A Summer Place

[Michael]

I would love to see Summer Place, Parrish and Susan Slade all in a set. Great great great films no longer available reasonably in any format. Does anybody know if any of those titles (Susan Slade being my favorite) is expected to be available?

[Lino]

Michael, can you talk about these films for a bit? You seem to be a big fan of them but sadly, I haven't watched any.

[Michael]

While growing up, my grandmother being a huge Connie Francis fan made sure to watch it every time Susan Slade played on TV. The film is a first-rate sudser with strong Sirkian overtones. Loads of high emotions run through it in such a seamless way that will amaze you. The music is lovely and everything about Susan Slade is beautifully crafted. If Criterion wants to do a boxset devoted to an underrated, forgotten American director, then Delmer Daves is the perfect choice.

[tryavna]

I agree with Michael that Daves is a director ripe for rediscovery, but I actually think it will be the string of Westerns he made throughout the 1950s that will do more for his reputation than anything else. Of course, 3:10 to Yuma is already pretty well known and is a must-see for anyone interested in the genre, and I think Jubal (his sagebrush retelling of "Othello") is also available on DVD. But where are the likes of Broken Arrow and The Hanging Tree (a film that DVD Savant champions every now and then)? IMO, Daves at his best was only a notch below Mann and Boetticher.

I think Daves also directed The Red House, an interesting noir with Edward G. Robinson. I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember it being quite good, too.

[Jeff]

This was addressed at the 2006 HTF Chat with Warner. They said:

We will not do a Delmer Daves Collection as there are (sadly) very few people who know who he is, but it is likely we will get more of his films out in the not too distant future.

[Lino]

Not from Warner but a new Daves DVD has been reviewed by the Beaver

[Lino]

From the Digital Bits:

Warner has officially announced the DVD release of more catalog titles, including Blume in Love, The Clock, Crossing Delancey, Miracle in the Rain and A Summer Place for 2/6/07, with The Butcher Boy, Ginger & Fred, Performance and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner following on 2/13.

[Lino]

Cover art for A Summer Place.

[Lino]

DVDBeaver

[Tom Peeping]

Seeing A Summer Place for the first time was great. I loved it. And especially the character of Sandra Dee's dragonmom, stealing every scene she is in. "Slut", "tramp", "harlot"... I don't think I ever heard so much foul language in a 50's movie. Very well done, revelating about 50's attitudes and fun all the same.

I like to think about the idea that Donahue could be, in fact, the son of Egan & McGuire. That would have him, in the end, making is own half- sister Dee pregnant. Now, that would be bad!

[Lino]

DVDTalk

[Michael]

Any more folks watched the new DVD of A Summer Place? Fun, soapy and always beautiful to look at. I remember watching this film with my grandmother every time it played on her TV when I was growing up. It was one of her favorite movies and she loved to remind me that it was a very serious film (adultery, divorce, teen pregnancy, etc). Watching the new DVD last night, I couldn't stop smiling and thinking - god, was that taken seriously back then? How taboos have changed since then.

A Summer Place painted how medieval the life in 1950s America was no matter how rich you were. Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue were simply sublime in every scene they were together - their shimmer and youth so very contagious.

And what can I say about Dorothy McGuire? She with all her fabulous bitchiness gets missed so much and so quickly in the last reel.

BUT unlike the Sirks, I don't think A Summer Place holds up well upon repeated viewings.

[Michael]

Michael I wouldn't really see it in the same vein as Sirk - it's a kind of "thwarted romance" movie with "adult themes" (and I still love it, even if it's a minor Daves.)

Don't you think A Summer Place has social criticisms spelled out all over the place or at least magnifies the 50s attitudes? What is it exactly about the movie that you love? Steiner's gorgeous score still whispering through my mind.

[Michael]

Doncha just LERV the language Constance Ford gets to spit out!

OH yes. I just realized I had her and Dorothy McGuire mixed up. There is one scene of Constance that I love - when her husband spit out a rambling of words about Constance's hatred, racism, etc, the camera freezes on her with the red light glowing from the lamp behind her. Simply ravishing.

And what about that blow she throws on her daugher crashing her down with the plastic Christmas tree? Holy shit!

But Peyton Place is the one I can't really bear sitting through. Do you like it?

[Michael]

Couldn't get Summer Place out of my mind so I gave it another viewing last night. I remain loving it as much if not more. No matter how many times I watch it, some of the lines - "house of ill" "house of sin" "Johnny, have you been bad with girls?"- rattle me with incredible amusement. Bless Sandra and Troy - the actors I first learned about from the song sung by Stockard Channing in Grease when I was still drinking Tang and my mom was still baking my favorite rainbow poke cakes. May they have their summer place somewhere together forever.

[Lino]

Tang? Dang, that was one sweet drink! In fact, believe it or not, I drank it just last week at a birthday party. Talk about revisiting your childhood memories.

[Michael]

I didn't know Tang is still around. I just did a little research and unfortunately stumbled on Paula Deen's recipe for fruit salad thickened with Tang and instant pudding mix! Chemical fruit salad is more like it. But anyway I'm glad Tab is back. It was not cool being a boy drinking Tab back then.