Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

RaineRP I was glad I read the book before I watched the movie. The film was different than the book. In the novel, Allison McKenzie (the aspiring writer), Norman Page (mama's boy), Selena Cross (Allison's best friend who is sexually molested by her stepfather Lucas), Ted Carter (Selena's boyfriend), Rodney Harrington (Allison's crush), and Betty Anderson (the town tramp) attend Peyton Place Junior High School. In the film, they're in their senior year of Peyton Place High School. Michael Rossi, who wins Allison's mother, Constance Mckenzie's heart, comes to town to accept a job as principal at Peyton Place High School. Betty and Rodney get married in the film.

Herag Halli If I were the principal of the school, I would personally come to the house to deliver the news that the daughter is a valedictorian..if I knew her mother was Lana Turner! (Constance McKenzie.) This is a good movie but too puritanical so much so the police are no where to be seen and they have an unlisted number. They call Dr.Swain instead. He is also on the school board, draft board and on weekends delivers the mail. The cinematography and the scenery is breathtaking, akin to the "Sound of Music" except this is not Sound of Music. Lana Turner's acting is very subdued and boring. The movie kind of drags a bit. The movie reminds me little of "The Best Days Our Lives." No one stands out much in the acting and none of the characters are strongly sketched. May be there are too many characters and too many things are happening. For the 50's this movie was probably apt, but to the current standards it is too prim and proper.

ClassicMovieGuy.com (Todd Morgan) I have seen thousands of movies and I would rate this movie very high on a short list. The movie does an excellent job of character development and has many twists and turns. The ending is gripping and the reconciliation of a daughter to her mother.This movie is an excellent example of the consequences of being judgmental. The plot is fantastic. Teenagers exploring their youth and parents misunderstanding their intentions. A community ignoring the outrageous behavior of the town drunk who terrorizes his family. A principal who exposes the double standard of supposed moral behavior of adults who made the same mistakes as their children.Nominated for 9 Oscars. This is a must see! Well worth a 2 1/2 hours. I would certainly rate this in the top 50 movies I have ever seen.

Irie212 When you consider the definition of soap opera-- "A drama characterized by stock characters and situations, sentimentality, and melodrama"—plenty of variously admirable movies come to mind, including Oscar winners from the very first, "Seventh Heaven," through more recent movies like "Terms of Endearment." "Peyton Place" is certainly a soap opera, but not an admirable film. The litany of flaws would take more than the 1,000 words IMDb allows, and would require every synonym for mundane. The characters are so uniformly mutton-headed that I inferred extensive inbreeding in Peyton Place. The cockeyed motivations of two particular characters-- actually, make that four-- serve as proof: First: Selena Cross is facing trial for murdering Lucas Cross, her sexually abusive stepfather. She begs Dr. Swain not to come to her defense by testifying that she had miscarried Cross's child years before. Her reason? She's in love with a soldier named Ted, and believes that his life would be ruined if her secret were revealed. She argues-- get this-- that she'd rather face life in prison than live without Ted. And Dr. Swain, as dim-witted a physician as I ever hope to encounter, doesn't suggest that Ted deserves to be given a chance to hear the truth and prove himself mature and compassionate (and if he isn't, does she want him?), let alone point out the screamingly obvious fact that life in prison would also be life without Ted.Second: Allison MacKenzie wants to be a novelist. She shows a few short stories to her high school principal. He likes them but with reservations, and he sensibly recommends that she go to college. But she doesn't want to go to college. She doesn't want to read stuff like Shakespeare. She wants to find out about writing for herself, at a typewriter. Her naive passion persuades him, so he takes her to the newspaper editor. Who hires her. And Allison goes on to write crap like "Peyton Place." The End.