A Summer Place - Warner Archive Collection

After Peyton Place shocked and titillated audiences with its dark, salacious portrait of small-town life, A Summer Place came along and kicked the edgy content up a notch. Writer-director Delmer Daves' slick adaptation of Sloan Wilson's novel examines morals, neuroses, and illicit love at a seaside resort as three couples wade through regrets, recriminations, and enough sexual frustration to delight Dr. Freud. All of it may seem tame by today's permissive standards, but it was pretty hot stuff back in 1959, and hungry audiences eager to see how far Hollywood could push the envelope lapped it up.

On a bucolic, picture-postcard island off the coast of Maine, Bart and Sylvia Hunter (Arthur Kennedy and Dorothy McGuire) run a once-ritzy resort hotel that has fallen into disrepair. Bart's excessive drinking and spendthrift ways have left the family virtually penniless and severely strained his relationship with Sylvia and their college-age son Johnny (Troy Donahue), but when Ken and Helen Jorgenson (Richard Egan and Constance Ford) and their teenage daughter Molly (Sandra Dee) book a suite of rooms for the entire summer, they give the Hunter family a critical financial lifeline. The down-to-earth Ken, who grew up on the island along with Bart and Sylvia, hails from a poor family, but is now a renowned - and very rich - chemist, and his fortune and stature rankle the snooty, condescending Bart, the island's tarnished golden boy.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. The real root of their rivalry dates back to Ken's intense romance with Sylvia when both were teenagers. The two were deeply in love, but circumstances ended the relationship. Sylvia married Bart, and the devastated Ken tied the knot with the ice-cold, demanding, often nasty Helen, who keeps Molly on a very short leash and obsesses over keeping her boy-crazy daughter pure and virginal. Sex is anathema to Helen (she and Ken sleep in separate bedrooms), so when Molly falls for the hunky Johnny and their hormones begin to rage, so does Helen. And when she learns Ken and Sylvia have been enjoying passionate trysts in the boathouse while she's asleep and the drunken Bart is passed out...well, hell hath no fury like Helen.

Daves, perhaps best known for directing the Bogart-Bacall film noir Dark Passage and classic western 3:10 to Yuma, slathers on a thick coat of gloss as he tells this tawdry tale of extra- and pre-marital sex, alcoholism, frigidity, teen pregnancy, and coming of age. As we wonder "Will they or won't they?" throughout much of the movie, Molly and Johnny constantly ask each other "Should we or shouldn't we?" while debating such salient 1950s questions as "What's a good girl?" and "What's a bad girl?" and "Is sex dirty?" The script takes a progressive stance, condemning those with outdated, puritanical, prejudicial viewpoints and celebrating love even when it's out of wedlock. Sure, guilt and hand-wringing abound, but the characters accept the consequences of their deeds and the film doesn't judge them...a big step forward for Hollywood after a generation of rigid censorship.

All the heavy breathing, steamy embraces, and fiery exchanges still can't eclipse the real star of A Summer Place - Max Steiner's memorable score that contains one of the most recognizable love themes in film history. Believe it or not, the syrupy, string-laden "Theme from A Summer Place" spent nine weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and has been recorded countless times since. Along with Steiner's memorable themes for Gone with the Wind and Now, Voyager, the music from A Summer Place will be forever linked with its composer, but also lends a timeless quality to this somewhat dated film.

The colorful performances also keep A Summer Place fresh. Though Egan and McGuire receive top billing and file earnest portrayals (as always, McGuire's sincerity and authenticity elevate the material), Dee and Donahue are what the movie is all about. They generate plenty of heat and enjoy a relaxed rapport, but Dee - at just 17 years of age - gives a far superior performance. Her role would spawn the famous lyric "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee, lousy with virginity" in Grease, but her emotional workout in this picture is no joke. Her hysteria when her mother forces her to endure a physical examination by a strange doctor to affirm her virginity after a night out with Johnny is about as raw and real as it gets, as is her angst over whether to give in to her desires and express her love for Johnny or risk alienating him by keeping him at arm's length.

Donahue isn't much more than a pretty face in a fit, tanned frame. His wooden acting often lacks emotion, though he does exhibit sexual frustration well. ("As for you, Troy Donahue, I know what you want to do," so says the Grease song.) Kennedy, who played a drunken redneck in Peyton Place, plays a drunken aristocrat here with equal relish, and Ford is an absolute hoot as the insanely over-protective mother and bitchy wife whose omnipresent scowl reflects her utter disdain for everything. It's a deliciously over-the-top turn that surely led to her 25-year stint on the popular daytime soap opera Another World that began eight years later.

Aside from an impassioned speech about bigotry that still strikes a strong chord today, A Summer Place doesn't do much more than convince us that sex isn't filthy after all. That might have caused an earthquake 65 years ago, but it doesn't even trigger a slight tremor today. All the histrionic interpersonal drama, however, still rocks the screen and that's what makes A Summer Place an entertaining and enduring potboiler.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
A Summer Place arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.

A brand new HD master struck from a 4K scan of the original camera negative yields a very pleasing 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that faithfully honors the cinematography of two-time Oscar-winner Harry Stradling Sr. The original grain structure remains intact and proffers a vibrant film-like image that features excellent clarity and contrast and a fair amount of depth. A Summer Place was mounted in the era of single-strip Technicolor, so the hues aren't quite as sumptuous as those produced by the format's three-strip cousin, but they still exhibit palpable luster. Red is an essential and dominant color, and Dee's lipstick, Donahue's sweater, and the red accent lighting are all bold and lush. The crystal azure sky and Donahue's baby blues are also nicely rendered, and yellows, greens, and lavenders make statements as well.

Blacks are rich, Donahue's white sport coat and sweater are bright and crisp, and though flesh tones err slightly toward the orange side, they still exude a natural look. The day-for-night shots are largely impressive, shadow delineation is quite good, and sharp close-ups highlight the youthful complexions of Dee and Donahue and the crow's feet and wrinkles that plague the faces of the older actors. A few soft stretches and a bit of fading during exterior scenes are the only hiccups in this otherwise clean, slick presentation.

Audio-wise ,A Summer Place is all about the iconic Max Steiner score, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track makes sure the syrupy strings sound as lush and romantic as possible. The well-modulated audio boasts a wide dynamic scale that handles all the instrumental highs and lows with ease. Excellent fidelity and tonal depth allows the music to fill the room with ease and all the intense emotional exchanges are clear and comprehendible. Sonic accents like facial slaps and crashing waves are distinct and no age-related hiss, pops, or crackle intrude. 

Just a couple of extras adorn the disc.

• Vintage Cartoon: A Witch's Tangled Hare (HD, 6 minutes) - Looney Tunes tackles Shakespeare in this amusing Bugs Bunny cartoon that pits Bugs against Witch Hazel in the land of Macbeth.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 3 minutes) - The film's original preview highlights the salacious plot points that surely lured audiences into the theater.

A Summer Place blends an idyllic setting with a hefty dose of sex, heartache, and tangled relationships. This glossy soap opera looks and sounds terrific on Blu-ray, thanks to a new 4K scan of the original camera negative and remastered audio that showcases Max Steiner's memorable score. A Summer Place may be dated, but it still sizzles. Recommended.