Review of Peyton Place (1957) by Robert A — 28 May 2015

Interesting, but overwrought, look at 1940s society.

Peyton Place is an effective snapshot of life in the early-1940s: the morals, mores and conventions of the time, and how some of these were made to be broken. Has some engaging characters and interesting commentary on old vs young, women's rights, morality.

However, there are too many threads, too many characters with parallel stories, and these stories don't seem to know when to end. There are plenty of climatic moments in the movie, where usually a movie would have ended. Here, it is just a temporary peak in a long rambling story.

Then we have some unnecessary drama - drama for drama sake. After a while it starts to feel like a soap opera.

Ultimately, an interesting and engaging movie, but much more conciseness and focus were required.