A Summer Place (1959)

A millionaire (Richard Egan) returns to a small island off the coast of Maine with his wife (Constance Ford) and daughter (Sandra Dee) where he was a lifeguard when he was a teenager. It is there he reunites with the woman (Dorothy McGuire), now married to a drunk (Arthur Kennedy) and with a son (Troy Donahue) of her own, that he loved as a youth. Based on the best seller by Sloan Wilson (MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT), this is a superior soap opera. The film's director Delmer Daves was previously known for an excellent series of westerns like 3:10 TO YUMA, JUBAL, COWBOY and BROKEN ARROW. This film was a huge hit and suddenly he became a director of big screen soap operas. What's most notable about the film is how shockingly frank it is about sexual matters for a 1959 film. Adultery, frigidity, raging teenage hormones, teen pregnancy etc. are all out in the open. One scene is still very disturbing, when Ford has Dee forcibly examined by a doctor (it's practically a rape) to see if her virginity is intact! The cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. (MY FAIR LADY) does wonders in making Carmel in California look like the Maine coast. Max Steiner gives us one of his better scores and, of course, the memorable theme that became a no. 1 hit on the record charts. With Beulah Bondi, Roberta Shore, Ann Doran, Gertrude Flynn and Eleanor Audley.