Return to Peyton Place
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Return to Peyton Place is a 1959 novel by Grace Metalious.
After the phenomenal success of her first novel, the blockbuster hit Peyton Place (1956), Metalious hastily penned a sequel centering on the life and loves of bestselling author Allison MacKenzie, who ironically follows in the footsteps of her mother by having an affair with a married man. When she returns to her hometown following the publication of her first novel, she is forced to face the wrath of its residents, who are incensed by their barely-disguised counterparts and the revelation of town secrets in the book. Roberta Carter makes it her mission to ban the book from the high school library, while at the same time trying to dissolve her son Ted's marriage to his Italian bride. Another union in trouble is that of Allison's mother Constance, who is shocked by her daughter's exposé, and stepfather Mike, the school principal and one of the novel's only defenders.
Return to Peyton Place had many of the same soap opera elements of the original. Although it sold well, its total sales did not equal those of its predecessor.
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[edit] Film adaptation
The 1957 screen adaptation of Metalious' first novel had been a critical and commercial success, ranking second at the box office and garnering nine Academy Award nominations. But production costs for Cleopatra, which had begun filming the previous year, were affecting the studio's solvency [1], so 20th Century Fox executives were unwilling to meet the salary demands of the original's A listers. They opted to cast the sequel with lesser names, which may have contributed to its poor showing at the box office. The film grossed $9,996,178 in the US, far less than the $25,600,000 earned by its predecessor [2].
The screenplay by Ronald Alexander was directed by José Ferrer. The film was shot in CinemaScope on location in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
The film's theme, "The Wonderful Season of Love," was written by Paul Francis Webster and Franz Waxman and performed by Ferrer's then-wife Rosemary Clooney. The soundtrack has been released on CD by Varèse Sarabande [3], and the film is available on DVD.
A daytime drama entitled Return to Peyton Place aired on NBC from April 3, 1972 to January 4, 1974, but the soap opera was a continuation of the primetime television series Peyton Place rather than an adaptation of the book.
[edit] Principal cast
- Carol Lynley ..... Allison MacKenzie
- Jeff Chandler ..... Lewis Jackman
- Eleanor Parker ..... Constance MacKenzie
- Mary Astor ..... Roberta Carter
- Robert Sterling ..... Michael Rossi
- Lucianna Paluzzi ..... Raffaella Carter
- Brett Halsey ..... Ted Carter
- Tuesday Weld ..... Selena Cross
- Gunnar Hellstrom ..... Nils Larsen
[edit] Principal production credits
- Producer ..... Jerry Wald
- Original Music ..... Franz Waxman
- Cinematography ..... Charles G. Clarke
- Art Direction ..... Hans Peters, Jack Martin Smith
- Costume Design ..... Donfeld
[edit] Critical reception
Variety described the film as "a high-class soap opera" and added, "Jose Ferrer's direction of this material is deliberate, but restrained and perceptive . . . The lovely Lynley does a thoroughly capable job, although a shade more animation would have been desirable. But it is the veteran Astor who walks off with the picture." [4]
TV Guide says, "the story and its themes tend to evolve to a predictable ending. Astor is marvelous in her role as the overbearing mother . . . and Weld, virtually unknown at the time, starred in a role that displayed her natural sex appeal." [5]
The UK website DVD Times opines the film "doesn't have the art or passion to make itself compelling, instead relying on a series of base, poorly constructed scenarios which drown quickly in melodramatic sap . . . The screenplay adopts the format of a daily soap opera . . . full of hysterical melodrama and inane meanderings . . . Astor, to her credit, is marvellous . . . Jeff Chandler . . . destroys every scene he's in while Carol Lynley makes a cold and unsympathetic lead, with a brittle voice and an oddly immovable face . . . Tuesday Weld . . . is spirited and would have made a better Allison." [6]
[edit] References
[edit] External link
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