Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 21, 2005)
1957’s Peyton Place became a huge hit and started its own little cottage industry. Based on Grace Metalious’s 1956 novel, the movie led to another book along with a sequel, a TV series, and other iterations even after those. Unfortunately, the original Place wasn’t a good movie, which meant that I didn’t have high hopes for my screening of 1961’s Return to Peyton Place.
Return picks up on the story of writer Allison MacKenzie (Carol Lynley) as she waits for an important communication. Eventually she hears from New York publisher Lewis Jackman (Jeff Chandler) about her first novel, which he wants to publish. Jackman predicts her book will be an enormous success. Allison needs to head from the little New England town of Peyton Place into New York even though it’s only a couple of days before Thanksgiving.
We re-encounter other residents of Peyton Place such as Allison’s mother Connie (Eleanor Parker) and high school principal stepfather Mike Rossi (Robert Sterling). Connie runes a small shop at which Allison’s former classmate Selena Cross (Tuesday Weld) works. She once had a connection with another classmate, Ted Carter (Brett Halsey), who’s gone on to law school. His mother Roberta (Mary Astor) warns Selena to stay away from Ted when he comes back for the holiday.
Matters complicate more when Ted shows up at his mother’s house with his new bride Raffaella (Luciana Paluzzi). Roberta had no idea that Raffaella existed, much less that Ted got hitched. Roberta displays obvious resentment about this threat to her hegemony and tries to manipulate matters. Another complication comes from the revelation that Raffaella’s pregnant.
Essentially, the movie follows three threads. We watch Allison spar with Jackman as they edit the book and possibly get romantic although he’s married. We also see the antagonism and eventual love affair between Selena and new ski instructor Nils Larsen (Gunnar Hellstrom) as well as the battle between Raffaella and Roberta for Ted’s affections. In addition, the flick covers the fallout when Allison’s book - a thinly-veiled discussion of events that really happened in Peyton Place - hits the shelves.
Is it a bad sign that none of the actors from the first flick come back for the sequel? Probably, though I can’t say Return is any worse than the original. Don’t interpret that as a sign it’s any better than its predecessor, however, as it provides yet another silly and overwrought experience.
Return displays pathetically awkward story telling. As with 1954’s Three Coins in the Fountain, the filmmakers display no comprehension of how to smoothly blend three tales. It concentrates on one element at a time and jerks between them awkwardly. This makes the movie flip from one issue to another willy-nilly, and it lacks flow and cohesion.
Goofy time-related discrepancies also occur. Jackman’s touting of Allison as a talent moves ridiculously quickly, and it appears that they edit the book and get it on the shelves in days. Actually, the movie doesn’t do much to convey a sense of time, but we see them issue Allison’s novel and have it become a huge hit all before Raffaella shows even the slightest hint of her pregnancy!
Never mind the movie’s absence of much continuity. At one point, Selena acts surprised to learn that Nils is a skiing instructor. Why does this startle her? He told her that when they first met!
None of this really seems any worse than the nonsense in the first movie, but Return goes for a less daring tale. The original flick shoehorned in all sorts of outrageous situations like rape, suicide and incest. Return doesn’t shoot for nearly as much drama. At one point, Raffaella displays a willingness to abort her baby - via skiing! - but that’s about as controversial as things get.
Ironically, the lack of spicy material makes Return more believable than the original. Not that I’d call it more realistic, but at least it sort of exists in the actual world, whereas the first flick packed in an awful lot of scandal for such a small town. Still, at least Return bears some resemblance to the real world.
Of course, the movie does attempt some provocative moments, in a very “PG”-rated way. For example, Raffaella tries to get a rise out of Roberta when she tells her new mother-in-law that she and Ted will only need one bed. That’s about as scandalous as things get; even the sputtering affair between Jackman and Allison never goes much of anywhere.
Granted, a lot of that stems from the atmosphere of the era, as one can’t expect a 2005 sense of raciness from a 1961 flick. Nonetheless, it seems weird that it tames things so much after the success of its predecessor. This one’s more of a romance with some slightly tawdry complications, while the scandals dominated the original movie.
We also find a badly dated view of women, one that curiously comes endorsed by the film’s females! Connie thinks men know business better, and Selena calls herself a “bad woman driver”. Of course, a lot of this reflects the concepts of the era, but given that the movie features so many successful females, it seems like a weird attitude.
As for the acting, it’s all over the place. On the negative side, Lynley offers a simply terrible performance as Allison. She’s terribly stiff and emotionless. She makes Allison oddly impudent and that’s it, as she displays virtually no range in the part.
On the more positive side, Astor does a pretty solid job in the thankless role of Roberta. She doesn’t make the role seem human, of course, but that’s not the point. She creates a coolly hissable villain who communicates her disdain and haughtiness in an appropriately quiet and restrained way. It’s a strong performance that’s easily the best part of the movie.
Not that Astor has much competition, as Return to Peyton Place is a consistently crummy flick. When I started my review, I stated that I didn’t think Return was superior to its predecessor. I take that back: I like Return more because it’s about half an hour shorter. That’s good enough for me; the less time I spend in Peyton Place, the better.
