Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

mark.waltz 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.

dartleyk 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

edwagreen The picture starts out with a bang. An explosion erupts when the ex-caretaker shows up with his wife 20 years later along with their daughter. It seems that he had a thing going with the wife of the proprietor of the place. Both marriages have headed southward, and at once there is love and lust between the children of the marriages.The movie totally disintegrates after the scandal is revealed. It then basically becomes a picture of the effects of divorce upon children and then their getting into the obvious trouble with the obvious feelings of all concerned. The ending is so contrived where all situations can easily be cleared up through love and commitment.As far as the acting goes, Sandra Dee is just awful as the teenage girl finding love with Troy Donohue. Dee is churlish and shows absolutely no maturity in the role. Donohue is all right, but his performance would have been enhanced by with a stronger actress other than Dee. Women such as Hope Lange, Diane Varsi or Susan Kohner would have been far better choices than Miss Dee.The real acting kudos for the film go to Arthur Kennedy, as Donohue's father, an ex-wealthy man who has turned to the bottle for solace. His wife, played with sweetness and conviction by Dorothy McGuire, looks like she is partly thinking back to her days in "Gentleman's Agreement," in earlier scenes of the film.There is an absolutely standout performance by Constance Ford as Egan's first wife. A hater of humanity, afraid of life, and a bitch at all cost, Ford, as Helen, etched an unforgettable character. You wonder where she got like that until you see her mother in one memorable scene. Too bad that after about a little over an hour in the film, she disappears. Her views towards sex and morality date back to the Dark and Middle Ages. What hurts the film is that when you think of it, Ford's prediction concerning Dee and Donohue was right on the mark. Ford, as Helen, embodied evil. Must evil triumph? Ultimately, at the film ends, we do have the Hollywood understanding theme stated.Beulah Bondi is the lovable aunt who is in the know and attempts to give good advice to the McGuire character.It just a shame that the film fizzles out after the love-nest is revealed.

dougdoepke It's easy to mock this big tub of soap suds. What with the two baby-faced innocents and a ton of Dee's pouty close-ups, it's a generous slice of white bread, 50's style. But beneath all the teen-age angst and adult philandering lies a surprisingly subversive message for that uptight decade. Because, once things get sorted out over the 130 minutes, we find out a number of social rules have not only been broken, but their violation justified. For example: the storyline implies that teen sex may be okay as long as the kids truly love each other— a violation of the teenage abstinence rule; that unwed teen pregnancy need not be punished— a challenge to Production Code insistence; and that adultery may be okay if the spouses are in impossible marriages—a further erosion of that seemingly sacred institution. The overall idea, is that no matter what, true love forgives all.Now, this may seem pretty tame stuff 50-years later in our anything-goes era. But I guarantee, it was cutting edge Hollywood at the time, even if the messages were buried in a load of glossy make-believe. Responding to the slick package were lines of teens stretching around the block, and it wasn't just because of the catchy title tune. Then too, those folks curious about the breakdown of 50's conformity and the youth rebellion of the 60's should include this highly unexpected entry in their thinking.At the same time, writer-director Daves seems an unlikely source for both the message and the genre, with his background in adult Westerns, such as the classic 3:10 to Yuma (1957). Here, he's very shrewd in his casting of Hollywood veterans. There's the likably masculine Egan (Ken) and the saintly maternal McGuire (Sylvia). Between them, they make infidelity seem not only permissible, but required. Then there's the affably tipsy Kennedy (Bart) and the assertively witchy Ford (Helen). Between them, they make cuckolding seem not only permissible, but also required. Taken together, it's almost perfect type casting. My only reservation is with Ford who seems too aggressively mean to make her marriage believable.Daves is also a sneaky filmmaker since he wraps the controversial subtext in irresistible gloss. Few pictures of the era are as gorgeous as this one, and I'm not just talking about Donahue (who's even prettier than his co-star). Those Technicolor shots of the Carmel coastline are mesmerizing, along with the Lloyd Wright cliffside house. For visual contrast, compare this production with the thematically similar but dour-looking Blue Denim of the same year and also with two blonde innocents-- Brandon deWilde and Carol Lynley. The black&white Denim is the more earnest of the two, yet lacks the candy-box covering that giftwraps this production. Thus, for all its seriousness, Denim lacked the same teen drawing power and impact.Anyway, as mentioned, mocking the film is easy, what with all the soapsuds and two Photoplay leads. However, I salute Daves for knowing how to get his humane message across to a popular audience, despite providing grist for generations of smirking critics. Happily, Daves proves here that there was more to his filmmaking than a fast gun, Glenn Ford, and a slow train to Yuma.