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MOVIE INFO

Director:
José Ferrer
Cast:
Carol Lynley, Jeff Chandler, Eleanor Parker, Mary Astor, Robert Sterling, Luciana Paluzzi, Brett Halsey, Tuesday Weld
Writing Credits:
Ronald Alexander, Grace Metalious (novel)

Synopsis:
Peyton Place residents are up in arms after Allison MacKenzie (Carol Lynley) writes a scandalous novel whose characters and events closely mirror those in her hometown. Even her stepfather's (Robert Sterling) position as high school principal is threatened after he refuses to remove her book from the school's library. But the controversy doesn't end there - in Manhattan editing her book, MacKenzie is tempted to become involved with her married publisher (Jeff Chandler), while back in the small town, a miserable matriarch (Mary Astor) tries to destroy her son's marriage because of her own bigotry.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Widescreen 2.35:1/16x9
Audio:
English Dolby Stereo 2.0
Spanish Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Closed-captioned

Runtime: 122 min.
Price: $14.98
Release Date: 2/22/2005

Bonus:
• Audio Commentary with Author/Historian Sylvia Stoddard
• Movietone News Footage
• Restoration Comparison
• Trailers


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Sony 36" WEGA KV-36FS12 Monitor; Sony DA333ES Processor/Receiver; Panasonic CV-50 DVD Player using component outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Sony SA-WM40 Subwoofer.

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Return To Peyton Place: Fox Studio Cassics (1961)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 21, 2005)

1957’s Peyton Place became a huge hit and started its own little cottage industry. Based on Grace Metalious’s 1956 novel, the movie led to another book along with a sequel, a TV series, and other iterations even after those. Unfortunately, the original Place wasn’t a good movie, which meant that I didn’t have high hopes for my screening of 1961’s Return to Peyton Place.

Return picks up on the story of writer Allison MacKenzie (Carol Lynley) as she waits for an important communication. Eventually she hears from New York publisher Lewis Jackman (Jeff Chandler) about her first novel, which he wants to publish. Jackman predicts her book will be an enormous success. Allison needs to head from the little New England town of Peyton Place into New York even though it’s only a couple of days before Thanksgiving.

We re-encounter other residents of Peyton Place such as Allison’s mother Connie (Eleanor Parker) and high school principal stepfather Mike Rossi (Robert Sterling). Connie runes a small shop at which Allison’s former classmate Selena Cross (Tuesday Weld) works. She once had a connection with another classmate, Ted Carter (Brett Halsey), who’s gone on to law school. His mother Roberta (Mary Astor) warns Selena to stay away from Ted when he comes back for the holiday.

Matters complicate more when Ted shows up at his mother’s house with his new bride Raffaella (Luciana Paluzzi). Roberta had no idea that Raffaella existed, much less that Ted got hitched. Roberta displays obvious resentment about this threat to her hegemony and tries to manipulate matters. Another complication comes from the revelation that Raffaella’s pregnant.

Essentially, the movie follows three threads. We watch Allison spar with Jackman as they edit the book and possibly get romantic although he’s married. We also see the antagonism and eventual love affair between Selena and new ski instructor Nils Larsen (Gunnar Hellstrom) as well as the battle between Raffaella and Roberta for Ted’s affections. In addition, the flick covers the fallout when Allison’s book - a thinly-veiled discussion of events that really happened in Peyton Place - hits the shelves.

Is it a bad sign that none of the actors from the first flick come back for the sequel? Probably, though I can’t say Return is any worse than the original. Don’t interpret that as a sign it’s any better than its predecessor, however, as it provides yet another silly and overwrought experience.

Return displays pathetically awkward story telling. As with 1954’s Three Coins in the Fountain, the filmmakers display no comprehension of how to smoothly blend three tales. It concentrates on one element at a time and jerks between them awkwardly. This makes the movie flip from one issue to another willy-nilly, and it lacks flow and cohesion.

Goofy time-related discrepancies also occur. Jackman’s touting of Allison as a talent moves ridiculously quickly, and it appears that they edit the book and get it on the shelves in days. Actually, the movie doesn’t do much to convey a sense of time, but we see them issue Allison’s novel and have it become a huge hit all before Raffaella shows even the slightest hint of her pregnancy!

Never mind the movie’s absence of much continuity. At one point, Selena acts surprised to learn that Nils is a skiing instructor. Why does this startle her? He told her that when they first met!

None of this really seems any worse than the nonsense in the first movie, but Return goes for a less daring tale. The original flick shoehorned in all sorts of outrageous situations like rape, suicide and incest. Return doesn’t shoot for nearly as much drama. At one point, Raffaella displays a willingness to abort her baby - via skiing! - but that’s about as controversial as things get.

Ironically, the lack of spicy material makes Return more believable than the original. Not that I’d call it more realistic, but at least it sort of exists in the actual world, whereas the first flick packed in an awful lot of scandal for such a small town. Still, at least Return bears some resemblance to the real world.

Of course, the movie does attempt some provocative moments, in a very “PG”-rated way. For example, Raffaella tries to get a rise out of Roberta when she tells her new mother-in-law that she and Ted will only need one bed. That’s about as scandalous as things get; even the sputtering affair between Jackman and Allison never goes much of anywhere.

Granted, a lot of that stems from the atmosphere of the era, as one can’t expect a 2005 sense of raciness from a 1961 flick. Nonetheless, it seems weird that it tames things so much after the success of its predecessor. This one’s more of a romance with some slightly tawdry complications, while the scandals dominated the original movie.

We also find a badly dated view of women, one that curiously comes endorsed by the film’s females! Connie thinks men know business better, and Selena calls herself a “bad woman driver”. Of course, a lot of this reflects the concepts of the era, but given that the movie features so many successful females, it seems like a weird attitude.

As for the acting, it’s all over the place. On the negative side, Lynley offers a simply terrible performance as Allison. She’s terribly stiff and emotionless. She makes Allison oddly impudent and that’s it, as she displays virtually no range in the part.

On the more positive side, Astor does a pretty solid job in the thankless role of Roberta. She doesn’t make the role seem human, of course, but that’s not the point. She creates a coolly hissable villain who communicates her disdain and haughtiness in an appropriately quiet and restrained way. It’s a strong performance that’s easily the best part of the movie.

Not that Astor has much competition, as Return to Peyton Place is a consistently crummy flick. When I started my review, I stated that I didn’t think Return was superior to its predecessor. I take that back: I like Return more because it’s about half an hour shorter. That’s good enough for me; the less time I spend in Peyton Place, the better.


The DVD Grades: Picture B/ Audio C-/ Bonus C+

Return to Peyton Place appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Return looked a lot like Peyton Place, with many of the same strengths and weaknesses.

Once again, sharpness mostly fared well. The movie occasionally came across as a bit soft, particularly in wider shots. However, the film usually appeared reasonably distinctive and well-defined. I noticed no concerns connected to jagged edges or shimmering, but some moderate edge enhancement created distractions. As for source flaws, occasional examples of specks and grit popped up throughout the movie, and I also noticed a hair or two. These weren’t heavy, however.

Colors usually looked quite good. The movie featured a peppy palette, and despite a few slightly murky shots, the hues mostly came across as bright and rich. Blacks also seemed deep and firm, and most low-light shots were smooth and concise. Return offered a good transfer that occasionally was great, but the mix of inconsistencies knocked it down to a “B”.

Unfortunately, Return to Peyton Place presented a Dolby Stereo 2.0 soundtrack that was substantially inferior to the first film’s Dolby Digital 4.0 mix. This one presented a mushy affair. The audio stayed in the front spectrum and displayed mediocre imaging at best. Music was the best-defined element, as the score showed passable stereo delineation.

Otherwise, the track showed poor localization and blending. Effects stayed essentially monaural; a couple of scenes used additional speakers, such as when we got to a big town meeting. Speech popped up from odd spots through the movie. Most of the lines remained in the center, but they bled to the sides in an unnatural way. This became a real distraction.

Audio quality was also average at best. Lines lacked much edginess and remained intelligible, but they seemed somewhat thin and lifeless. Effects didn’t play much of a role, and they remained fairly flat and bland. Music failed to demonstrate much vivacity. The score was dull and undefined. Between the drab quality and the awkward soundfield, the audio of Return landed in the “below average” category.

When we head to the DVD’s extras, the most significant one comes from an audio commentary with author/historian Sylvia Stoddard. She offers a running, screen-specific chat that covers the expected subjects. Stoddard talks about locations and how these were affected by Fox’s monetary problems at the time, the cast, author Grace Metalious and her life, changes between the movie and the book, and later entries in the Peyton Place series.

The track plods at times and sticks mostly with standard factoids; there’s not a lot of depth or introspection here. Still, Stoddard covers the basics well, and we also find a few fun details such as the fact that Stoddard attended high school with Tuesday Weld. I also like the notes about the sad life of author Metalious. Though the commentary stutters toward the end - to fill space, Stoddard resorts to letting us know about other newsworthy events from the era - this piece offers enough good information to deserve a listen.

For the other supplements, we find the same stand-bys that pop up for most Fox Studio Classics DVDs. We get two Movietone News reels: “Publisher Honors Author and Star” and “Return to Peyton Place A Smash Hit”. The first is slightly interesting since it gives us a glimpse of writer Grace Metalious, while the other offer minor fun as we watch celebrities at the premiere.

We get a collection of ads. The disc includes a trailer for Return as well as promos for other Studio Classics. That domain contains promos for All About Eve, The Diary of Anne Frank, A Letter to Three Wives, and Peyton Place. Finally, a Restoration Demonstration provides text that covers the work done for this DVD and then shows splitscreen images of a mix of different versions of the film.

Return to Peyton Place reminds me of another sequel with a similar title. Both it and Return to the Blue Lagoon reprise their predecessors but fail to deliver the same provocative elements that made the initial efforts successful. A weirdly chaste flick, Return to Peyton Place isn’t as ludicrous as the first movie, but it’s still overwrought piffle. The DVD gives us pretty good picture but it suffers from weak audio. Only a few extras appear, with the main attraction coming from a fairly good audio commentary.

Those with an interest in the Peyton Place series will likely enjoy this DVD, and with a low list price of less than $15, it’s certainly priced to move. I can’t endorse this terrible movie to anyone who’s not already enraptured by the flicks. Maybe this material was stimulating 50 years ago, but it’s just goofy and dopey today.

Viewer Film Ratings: 4 Stars Number of Votes: 7
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