This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I wasn't exactly expecting great things from the sequel to a shamelessly melodramatic film, but the least it could have done was do some things different...and well. In this followup to PEYTON PLACE (which I actually quite liked), Allison has now gotten a book deal for her first novel, "Samuel's Castle," which is based on her life and the people she knows in Peyton Place. However, after the book gets published (and that, after a long rewriting session), the townspeople don't find it flattering at all. That's basically because everything in the book was covered in the previous film. Despite the soapy and silly nature of the story, it still manages to say a few interesting, if unoriginal, things about small town life, censorship, and progressive values (at least for the time period in which it's set). However, most of this was relegated to a final scene which plays out in much the same way as the courtroom finale of its predecessor. Other positive things to say include that the cinematography, production design and sets were just as good this time around. However, too often this film decides to ride the coattails of what came before instead of exploring new intrigues and problems. Basically, it's dependent on the previous film to a fault. Of course, it doesn't help that none of the original cast is back, for whatever reason. The replacements simply didn't have the talent or charm that the previous cast did. Granted, there are a couple of decent performances, but only a couple. Those are Mary Astor (as Ted Carter's mother), and Tuesday Weld (as Selena Cross). Everyone else gave lifeless performances and amateurish-sounding line readings, living down to the soapy source material. Overall, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE falls into the trap that many sequels find themselves in: it's content to rehash the previous film without much charm, no originality and, worst of all, a sub-par cast. The only reason I'm giving this as high of a rating as I am is because it was at least visually appealing, but otherwise there's not too much to recommend here. Only see this if soap operas really do it for you.

It certainly isn't the old fuddy duddys of Peyton Place, the Vermont town where scandal is still rocking them years after a young girl killed the stepfather who raped her. Like Miss Gulch of "The Wizard of Oz", society seems to be run by the domineering Mrs. Carter (Mary Astor), a vindictive widow who not only despises her son Ted's (Brett Halsey) new wife (Luciana Paluzzi) but uses Selena Cross (Tuesday Weld), the subject of that scandal to try and drive a quick wedge between them all the while going out of her way to prevent a reunion between the girl from the wrong side of the tracks and her spoiled son. Sitting back and watching is Constance McKenzie Rossi (Eleanor Parker) whose daughter Allison (Carol Lynley) has gone off to New York to prepare to have her book published. Influenced by the publisher (Jeff Chandler) to re-write and add more truth to the fictionalized tale of what happened years ago, Allison creates a new scandal and eventually her step-father, principal Mike Rossi (Robert Sterling) is fired for adding the book to the school library and balking at the board's demands that it be removed.The veteran Mary Astor dominates the film with her strong performance as the nasty Roberta, a woman so hard that she has no qualms about destroying her own son rather than see him happy with a woman other than herself. This is an ironic role for Astor who in real life had her own share of scandals which she wrote about in a scandalous diary. The role of Constance has been turned into a supporting one for the veteran Parker (who has recently passed away as of this writing) and is not nearly as flashy as what Lana Turner played in the original. She has one scene with Lynley that is practically identical to one between Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth in "Mildred Pierce". Director Jose Ferrer may not physically appear but his voice is very apparent as one of the minor characters.A beautiful song by Rosemary Clooney brings out the lushness of the landscape (set between Thanksgiving and Christmas) and appropriately sets up the melodrama. There's one truly strange scene which is never resolved between Selena and the ski instructor (Gunnar Hellström) where Selena all of a sudden flashes back to the rape and reacts as strongly as if she had been taken back in time. The movie is far from perfect, and while equally as much of a guilty pleasure as the original, it is missing the strong story detail of the original. A fascinating visual of Allison arriving in New York by train is followed by a detailed view of a New York publishing house that leads to many telling facts of that industry that may seem laughable now that there are too few publishing houses for every ambitious writer, and far too few actual books being released.

This is an interesting companion piece to the original, superior film "Peyton Place". This sequel has precious little of the gloss, prestige and just downright aura of the original. Still, it holds a certain fascination on it's own terms. Things start well with the theme song as sung by the director's wife Rosemary Clooney over glimpses of some attractive rural scenery. Then there are some amusing and old-fashioned scenes which include a perfectly voice-acted busybody telephone operator. However, before too long, the plot strays outside the town of Peyton Place and it stays out far too long. The film has two halves. One focuses on Lynley's exploits in NYC as she strives to have her novel (based on the events of the original film) published. The other half focuses on the hometown dramatics that occur because of Lynley's actions. Certain aspects of Lynley and book editor Chandler's story are charming and intriguing, but their tale would be better suited to an altogether different film. Audiences want to see the small-minded and set-in-their-ways New Englanders picking at each other and suffering through each other. When that occurs, it's like a shot in the arm. Parker has far less to work with than Lana Turner got in the first film, but she acquits herself with a few strong scenes...especially when she's had enough of Lynley. Sterling (as Parker's school principal husband) presents a very likable and modern character, but he is given even more of a backseat than Parker. Weld plays Selena Cross with far more hysteria than Hope Lange did, but since most of the rest of the cast is decorative (including delicious Halsey and curvy Paluzzi) rather than effective, it's a welcome change. The REAL reason to watch and the savior of the film is Astor. She effortlessly slithers in and steals every single moment that she is on screen. That is NOT to say that she overacts. She robs the screen of every other image besides herself simply by immersing herself into the bitter, narrow-minded and manipulative character of Mrs. Carter. There is not one false note in her portrayal. Her lines are delivered with such deep-toned authority and disgust and with such a steely face that it's impossible not to respond to her. She gets to toss off some truly surprising and amusing comments in this movie. The film surely must set some record for the most deliberately drab color schemes in the clothing and art direction. Puce drapes seem to hang everywhere and olive green, grey, black and mustard dominate the fabrics of the gowns. Interestingly, there is mention in the film of Paluzzi's habit of leaving cigarettes burning (and nearly setting the bedroom carpet on fire) and the trailer for the film shows the Carter house engulfed in flames as part of what had to be a different climax than what ends up in the finished movie. Apparently, one or more of the characters of Astor, Halsey and Paluzzi were meant to be killed at the end of this film (a murder plot was also cut out), but the decision was made to end with the town hall meeting. The thought of ANY scene with Astor being cut is devastating. With so many juicy aspects removed from the story, the film has to settle for being an intriguing, but old-fashioned and rather toothless affair. Still, it's worth sitting through for Astor.

1. You get to see Robert Crane of Hogan's Heroes in an "Ed McMahon" type role to somebody else doing a "Johnny Carson". Actually he's acting more like Jack Paar.2. The first 45 minutes of the movie take place on what seems to be two days before thanksgiving. Then on thanksgiving morning, they show a scene of New York at dawn - and the streets are totally deserted!!!!3. You get to see this 1960 era turkey as a prop and boy, were turkeys skinny back before corporate farming took over.4. Everything was so wholesome back then. Except when a woman (the Italian actress) has an unwanted pregnancy. Then she tries to lose it by having a skiing accident because abortions were illegal back then, silly.5. I've been to Camden, Maine, several times, and the locals told me that they shot none of this movie up there (they filmed the original peyton place there in 1956).6. Peyton Place was set in 1941-43; this movie never sets a year but if you figure by the fact that the young lawyer just got through law school and that takes 7 years from the start of college, and he was in the war until 1945, that would make this about 1952 I guess. Or maybe its supposed to be current with the release date and be 1961; they never explain this.7. There is nothing said about several of the characters of the earlier movie that had prominent roles (such as the town doctor and Allison's boyfriend). Why are two such good looking girls still unmarried during that era anyway? Obvious plot loopholes.8. This movie has an old fashioned look and feel to it even for 1960-61 standards. Within 3-4 years clothing, hairstyles, speech, and mannerisms were significantly different. It's like a time capsule movie of a small town America just before all the crappy changes that took place in the 1960s.9. It has a really good ending. I found myself actually siding with the old biddy who is singlehandedly trying to enforce the old Puritan moral code of her era against the will of apparently the entire rest of the town, who want to change with the times and let everybody do their own thing. She walks out of the town hall meeting in silence and totally defeated; terrific symbolism, and almost supernaturally prophetic in what actually happened across the country over the rest of the decade. 10. Last but not least, the man who plays the character "Dexter" (he has about 1 line; he is a school board member who is a weak character and the old biddy uses him as a supporter)...this guy was on a lot of the old three stooges shorts. He always played a bad guy, and I've never seen him on any other serious movie.