The only spark of life left in RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE is MARY ASTOR as Roberta Carter, ironically, a character who had no screen time in the original film five years previously. Her sassy, confrontational arguments with the denizens of Peyton Place provide the only juicy and convincing moments in the whole film.
In every other respect, this is about as poor a sequel as could be expected from the original PEYTON PLACE which had several Oscar nominations to its credit, including Best Picture.
Why Jerry Wald gave the green light to this production is something that has always baffled me. The script is a complete mess and the casting is only adequate without a shred of inspiration as to any of the players. Even such wonderful people as ELEANOR PARKER and ROBERT STERLING have to cope with the weakest sort of material, while CAROL LYNLEY and TUESDAY WELD fail to make any deep impression in their mainline roles.
The only holdover from the original seems to be Franz Waxman's lovely score with his main theme giving the audience hope that something approaching the original is about to happen. No such luck.
Sequels get their bad names from films like this. The extensive fire sequence was filmed, then scrapped, but turns up only in the DVD trailers for the film. The story ends now with Astor getting her comeuppance from the townspeople who turn a cold shoulder to her after she's exposed as the harridan she is. Too bad Astor's performance is wasted in a bad film.
In every other respect, this is about as poor a sequel as could be expected from the original PEYTON PLACE which had several Oscar nominations to its credit, including Best Picture.
Why Jerry Wald gave the green light to this production is something that has always baffled me. The script is a complete mess and the casting is only adequate without a shred of inspiration as to any of the players. Even such wonderful people as ELEANOR PARKER and ROBERT STERLING have to cope with the weakest sort of material, while CAROL LYNLEY and TUESDAY WELD fail to make any deep impression in their mainline roles.
The only holdover from the original seems to be Franz Waxman's lovely score with his main theme giving the audience hope that something approaching the original is about to happen. No such luck.
Sequels get their bad names from films like this. The extensive fire sequence was filmed, then scrapped, but turns up only in the DVD trailers for the film. The story ends now with Astor getting her comeuppance from the townspeople who turn a cold shoulder to her after she's exposed as the harridan she is. Too bad Astor's performance is wasted in a bad film.