On P List of Movie Reviews

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Peyton Place (1957)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 5/14, 7/19

Pey
5/14: Peyton Place is perfect.

I wish I saw it many years ago. How surprising my childhood closely resembles the story. I grew up in a tiny village in the Northeast that's surrounded by farmlands and populated by white folks. There were no traffic lights but four churches of different denominations, one school, one library, a big pond, and annual parades, fireworks, and tree lighting ceremonies. Everything I saw in the film is like that, even right down to the memorial services which are complete with plaques and headstones of those who had died in various wars.

I grew up with kids, having gone to the same school from kindergarten through eighth grade, and it was a close-knit community. But things changed a lot by the time we hit high school. Everybody was required to integrate through different high schools by choice, and when graduation came, many hardly knew one another because of the diverging paths.

However, the village I grew up in didn't change much as there were folks that resembled many characters in Peyton Place. Over the years, I had encountered an array of similar incidents, and it's amazing to see the resemblance. In fact, one of my classmates, who was on the same team with me in different sports, committed first-degree murder and was sentenced to life.

After high school graduation, I went to college far away, had traveled a great deal, and didn't look back. When I came back to visit the village periodically, I realized the dangers of living in an insular world that's trapped with small-town mentality. It's as if change was a bad thing, so keeping everything as white as possible was of the utmost importance.

When I heard from my mother recently, she was issued a citation by the municipal court because the upkeep of her porch didn't meet the village's standards. To this day, there's a woman living there who looks exactly like Marion and is the biggest gossiper ever. That's why I identify myself with Allison MacKenzie the most; what her character went through is exactly what I went through. I did know others who were from the wrong side of the tracks that were just like the characters. The naivety I possessed at the time was eventually realized years later after moving out. Hence, Peyton Place is an amazing film.

The cast is perfect, and everybody is brilliant in his or her own way. For me, the most winning performance is given by Lloyd Nolan. Of course, Lana Turner is fabulous, having shed off the label as the famous platinum blonde siren from The Postman Always Rings Twice. Diane Varsi, marvelous. Lee Philips, wonderful. Hope Lange, fantastic. Russ Tamblyn, outstanding. Arthur Kennedy, magnificent. Barry Coe and Terry Moore, what a pair. Mildred Dunnock who reminds me of my old high school Latin teacher, saintly.

All in all, Peyton Place is American Graffiti, Rebel Without a Cause, and The Last Picture Show all rolled into one.

7/19: Ah, Peyton Place, the film about white people made by white people for white people.

Losing points in my rating is the extreme running time of 162 minutes. There are so many subplots, some of them unnecessary, that it feels like a two-part movie. The sugary voice-over narration is terrible.

What bothers me the most is that nearly every time Lana Turner is outside, there must be a rear projection screen behind her. When the shot is faraway like she's walking down the street, it has to be her body double. So, was Lana Turner too good for everybody that she had to be on the sound stage? It turns out she refused to go to Maine and demanded proper studio lighting. To perform her scenes, everybody had to come over from Maine and do them with her in Hollywood. Well, Lana...you ruined the movie, so congrats.

By the way, the year when Peyton Place premiered, Lana Turner's daughter, Cheryl Crane, killed her mother's abusive gangster boyfriend, giving the movie an unexpected boost in box-office returns after it didn't initially play well for several months. Meanwhile, the court scene is problematic. Potential witnesses aren't legally allowed to watch the trial until after their testimony has been given, but many did in the film. Like Michael Rossi, the doctor's speech pointing out the citizens' silly behavior is random and therefore irrelevant.

All in all, although Peyton Place is a classy movie reminding me of my childhood, it runs too long and is full of melodrama and so-so performances.