A Summer Place (1959)

While the "A Summer Place" theme has become a legendary piece of music in the history of movie themes, it is the opening Max Steiner music which I recall, so lush and powerful that it immediately sets up the mood for the drama which is about to unfold. The movie itself is far from perfect, but there are so many elements of it that make it spectacular, whether it being the lush Maine photography, the gorgeous score or the star-crossed lovers of two generations who must face the toughest of obstacles in their determination to find happiness. The first half of the film is devoted to the scandal which surrounds the affair of two married people: sweet Dorothy McGuire and unhappy Richard Egan. She's married to the basically decent but often drunken Arthur Kennedy and he's stuck with the embittered Constance Ford who has rigid beliefs on the raising of their daughter, Sandra Dee. When Dee sees McGuire and Kennedy's son (Troy Donahue) from the yacht her father rented, it's lust at first sight, and the virginal young woman must fight temptations if she is to remain pure.But even insisting that she hasn't done anything wrong isn't enough for Dee's mother to go out and get a doctor to examine her to see that she's still a virgin. This disgusts everybody, and after Donahue threatens to kill Ford, Egan stands up for him after learning what she had done. This causes the vindictive Ford to reveal that she knows about the affair, and her fight for a divorce will not go without scandal. But that doesn't mean that she'll get Kennedy to side with her. Even he finds her actions reprehensible, and that's not the end of Ford who does everything she can to prevent Dee and Donahue from being together once McGuire and Egan marry.Certainly, there are elements of the story that could move this movie into pure camp, but there are many moments that stand out too, hence my very high rating. Ford makes an effort in the beginning to allow the possibility of Donahue and Dee to date, but her request that Dee play Donahue "like a fish" is such a dated concept that went out long before this movie came out. When she reveals her inner prejudices, this causes Egan to explode on her, accusing her of being the most vile racist and hypocrite that ever existed. She too has a very nasty mother who seems to be the one who put the idea of setting her husband up for infidelity into play in the first place. The beloved character actress Beulah Bondi is very funny as McGuire's nosy aunt who encourages her to have an affair with Egan, and I wanted to see more of her "Greek Chorus" character.As for Dee and Donahue, they have a lot to work on as far as acting skills when compared to the talented adults they are surrounded by. Dee doesn't act so much as emote, and Donahue underplays pretty much every line he says. The references later sung in "Grease" (the song "Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee!") spoof their not quite so innocent on-screen romance. Certainly not the first single girl to be pregnant in a movie, it was probably the first time however that the subject was dealt with head on rather than subdued. This is also one of the few times on screen that an abusive parent happens to be the mother (Ford), not the father, as shown in a scene at Christmas where Ford slaps Dee so hard that she knocks over a Christmas tree.This is a film that I can watch over and over. I also cherish the memory of seeing three of the actors on the daytime soaps: Ford in a very long role as "Another World's" kind but no-nonsense matriarch Ada Hobson, Egan as a wealthy and powerful patriarch Sam Clegg on "Capitol", and in a most memorable guest appearance on "The Young and the Restless", Dorothy McGuire as Victor Newman's mother. Her performance on that soap was so lauded that it has been shown in flash-backs over the years several times and used in soap tributes. The fact that this movie soap has tie-ins with daytime soaps is quite appropriate and even more ironic.

As far as scorching, melodramatic (and sometimes over-the-top) soap operas go - A Summer Place's scandal-ridden story (from 1959) actually held up surprisingly well (until about the point when Ken & Sylvia's shocking, little infidelity made newspaper headlines).It was following this climatic moment (which happened at about the 60-minute point) that A Summer Place then began to seriously lose a lot of its initial steam as it inevitably petered out into a rather sappy, "happy ending" fizzle.Featuring a pretty competent cast, headlined by the likes of Richard Egan and (teen idol) Troy Donahue, A Summer Place was definitely quite an emotional, little roller-coaster ride at times, containing plenty of vicious muck-slinging, punctuated by equally damning jabs of biting dialogue.When dealing maturely with sexual issues, A Summer Place was certainly a very frank and racy story for its day.The one real standout performance that I think is worth mentioning in the film was that of Constance Ford who played Helen Jorgenson, Molly's brittle and hateful mother who repeatedly reared her ugly head as a nasty, sanctimonious hypocrite.

I was 54 years late, but I finally got around to watching this well-known soap opera. Released in 1959, the story has to do with a couple (Arthur Kennedy and Dorothy McGuire) who own a vacation inn off the coast of Maine. It's a beautiful old mansion but they're barely above poverty and Kennedy's a sad alcoholic. That's when an affluent couple visits for the summer (Richard Egan and Constance Ford). Egan was a lifeguard on the island when he was a teen and knows the couple from his youth. He and McGuire dated back then and Egan wants to reignite the flame, likely because his wife is utterly frigid. On top of this, both couples have teens (Troy Donahue and Sandra Dee) and they strike up a secret romance as well. There are drastic consequences to these liaisons.What separates this film from a television soap opera is the location shooting. I should point out, however, that it was shot on the coast of California, not Maine (Pacific Grove and Carmel-by-the-Sea)."A Summer Place" is a worthwhile film because, watching it, is like going back in time where mores were more reserved and much less hedonistic. A girl wasn't expected to have sex until she married and, if she did, it was scandalous. It was the same thing with adultery, which still is scandalous, but even more so back then. It's also interesting to see how people dressed while lounging around the house, all dressed-up. Despite the differing mores, people are still human and face the same human needs and temptations that people do in any time period.The social dynamics are also interesting: It's wrong for Richard and Dorothy to commit adultery, but who can blame them in the face of Constance' cold legalism and Arthur's pathetic alcoholism? Constance seethingly condemns Dorothy as a monstrous adulterous, but she's oblivious to her own loveless arrogance. Which is the greater transgression? Would Richard have strayed in the first place if Constance wasn't such an impassive ice queen? And without Richard's advances Dorothy would've never been tempted to cheat on Arthur. O what a tangled web we weave.The first half is great for the reasons cited above, including the gorgeous locations, but the second half moves away from the island and focuses on the relationship of Donahue and Dee, which simply isn't as interesting as the adult entanglements. Thankfully, the story picks up in the final act and the core message rings loud and clear: love conquers all (and I'm not talking' bout mere physical lust).FINAL WORD: The film runs 130 minutes and is overlong by about 10-20 minutes, but it's an interesting period piece with some fascinating gems to extract, not to mention the beautiful coastal locations.GRADE: B

as a movie by most standards it's a 6 or 7; plusses are it's back when they shot on the rocks instead of fake rocks, went there, did that- like the first few 007 movies- a feature lost on many watchers today; but mainly it's one of the last defenders of the 40s and 50s- holding hands, a kiss: oh my god, you know what that can lead to; easy enough to make fun of it today, on the other hand the opposite family parents were screwing each other night after night; so it becomes the wonderful cliff of the late 50's: sex everywhere but just tucked under the blue blazer and white pants; this, and peyton place and a few others but no holding back the 60's; still worth a watch as a reasonably literate soap opera with a few moments of very good writing (he loves her too much to speak), and the curious catchall- postponing, arranging, suffering etc because of the children- even though the children aren't exactly tots