(Potential spoiler in fourth paragraph)Based on the lurid bestseller of its time by Grace Metalious, Peyton Place is a fifties melodrama whose attitude to sex was franker than other films of this time (though it looks very tame now), in which characters wouldn't even mutter the word.Constance MacKenzie (Lara Turner) disapproves of her daughter Allison (Diane Varsi) having any sort of romance because as it is later revealed, Constance has skeletons in her closet. This is nothing compared to the home life of Allison's best friend Selena Cross (Hope Lange), who lives in fear of her abusive alcoholic stepfather Lucas (Arthur Kennedy). Lana Turner feels miscast, with the focus on her as a star, rather than Allison, who is more of a main character. The headmaster who tries to court her, played by Lee Phillips, is bland and forgettable. Whilst Hope Lange is physically miscast as Selena, who in the novel is described as dark and gyspy like, she acts the part well. The trouble is that she looks too similar to Allison- there's a reason why in the novel the girls look so physically different.Arthur Kennedy is suitably vile as leering Lucas and Russ Tamblyn (better known for his role in West Side Story) is sweet as Allison's sweetheart, Norman. The rape scene is troubling, although god knows why there's the sound of a train in the background.It took me a while to realise that this was set in the forties- every outfit and hairstyle looks straight out of the year it was set in (which isn't uncommon for films but the forties is very different fashion-wise from the forties).It is an interesting teen/women's film from yesteryear but not on a par with Imitation of Life, which also deals with controversial subjects but actually explores them rather than simply presenting them. Culturally very significant as the archetype of small-town secrets and scandal (American Beauty owes a debt to it, amongst many other films).

I was glad I read the book before I watched the movie. The film was different than the book. In the novel, Allison McKenzie (the aspiring writer), Norman Page (mama's boy), Selena Cross (Allison's best friend who is sexually molested by her stepfather Lucas), Ted Carter (Selena's boyfriend), Rodney Harrington (Allison's crush), and Betty Anderson (the town tramp) attend Peyton Place Junior High School. In the film, they're in their senior year of Peyton Place High School. Michael Rossi, who wins Allison's mother, Constance Mckenzie's heart, comes to town to accept a job as principal at Peyton Place High School. Betty and Rodney get married in the film.

This is one of my all time favorite movies. I like to repeat the ending lines as they still apply for the people of today:"We 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!"I recently have visited the area where the movie was filmed in Maine and I am still in aw that the streets and shops are in the same condition now as when the film was made. Good Job - Twentieth Century Fox!

If I were the principal of the school, I would personally come to the house to deliver the news that the daughter is a valedictorian..if I knew her mother was Lana Turner! (Constance McKenzie.) This is a good movie but too puritanical so much so the police are no where to be seen and they have an unlisted number. They call Dr.Swain instead. He is also on the school board, draft board and on weekends delivers the mail. The cinematography and the scenery is breathtaking, akin to the "Sound of Music" except this is not Sound of Music. Lana Turner's acting is very subdued and boring. The movie kind of drags a bit. The movie reminds me little of "The Best Days Our Lives." No one stands out much in the acting and none of the characters are strongly sketched. May be there are too many characters and too many things are happening. For the 50's this movie was probably apt, but to the current standards it is too prim and proper.