In 2006 I finally read "Peyton Place" and "Return to Peyton Place". I was born in 1957. I'd seen Peyton Place on TV many times and have the video. I love the movie BECAUSE it was sanitized. I was shocked, yes, in this day and age I was shocked by the subject matter. Hated the book, love the movie.
However, not only do I hate the sequel as written but I also hate the movie version as well. My problem with the movie is not only are the wonderful characters of Mr. Harrington, Doc Swain, Elsie Thornton and Seth Buswell missing but the entire cast has been changed. Not one original person is in the sequel. But the characters seem to have been written by someone who has never even read Peyton Place. Ted Carter and his mother seem more like Norman Page and his mother. Wasn't Ted Carter wondering how to pay for law school? Now his mother has a mansion and says she will buy her son a law partnership with Charlie Partridge.
Selena Cross declares that "when she was 13, Luke threw me down, tore off my clothes and raped me!". She was 17 and about to graduate! Then there's the ridiculous line that her stepfathers' name was Luke not Lucas. Isn't Luke short for Lucas and does that really matter?
There is no chemistry between any of the characters. The dialogue is silly, I don't really care about the characters and there is no "atmosphere" as in Peyton Place. The only notable dialogue is during the town meeting. I watch the movie because it's so bad. If it didn't have the words Peyton Place in the title it might stand on its own.
I get chills when I hear Mary Astor's speech at the end about living to regret the decisions made in the town meeting for Peyton Place if they disregard the standards they have lived by all these years and which have made Peyton Place a decent and respectable place to live.
She was right. What a shame no one listened to her.
However, not only do I hate the sequel as written but I also hate the movie version as well. My problem with the movie is not only are the wonderful characters of Mr. Harrington, Doc Swain, Elsie Thornton and Seth Buswell missing but the entire cast has been changed. Not one original person is in the sequel. But the characters seem to have been written by someone who has never even read Peyton Place. Ted Carter and his mother seem more like Norman Page and his mother. Wasn't Ted Carter wondering how to pay for law school? Now his mother has a mansion and says she will buy her son a law partnership with Charlie Partridge.
Selena Cross declares that "when she was 13, Luke threw me down, tore off my clothes and raped me!". She was 17 and about to graduate! Then there's the ridiculous line that her stepfathers' name was Luke not Lucas. Isn't Luke short for Lucas and does that really matter?
There is no chemistry between any of the characters. The dialogue is silly, I don't really care about the characters and there is no "atmosphere" as in Peyton Place. The only notable dialogue is during the town meeting. I watch the movie because it's so bad. If it didn't have the words Peyton Place in the title it might stand on its own.
I get chills when I hear Mary Astor's speech at the end about living to regret the decisions made in the town meeting for Peyton Place if they disregard the standards they have lived by all these years and which have made Peyton Place a decent and respectable place to live.
She was right. What a shame no one listened to her.