I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Nice effects though.

Memorable, crazy movie

hyped garbage

It certainly isn't the old fuddy duddys of Peyton Place, the Vermont town where scandal is still rocking them years after a young girl killed the stepfather who raped her. Like Miss Gulch of "The Wizard of Oz", society seems to be run by the domineering Mrs. Carter (Mary Astor), a vindictive widow who not only despises her son Ted's (Brett Halsey) new wife (Luciana Paluzzi) but uses Selena Cross (Tuesday Weld), the subject of that scandal to try and drive a quick wedge between them all the while going out of her way to prevent a reunion between the girl from the wrong side of the tracks and her spoiled son. Sitting back and watching is Constance McKenzie Rossi (Eleanor Parker) whose daughter Allison (Carol Lynley) has gone off to New York to prepare to have her book published. Influenced by the publisher (Jeff Chandler) to re-write and add more truth to the fictionalized tale of what happened years ago, Allison creates a new scandal and eventually her step-father, principal Mike Rossi (Robert Sterling) is fired for adding the book to the school library and balking at the board's demands that it be removed.The veteran Mary Astor dominates the film with her strong performance as the nasty Roberta, a woman so hard that she has no qualms about destroying her own son rather than see him happy with a woman other than herself. This is an ironic role for Astor who in real life had her own share of scandals which she wrote about in a scandalous diary. The role of Constance has been turned into a supporting one for the veteran Parker (who has recently passed away as of this writing) and is not nearly as flashy as what Lana Turner played in the original. She has one scene with Lynley that is practically identical to one between Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth in "Mildred Pierce". Director Jose Ferrer may not physically appear but his voice is very apparent as one of the minor characters.A beautiful song by Rosemary Clooney brings out the lushness of the landscape (set between Thanksgiving and Christmas) and appropriately sets up the melodrama. There's one truly strange scene which is never resolved between Selena and the ski instructor (Gunnar Hellström) where Selena all of a sudden flashes back to the rape and reacts as strongly as if she had been taken back in time. The movie is far from perfect, and while equally as much of a guilty pleasure as the original, it is missing the strong story detail of the original. A fascinating visual of Allison arriving in New York by train is followed by a detailed view of a New York publishing house that leads to many telling facts of that industry that may seem laughable now that there are too few publishing houses for every ambitious writer, and far too few actual books being released.

The film starts with one of the most unnecessary additions of lyrics to music; Franz Waxman's beautiful "Peyton Place" theme is awkwardly enhanced with lines from author Grace Metalious' novel, as sung by Rosemary Clooney. An early 1950s recording superstar, Ms. Clooney was also actor José Ferrer's wife. "Return to Peyton Place" was one of Mr. Ferrer's few directing credits. Like the song, everything falls awkwardly into place. None of the original cast returns to "Peyton Place". Two engaging characters, "Norman" and "Betty" are forgotten. The original film's sweet romantic relationship between "Selena" and "Ted" is unforgivably altered. And so on… The main storyline has New York writer and runway prone Carol Lynley (as Allison MacKenzie) publishing her first novel, the oddly titled "Samuel's Castle", which causes a "Peyton Place"-type sensation. Back home, the townspeople are appalled at the novel's thinly veiled airing of their dirty linen. Like mother Eleanor Parker (as Constance MacKenzie Rossi) before her, Ms. Lynley has an affair with a married man, publisher Jeff Chandler (as Lewis Jackman). Lynley friend Tuesday Weld (as Selena Cross) handles the novel badly, and is romanced by ski instructor Gunnar Hellström (as Nils Larsen). Lawyer friend Brett Halsey (as Ted Carter) has married busty Italian Luciana Paluzzi (as Raffaella).Many of the performers in the original "Peyton Place" received acclaim for their characterizations. Only one in "Return to Peyton Place" matched the caliber of the original - Mary Astor (as Roberta Carter) received a "Supporting Actress" mention from "The Film Daily" - she is excellent as the uptight resident trying to break up son Halsey's marriage, ban Lynley's book, and get principal Robert Sterling (as Michael Rossi) fired. This film was a moderate success, but was a setback for the "Peyton Place" franchise. The next project, a ground-breaking ABC-TV television serial, brought "Peyton Place" to full glory, and imaginatively developed and expanded upon Ms. Metalious' original characters.***** Return to Peyton Place (5/5/61) José Ferrer ~ Carol Lynley, Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor

I was pleasantly surprised that RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE wasn't as bad as I'd remembered it to be - it's a well-mounted film, again produced by Jerry Wald (who produced, among other classics, MILDRED PIERCE), but neither as glossy-slick nor as compelling as its predecessor. It suffers from the same fate most sequels do, no matter how well-done or well-intended: the magic that sparked the original is simply gone and cannot be recaptured.RETURN, of course, is a thinly-veiled account of some of what happened to author Grace Metalious after PEYTON PLACE became the publishing phenomenon of the 1950s (no indeed, the townsfolk were not too fond of their "Pandora in Blue Jeans," as she was called, and, if memory serves, did indeed fire her schoolteacher husband). But it's kind of inconceivable that Metalious's novel would have been published at all if she'd been the snotty bitch portrayed by Carol Lynley - no publisher would have put up with such an attitude from an unknown, first-time novelist.CLEOPATRA's budget was straining the coffers at Fox, so the cast is not as big as PEYTON PLACE, nor, with three exceptions, as notable. Three Hollywood veterans - Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor, and Jeff Chandler, show the young folks how it's done, and Astor, selfish and manipulative as were two other characters she played (Brigid O'Shaughnessy in THE MALTESE FALCON, and Sandra Kovack in THE GREAT LIE, for which she won an Oscar) simply walks off with the film. We don't like Roberta Carter, or the censorship she tries to impose, but we understand her resistance to change, to losing the values and things she holds dear (including her son). And, unfortunately, Astor/Carter's advisory to the people of Peyton Place that they will live to regret their willingness to encourage such changes in morals as Allison's book seems to exemplify, was a sad prediction of the painful price we would pay in the 1980s for the sexual freedom of the 1960s.

This sequel to the sturdy and beautifully made "Peyton Place" is not very good. The chief problem is the curious time warp. It appears to take place in 1961, the year the film was made, but the original took place during the Second World War. There is roughly a 15 year time gap, but no one has appeared to age much. Whats going here? The usually reliable Carol Lynley is rather miscast as Allison MacKenzie in an awkward transition role from her previous strong performances in films like "The Light In the Forest", "Blue Denim" and "Holiday For Lovers". Here she plays her first truly adult role, but comes off looking rather frumpy with that awful hairstyle hiding her stunning good looks. Tuesday Weld as Selena Cross suffers much the same fate. Everything appears drab and lethargic. Franz Waxman's score and Mary Astor's mother-in-law from Hell are the prime reasons to watch this disappointment.