Gutter Recrawled

Return to Peyton Place (20th Century-Fox) is a recrawl of the New England gutters so noisomely celebrated by Author Grace Metalious in Peyton Place. Fortunately, much that lies hidden between hard covers cannot decently be put on film; Producer Jerry Wald has had to wash that smut right out of his script. That means there just isn't anything left.

According to the steamy 24-sheets, Return "begins where Peyton Place left off." The main characters, though portrayed by different actors, are the same, and so is the theme that the nicest people have the filthiest minds. The plot is obviously patterned on the author's own frantic life. Like Author Metalious. Heroine Allison (Carol Lynley) writes a naughty bestseller about life in her own home town, makes a stack of chips and a mess of trouble. Because of the book, her stepfather (Robert Sterling), principal of the local high school, loses his job--in real life, the author's teacher-husband did. Because of the book, she falls in love with a married man (Jeff Chandler)--in real life, the author fell in love with a disk jockey, left her husband and two children in order to marry him, later left the disk jockey and remarried the first husband.

Director Jose Ferrer tries hard, but what can he do with a script that, in order to work in some snowy New England scenery, presents a glorious, wide-screen miscarriage on skis?

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