Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

mark.waltz 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.

beatleslunchbox65 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.

moonspinner55 Unnecessary follow-up to 1957's "Peyton Place", featuring none of that film's on-screen talent, concerns a young literary woman from small, gossipy New England town who publishes a roman a clef about her friends and neighbors, causing a scandal. One can only watch and wonder what original "Peyton Place" authoress Grace Metalious thought of this fatuous extension of her characters (hopefully she was paid off). Producer Jerry Wald (who helmed both pictures) comes up with nothing but recycled clichés, and his large, new cast (including Carol Lynley, Jeff Chandler, Tuesday Weld and Eleanor Parker) get lost among the suds. *1/2 from ****

matt-96 Compared with the original and it's brilliant cast, this sequel is a bit of a mess. Too much of Miss Lynley goes to New York and falls for very bland Jeff Chandler. Who cares. Also, the lack of a kindly Dr. (Lloyd Nolan in the first) strips the town of it's heart.But, on the positive side, Mary Astor is terrific as the ultimate soaper opera version of the evil, possessive, rich, self appointed queen-of-the town. Some great verbal sparing with her new daughter-in-law. And even in defeat, her final, dignified speech is frighteningly prophetic 35 years later. I watch a lot of movies, and this performance took my breath away. Wow!!!!! She is to Soap Operas villains what Alan Rickman is to Action villains.