The story tells of a newcomer named Michael Rossie who returned to the city on the eve of World War II. Over time, the man gets involved with a wonderful but arrogant shopkeeper named Constance, but both may discover that the town of New England is the most secret city for the most controversial secrets and scandals.
Mark Robson's Hollywood version is far more enjoyable than the Grace Mattallius's trashy novel it's based upon, a quintessential small-town movie that in morality and other issues is sort of an ideological summation of the entire decade.
Peyton Place, with its myriad plot threads and cast of characters is a rollicking good yarn with obvious melodramatic tensions borne from some very juicy themes.
Though a contemporary audience would hardly find Peyton Place shocking today, what is intriguing is that audiences in 1957 would not have found it shocking either.
