Search - A Summer Place on DVD

The original 'teen date' movie.

chad edwards | cincinnati, ohio USA | 11/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two teenagers in love(Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue) strive to be "good" and do the "right thing" by not going "all the way". This slick, colorful Hollywood soap opera about love and heartache among teens and their elders may have dated too much to have significant meaning to some tastes. Still arresting, however, as a look at 1950's lifestyles and values. This was, in its day, a box-office smash, and indeed, the premier teen date movie. The magnificent score by Max Steiner is still hauntingly beautiful, and was also big hit when the film was initially released. Yes, the realistic subject matter of the film itself has been glamorized and Hollywoodized, but it's so well-handled by the cast that it hardly matters. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue light up the screen as the young lovers. And Dorothy McGuire and Richard Egan are sensational as the older set trying to rekindle the flame. The strong performances by this amazing quartet, and, of course, Max Steiner's enchanting title tune, make this rise far above the ordinary Hollywood fluff."

A luscious, sensory-indulgent film

S. B., screenwriter | Pacific Coaster | 03/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As for you, Troy Donahue...she knew what you wanted to do -- but she wasn't exactly as opposed to it as Stockard Channing suggests. (No, Stockard Channing isn't in this film.) It certainly doesn't sum up the whole film, though. Not by a long shot! A Summer Place is layered with plot and innuendo, beginning with two unhappy marriages, and the subsequent hell that baggage lays upon their kids' shoulders. Sylvia married Bart for money and status, spurning Ken, a lifeguard, who she really loved. Ken married Helen, wallflower/homebody (oh, little did he know...), because he was lonely, and had just found out that his only love, Sylvia, had become engaged to a world-class arrogant horse's ass. Ken became a millionaire, motivated (one is led to believe) by his wanting to show Sylvia that he was finally worthy of her, which might leave someone who hasn't seen this film thinking she was a cold, two-dimensional bitch, and that Ken was merely a dunce (the foolish things we do in the name of love). But alas, poor Sylvia learned the error of her ways early on, realizing every day of her life that she let the wrong man go. Well, dear, he's on his way to your house for a visit. And therein is where this film begins. Sylvia sees Ken, Ken sees Sylvia, and everyone else suddenly ceases to exist. All except for their children -- Sylvia's son, Johnny (Donahue) and Ken's daughter, Molly (Sandra Dee), both whose hormones seem to have burst alive for the first time. All the while, Bart and Helen, the forgotten spouses, watch fireworks that they are powerless to extinguish. Ah, but they cause plenty of trouble for their soon-to-be adulterous counterparts. Helen shows what a malignant, frigid, evil psycho-shrew she really is (subjecting her poor daughter to a "virginity test" by a creepy old letch of a doctor -- what the HELL was she supposed to have done if her daughter had been found to be "impure"?), and Bart goes off the drunken deep end. Helen, played to the horrific tee by Constance Ford, is the most despicable mother (next to Joan Crawford) any daughter was ever cursed with, but Bart is downright hilarious and is superb to watch as he delivers one sarcastic and witty deadpan blow after another, especially when he goes after Helen's "dignity" at dinner. Priceless. The setting is breathtaking and the musical score is emotionally staggering, sweeping the viewer away into another world and another time -- one from which they may never wish to return. The only thing missing was an assassin for Helen...All in all, the film is one of this screenwriter's all-time favorites, and that's saying something, considering how many films I've waded through in the last 30 years! If you love the cinema of the late 50s-early 60s, you absolutely MUST see this unforgettable film. You won't ever regret it. In fact, the only thing you'll lament is the fact that the dolts who have rights over this film STILL haven't released it on DVD!
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