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Steve D There is nothing wrong with the acting but this is a laughable followup with pure melodrama. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 07/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Great acting -- especially by Mary Astor -- in a town rocked by a thinly-veiled book about its inhabitants. I'm not comparing this film to any other but commenting on it on its own. Good direction and action. The motives of the townspeople are clearly understood and their emotions are genuine. A well photographed movie worth your time. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review ashley h Return to Peyton Place is an awful film. It is about Alison Mackenzie who writes a "shocking" novel detailing the sinful secrets of the town. Carol Lynley and Eleanor Parker give disappointing performances. The screenplay is badly written. Jose Ferrer did a horrible job directing this movie. I was not impressed with this motion picture. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I wasn't exactly expecting great things from the sequel to a shamelessly melodramatic film, but the least it could have done was do some things different...and well. In this followup to PEYTON PLACE (which I actually quite liked), Allison has now gotten a book deal for her first novel, "Samuel's Castle," which is based on her life and the people she knows in Peyton Place. However, after the book gets published (and that, after a long rewriting session), the townspeople don't find it flattering at all. That's basically because everything in the book was covered in the previous film. Despite the soapy and silly nature of the story, it still manages to say a few interesting, if unoriginal, things about small town life, censorship, and progressive values (at least for the time period in which it's set). However, most of this was relegated to a final scene which plays out in much the same way as the courtroom finale of its predecessor. Other positive things to say include that the cinematography, production design and sets were just as good this time around. However, too often this film decides to ride the coattails of what came before instead of exploring new intrigues and problems. Basically, it's dependent on the previous film to a fault. Of course, it doesn't help that none of the original cast is back, for whatever reason. The replacements simply didn't have the talent or charm that the previous cast did. Granted, there are a couple of decent performances, but only a couple. Those are Mary Astor (as Ted Carter's mother), and Tuesday Weld (as Selena Cross). Everyone else gave lifeless performances and amateurish-sounding line readings, living down to the soapy source material. Overall, RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE falls into the trap that many sequels find themselves in: it's content to rehash the previous film without much charm, no originality and, worst of all, a sub-par cast. The only reason I'm giving this as high of a rating as I am is because it was at least visually appealing, but otherwise there's not too much to recommend here. Only see this if soap operas really do it for you. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member ***Due to the recent RT changes that have basically ruined my past reviews, I am mostly only giving a rating rather than a full review.*** Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member a silly sequel filled with lots of soap Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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