Taglines: Small town America will never be the same again.
Peyton Place movie storyline. It’s the pre-WWII era. Peyton Place is a small town in New England, whose leading adult citizens rule the town with their high moral standards, which they try to pass on to their offspring. The adults, especially those that wield power largely through their positions and/or through their wealth, will not tolerate anything they believe morally improper.
Even if there is a hint of impropriety without comprehensive evidence to back up the hints. As their offspring grow from teenagers to adults, the offspring learn that there is much hypocrisy by the adults lying underneath that façade of proper Christian morals. The offspring begin to rebel in different ways, which is brought to public scrutiny with the arrival into town of an “outsider”, the new young high school principal Michael Rossi, and through a murder trial.
Peyton Place is a 1957 American drama film directed by Mark Robson, and starring Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Diane Varsi, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn, and Terry Moore. It follows numerous residents of a small fictional New England mill town in the years surrounding World War II, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy belie its tranquil façade. It is based on the bestselling 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious.
The film was developed with Metalious serving as a story consultant, though the screenwriters’ exclusion of some of the film’s more salacious elements resulted in Metalious abandoning the project and openly detesting the film. Released in December 1957, Peyton Place was a major box-office success and was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, including Best Director for Robson, Best Actress for Turner, and Best Supporting Actress for Lange.
Peyton Place (1957)
Directed by: Mark Robson
Starring: Lana Turner, Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, Diane Varsi, Arthur Kennedy, Russ Tamblyn, Terry Moore, Betty Field, Mildred Dunnock, Robert H. Harris, Erin O’Brien-Moore
Screenplay by: John Michael Hayes
Cinematography by: William C. Mellor
Film Editing by: David Bretherton
Costume Design by: Adele Palmer
Set Decoration by: Bertram C. Granger, Walter M. Scott
Art Direction by: Jack Martin Smith, Lyle R. Wheeler
Music by: Franz Waxman
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: December 12, 1957 (USA)
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