In 1960, “Theme from A Summer Place” became a massive hit. 65 years later, it remains a well-known tune and enjoys the dubious distinction as an “Easy Listening” classic.

Fewer recall the 1959 movie itself, for while A Summer Place became a hit, that song exists as its main legacy. Like most of my generation, I knew the tune but not the film, so I found myself curious to finally give the latter a look.

Bart Hunter (Arthur Kennedy) lives year-round on the Maine resort location of Pine Island in a deteriorating mansion owned by his family. The alcoholic Bart resides with wife Sylvia (Dorothy McGuire) and teenage son Johnny (Troy Donahue) as they struggle to attract visitors to the dilapidated building.

The Jorgensons - husband Ken (Richard Egan), wife Helen (Constance Ford) and their teenage daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) – stay at the home, a choice that creates romantic entanglements. Ken and Sylvia rekindle a former relationship while Johnny and Molly delve into young love.

Well, that sounds like soap opera fare, doesn’t it? Probably because Place finds nothing to elevate it above the level of soapy TV nonsense.

Of course, Place boasts better production values than daytime programs. It offers a more talented cast than one would expect from that genre as well.

Still, Place sticks with overwrought romantic and family drama too much of the time. It feels trite and predictable via the manner in which it explores these topics.

As the star-crossed old lovers, McGuire and Egan play their parts just fine. However, they can’t make their trite roles seem compelling, though they do muster some sympathy for their situations.

The young romance of Molly and Johnny flops because Dee and Donahue muster virtually zero chemistry. Those two interact in such a sterile way that all their shared scenes feel neutered and with zero passion.

The supporting actors manage to find more life. Ford seems suitably distant and judgmental as the “cold fish” Helen, and Kennedy brings both bite and cynical laughs to his drunken Bart.

We don’t spend much time with those roles, though, as they exist to motivate plot more than anything else. This leaves us with the two pairs of lovers the vast majority of the time.

And that means Place turns into a turgid drag. It never delivers the passion and drama it needs so it winds up as a sudsy dud.

A Summer Place appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. While not stellar, the image usually satisfied.

Overall sharpness worked fine. A few more shots than anticipated leaned a little soft, but most of the film delivered appealing accuracy.

The flick suffered from no jagged edged or moiré effects, and I witnessed no edge haloes. Grain felt light but natural, and print flaws failed to impact the presentation.

The palette mixed chilly blues and some sun-drenched yellows/ambers. These came across with positive clarity.

Blacks came across as dense and deep, and low-light shots delivered good visibility. Outside of a little more softness than expected, we got a quality image here.

Though not memorable, the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack worked fine for its age. Speech remained easily intelligible and lacked roughness.

Music and effects also failed to demonstrate great range, but they seemed fine given their vintage, and they showed more than adequate clarity, without distortion. This seemed like a perfectly acceptable mix to accompany a film from 1959.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find an animated short called A Witch’s Tangled Hare (6:24). Witch Hazel plans to cook Bugs as part of a potion, but the Bunny has other ideas. Despite a change of scenery to the Shakespearean period, the short feels a bit stale.

Best remembered now as the source of a theme heard in a million elevators, A Summer Place delivers a dreary and dull melodrama. Despite all its attempts at character fireworks, the end result feels sluggish and silly. The Blu-ray gives us pretty good picture and audio but it skimps on bonus materials. Little about this soap opera piffle succeeds.