Peyton Place (1957) is top notch soap opera melodrama at it's best...

One of the most definitive melodramatic tear jerker movies ever made. Based on the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious about scandalous activity in a small New Hapshire town. There are several inter-related stories that come together in a riveting courtroom climax. One story features Lana Turner as a possessive single mother who tells her naive daughter (played by Diane Varsi) that her father died when she was 2 years old. Which is a lie because the father is already married to another woman. Another plot line has a daughter (Hope Lange) fending off the unwanted sexual advances of her drunken step-father (Arthur Kennedy). And finally the third connecting plot has the town tramp (a sexy Terry Moore) loving the son of the most powerful man in town. These three storylines make up the bulk of the film and what's amazing is how one event will lead into the next.

Peyton Place does start off slow but once the secrets come flying out, who Nellie! As for the performances, Turner may headline this production, but she kind of phones in her performance. Not that's she is bad, but she just seems ordinary. I can't believe this was her only Oscar nominated role.  In my opinion she was far better in that other soap tearjerker, Imitation Of Life. Kennedy is great as the drunken step father. He's hysterically funny one minute, then cruel and vicious the next. Lange is unbelievably powerful as Selena, his step-daughter. She's quiet,composed and acts so good it doesn't seem like she's acting. Varsi is ok as Turner's daughter. It's to her credit that she can say the film's corniest lines with a straight face. Lee Phillips is solid as the town doctor who gives a memorable speech at the film's climax that sums up everything nicely. And Terry Moore is quite fetching as the bad girl who makes good. What's so good about her performance is that she convinces us that she's not really a bad girl, but a girl who knows what she wants.

Hope Lange

Diane Varsi

Terry Moore

Peyton Place is one of the best films of it's kind. Ranks right up there with Imitation of Life and Stella Dallas as supreme tear jerkers. Plus having a cast of beautiful women doesn't hurt the film at all.
B+

Spotlight on Hope Lange

A very talented and underrated actress that I first remember seeing in the film adaption of the best selling book Peyton Place (1957)as Selena Cross, the young woman who is in constant conflict with her step-father. Lange was so good, the Academy nominated her for Best Supporting Actress. It was a shame that she didn't win for her performance. Hope was born on November 28, 1931 in Redding Ridge, Connecticut. She actually had did one role of Kraft Televison Theater before getting the plum part of Elma Duckworth in the 1956 film Bus Stop headlining Marilyn Monroe. It's on this film she met her future husband Don Murray. As a matter of the fact, the two were wed within less than a year after meeting on the set of Bus Stop. Their marriage only lasted 5 years but did produce 2 children. Hope would marry two more times. One to director Alan J. Pakula and finally to Charles Hollerith, and would remain with Charles until her death in 2003 after being married to him for 23 years. Hope had a solid career, nothing spectacular, but nothing to be disappointed with either. She starred in the films The Young Lions (1958) with Dean Martin, Marlon Brando, and Montgomery Clift. The Best Of Everything (1959) with Joan Crawford and Martha Hyer. I have seen that film and it was actually pretty good. She also paired up with Bette Davis and Glenn Ford for the whimsical Pocketful of Miracles (1961). Hope then turned to TV for the most part and that's where she would find her greatest success. Starring in the beloved fantasy comedy, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir which lasted three seasons (1968-1970). She would land on another show very quickly when Dick Van Dyke relaunched his show called The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971-1974)which produced 72 shows. Hope enjoyed one of her biggest hits ever with 1974's Death Wish, starring with Charles Bronson. She would keep herself quite busy in the 80's guesting on several TV shows like The Love Boat, Murder She Wrote, and Hotel. She would continue to make films too such as Blue Velvet (1986), Clear and Present Danger (1994) with Harrison Ford and Just Cause (1995) with Sean Connery. I enjoyed Hope performances in the film and TV roles I have seen her in and I wish she would have achieved even bigger success. Regardless she left her mark on the entertainment world and I hope I have piqued some interest in followers of my blog to watch some of her past work.

Hope Lange's Essentials:

PEYTON PLACE (1957)as Selena Cross
THE BEST OF EVERYTHING (1959) as Caroline Bender
POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES (1961) as Queenie Martin
THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1968-1970) as Carolyn Muir
DEATH WISH (1974) as Joanna Kersey