Peyton Place: Part One
by Ted Post
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DVD details
Actor: Barbara Parkins, Ed Nelson, Mia Farrow, Ryan O'NealDirector: Ted Post
Brand: Vivendi Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 810 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-05-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: SF11231
Studio: Shout Factory
Product features:
- PEYTON PLACE: PART ONE (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of Peyton Place: Part One
DVD Review: Small towns have never been so interesting
Summary: 5 Stars
"Ever live in a small town? Some morning you're going to wake up and realize that every face you see is familiar. You're going to have a definite feeling about each person, and they're going to have a definite feeling about you. They may love you or hate you, but they won't be indifferent." So says Clarion newspaper publisher Matthew Swain to newly arrived Dr. Michael Rossi at the conclusion of the first episode. For the next five years, Dr. Rossi and millions of viewers worldwide spent 514 half-hours feeling little indifference toward the residents of Peyton Place, Massachusetts, the most infamous of fictional New England towns.
Although often cited as the progenitor of nighttime soaps such as Dallas, Dynasty, Melrose Place, and Desperate Housewives, Peyton Place has little in common with those programs other than its serialized format. With a strong emphasis on characterization, the series more closely resembles the earnest verisimilitude of Knots Landing than the camp-infested shenanigans found in contemporary soaps. For instance, in Peyton Place, there are no exploding apartment complexes, machine-gun massacres at fairytale weddings, or heroines disappearing into flying saucers at season's end. Instead, viewers are treated to good, old-fashioned drama rooted firmly in familial conflict and divided allegiances.
For a series whose output was unprecedented in prime-time television (and remains so to this day), Peyton Place is shockingly well-written and superbly directed throughout most of its run. It also boasts one of the best ensemble casts of any nighttime drama in TV history, led by the solid Ed Nelson as physician Mike Rossi, Oscar-winner Dorothy Malone as graceful but guarded Constance MacKenize, Mia Farrow as her ethereal daughter Allison, Ryan O'Neal as moody, confused Golden Boy Rodney Harrington, and the stunning Barbara Parkins as town "bad girl" Betty Anderson.
Like any good soap, Peyton Place also has countless supporting players drifting in and out of the narrative with their own story arcs, some lasting for weeks and others for years. Memorable supporting players from these early episodes include Christopher Connelly as Rodney's sensitive younger brother Norman, Paul Langton as manipulative Peyton Mill manager Leslie Harrington, Mary Anderson as his imperious wife Catherine Peyton Harrington, Kasey Rogers as Julie Anderson, Betty's victimized mother and secret love interest to Leslie, Kent Smith as Dr. Morton, who instantly clashes with Mike Rossi, Tim O'Connor as embittered ex-con Elliot Carson, and Patricia Breslin as Laura Brooks, Leslie's wry, lonely sister who acts as a one-woman Greek chorus for her brother's many machinations.
In the first 31 episodes issued by Shout Factory, two arrivals to the seemingly tranquil town of Peyton Place set events in motion. The first is big-city doctor Michael Rossi, who arrives to take over the practice of the recently deceased Dr. Donald Brooks and finds himself entangled in the lives of practically every citizen. Rossi's youth and affinity for cutting edge medical techniques immediately rubs his peers the wrong way, resulting in a short story arc involving a prominent character's death, blackmail, and the suspension of Rossi's hospital privileges. Rossi also has a strange effect on the beautiful, widowed bookstore proprietor Constance MacKenzie, with whom he shares a secret association. Constance's carefully concealed past includes convicted murderer Elliot Carson, poised for parole from prison at the end of the first 30 episodes. Elliot vows to return to Peyton Place after serving 18 years for killing his wife, a crime he insists he didn't commit. His arrival and subsequent attempts to prove his innocence opens a Pandora's Box of secrets involving the Peyton family, triggering almost four years of compelling, non-stop drama that affects all of the major characters in one way or another.
Unlike the novel and film from which it was adapted, the television version of Peyton Place focuses less on the hypocrisy of community values and more on the day to day life in a small town. With that 1960's small town milieu, emphasis on subtlety of characterization, and large cast of recurring players, Peyton Place seems more like a dramatic version of The Andy Griffith Show than a salacious soap opera. Mercifully, for its first 4 years, the setting exists in a sort of Never-neverland, eschewing such topical subjects as Vietnam and student protests, which often seriously date other programs from that era. Although some might find the pace glacial, viewers who enjoy literate scripts, top-notch acting, excellent production values, and a lush musical underscore (by Arthur Morton and Lionel Newman) will definitely love the continuing story of Peyton Place.
Episodes included in this 5 DVD set (minor spoilers):
Episode # 1: Aired 9/15/64: Michael Rossi arrives in Peyton Place. Rodney nixes taking Betty to Tucker's Pond after finding his father in the arms of Betty's mother Julie. Allison admits she's ready to fall in love.
Episode # 2: Aired 9/17/64: Betty worries about Rodney's sudden rejection. Connie warns Allison away from Rodney.
Episode # 3: Aired 9/22/64: Betty suspects her trips to Tucker's Pond with Rodney have left her pregnant. Rossi remembers how he knows Connie. Matt encourages Connie to tell Allison the truth about her birth.
Episode # 4: Aired 9/24/64: Rodney and Allison have their first date. Julie is terrified of husband George's arrival home.
Episode # 5: Aired 9/29/64: A fall down the stairs brings Dr. Rossi to the Anderson home. George pays a visit to the Harrington mansion to discuss Betty and Julie.
Episode # 6: Aired 10/1/64: Betty competes for Rodney's attention at The Shoreline club. Laura accepts a dinner date with Rossi. Matt insists Connie and Allison should both start living.
Episode # 7: Aired 10/6/64: Rodney takes Allison to Tucker's Pond, while Betty decides to give in to being a bad girl.
Episode # 8: Aired 10/8/64: Allison wonders why she can't be like other girls. Dr. Rossi reveals the results of Betty's pregnancy test. Rodney declares his love to Allison.
Episode # 9: Aired 10/13/64: Rossi is guest of honor at the Harrington Sunday brunch. Later, Connie's jealousy flares when she spots Rossi and Laura together at the Founder's Day festival.
Episode #10: Aired 10/15/64: Rossi suggests George receive psychiatric help. Julie tells Leslie she's quitting Peyton Mills. Betty tracks down Rodney at the Founder's Day festival, insisting she has important news.
Episode #11: Aired 10/20/64: At the Founder's Day festival, George rescues Allison from a tense situation. An argument between Rodney and Betty culminates in a horrific car crash.
Episode #12: Aired 10/22/64: Allison learns about Rodney and Betty's car accident, while Dr. Rossi performs emergency surgery to save two lives.
Episode #13: Aired 10/27/64: Rossi has bad news for Julie and George. Leslie devises his own solution to Rodney's problem.
Episode #14: Aired 10/29/64: Leslie's visit to the Anderson home ends in violence. Rodney and Betty elope to White River.
Episode #15: Aired 11/5/64: News of the elopement spreads through Peyton Place. Catherine wonders if she's being punished by Rodney's marriage to Betty.
Episode #16: Aired 11/10/64: Rossi learns that his beach house was once the scene of a gruesome crime. Betty faces her new mother-in-law.
Episode #17: Aired 11/12/64: Catherine presses Dr. Morton for medical information about Betty. Connie avoids Rossi's questions about the Carson beach house murder. Dr. Morton warns Rossi that he doesn't belong in Peyton Place.
Episode #18: Aired 11/17/64: Eli Carson learns that imprisoned son Elliot is up for parole soon. Rossi questions Connie about Elliot's past.
Episode #19: Aired 11/19/64: Dr. Rossi is called to tend to a medical crisis at the Harrington mansion.
Episode #20: Aired 11/24/64: Allison tries to dissuade a "friend" from leaving town. When the patient dies, Dr. Morton vows to drive Dr. Rossi out of Peyton Place.
Episode #21: Aired 11/26/64: An autopsy is performed to determine why a prominent citizen died. Allison admits to Connie she still wants Betty's husband. Betty reveals her darkest secret to a stunned Rodney.
Episode #22: Aired 12/1/64: The town turns against Dr. Rossi, who must face the medical review board.
Episode #23: Aired 12/3/64: Betty is offered money to free Rodney from a loveless marriage. The medical review board decides Dr. Rossi's fate.
Episode #24: Aired 12/8/64: Rossi questions the review board's procedures. The reading of a will at the Harrington mansion is interrupted with news that there's a surprise codicil.
Episode #25: Aired 12/10/64: Connie dreads the possibility of Elliot's return to Peyton Place, while in prison, Elliot attacks a cellmate.
Episode #26: Aired 12/15/64: Elliot vows that the man who murdered his wife Elizabeth is still in Peyton Place. Rossi becomes suspicious of Doctor's Hospital pathologist Dr. Joe Bradley.
Episode #27: Aired 12/17/64: Rossi is drawn deeper into the mystery surrounding Dr. Bradley. A drunken George attacks Julie, but this time she fights back violently.
Episode #28: Aired 12/22/64: Dr. Morton forbids Rossi to treat George's injuries. Rossi subtly threatens a panicked Dr. Bradley.
Episode #29: Aired 12/24/64: Rossi is given a confession and an apology. Dr. Morton is pressured into lying about Catherine's mental stability.
Episode #30: Aired 12/29/64: Elliot's parole hearing begins. Julie makes an important decision regarding her marriage to George.
Episode #31: Aired 12/31/64: Connie confesses a shocking secret to Rossi. Allison watches sadly as a resident boards a bus for a new life far away from Peyton Place.
Description of Peyton Place: Part One
On September 15, 1964, then fledgling television network ABC began airing a twice weekly prime time serial drama based on the scandalous and sexy best selling book Peyton Place. With brilliant acting by Dorothy Malone, Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal among others, this superbly written and directed nighttime soap opera stretched the boundaries of what was considered morally acceptable in the pre sexual revolution 1960s. When all was said and done, Peyton Place had won a devoted following over the course of its 514 episodes, and ABC had become a major network.This is the continuing story of Peyton Place the soothing voice of benevolent town elder Matthew Swain would begin every episode. But the stories that followed were anything but soothing. Extramarital affairs, unwed teen pregnancies, family betrayals, mental illness and even murder were all lurking behind the storybook façade of this picture perfect, centuries old New England village and its citizens. From the day Dr. Michael Rossi arrives at Peyton Place to assume his role as town doctor, some of the townspeoples lives begin to unravel, revealing unexpected and intersecting relationships long hidden by secrets and lies. The widow Constance MacKenzie and her innocent daughter Allison; the troubled brothers Norman and Rodney Harrington and their powerful father Leslie; struggling George and Julie Anderson and their love struck daughter Betty; and the mysterious Elliot Carson are all revealed to be much more than they initially appear in these first 31 episodes. This is the beginning of the continuing story of Peyton Place.
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