the film because Camden is upscale and gorgeous while Peyton Place is vulgar and trashy.

Another Hollywood thrill came to my parents' hometown when Bette Davis rented a house there while she and husband Gary Merrill looked for the permanent residence they found in Cape Elizabeth and named Witch Way. I have a faded sepia pic of Bette posing and smiling sweetly with young B.D. (identified on the back as "her lovely daughter") and a neighbor lady taken by someone in my family.

I guess this was considered R-rated in 1957? Incest, rape, the actual "S" word said aloud ... oh my!

Norman sure seemed ill-at-ease with his sexuality to me.

Its hilarious that the story is set in the 40s but, as per usual with Hollywood, it all looks very 50s - and the sequel Return to Peyton Place looks like it is set in the early 60s, but the characters are the same age.

Barry Coe was a dish, and in some other Fox films like The 300 Spartans (where he looks good in a mini skirt toga) but by the time of Fantastic Voyage in 1966 he is reduced to a minor character just repeating instructions. I suppose pretty actors were two a penny then. He was also Carroll Baker's boyfriend in the 1959 comedy But Not For Me, whom the silly girl dumps for old Clark Gable.

Mary Astor is fantastic in "Return to Peyton Place," although the movie is pretty awful.

It amazes me that nobody has ever commented on the title sequence. As the music plays and the titles roll, the lovely (Hope Lange?) walks and skips through her idyllic New England town on her way to school. The titles and the music end as she arrives at her school, and as she steps through the door - she FALLS FLAT ON HER FACE.

Wonderful picture. Lana is awesome, Lee earnest, Hope glows, Diane captivating. Marvelous music, breathtaking scenery. Isn't life a soap opera?

Lee Phillips was a total fox in Peyton Place. Lana Turner's Oscar nomination was completely undeserved.

The Selena storyline was based on the 1946 case of Barbara Roberts, 20, of Gilmanton, NH, who killed her sexually/physically abusive father and buried his body in the family's hog pen.

When the TV series started, Lana was having a weird middle-aged Renaissance doing films like "Madame X" and "Love Has Many Faces," and probably thought it would be a comedown to do TV. It didn't last long, and she was glad enough to get TV work later with "Falcon Crest."

There used to be a bigger prestige divide between doing TV work and doing film work--some people like Bette Davis paid no attention to such a divide and just figured work was work, but it mattered a lot to some people. There are STILL some people in Hollywood who consider TV work a big comedown from film in terms of prestige.

What is TCM?

^ Turner Classic Movies

Lana Turner got an Oscar nomination because she was better than usual in PEYTON PLACE and surprised people. Granted, it's a low bar, but she at least isn't as woeful as she had been in other 50's films like THE PRODIGAL, A LIFE OF HER OWN, or DIANE.

Funny how Diane Varsi went from Fox starlet to doing lousy AIP movies in the late 60's like WILD IN THE STREETS and KILLERS THREE.

Varsi was not emotionally stable. She was 18 when she made her film debut in Peyton Place; suffered a nervous breakdown while filming Ten North Frederick (1958); burned her bridges with 20th Century-Fox when she walked out on her contract in 1960; drifted to San Francisco, then New York, eventually appearing in independent, low-budget programmers like Wild in the Streets (1968). She died in 1992 at the age of 54.

R58 is a little slow on the uptake.

Lee Phillips was dreamy (and shirtless) on a Perry Mason episode.

R62, pictures please! I've seen every Perry Mason episode, and I don't remember that one.

I do remember Lee as the unfortunate reporter interviewing Ann Blyth on a Twilight Zone episode.

Diane Varsi has a kind of open, honest sexuality in Peyton Place but at the same time was merely competent as an actor.

I didn’t realise that Russ Tamblyn was stuck in an incestuous relationship with his mother.