A Summer Place (1959)

Director:

Delmer Daves

Writers:

Sloan Wilson (novel)
Delmer Daves (writer)

Release Date:

18 November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A self-made businessman rekindles a romance with a former flame while their two teenage children begin a romance of their own with drastic consequences for both couples.

Plot Keywords:

Summer | Adultery | Marriage | Love | Beach

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Richard Egan	...	Ken Jorgenson
Dorothy McGuire	...	Sylvia Hunter
Sandra Dee	...	Molly Jorgenson
Arthur Kennedy	...	Bart Hunter
Troy Donahue	...	Johnny Hunter
Constance Ford	...	Helen Jorgenson
Beulah Bondi	...	Mrs. Emily Hamilton Hamble
Jack Richardson	...	Claude Andrews
Martin Eric	...	Todd Harper, Handyman at Pine Island Inn
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eleanor Audley	...	Mrs. Harrington (uncredited)
Marshall Bradford	...	Dr. Matthias (uncredited)
Phil Chambers	...	Sheriff (uncredited)
Peter Constanti	...	Captain of Yacht (uncredited)
Richard Deacon	...	Pawnbroker (uncredited)
Ann Doran	...	Mrs. Talbert (uncredited)
Gertrude Flynn	...	Mrs. Carter (uncredited)
Bonnie Franklin	...	Girl in dormitory at Briarwood School for Girls (uncredited)
Everett Glass	...	Dean (uncredited)
Robert Griffin	...	Engelhardt (uncredited)
Howard Hoffman	...	Justice of the Peace Alvin Frost (uncredited)
Cheryl Holdridge	...	Girl in dormitory at Briarwood School for Girls (uncredited)
Lolita	...	Singer in German version (uncredited)
Lewis Martin	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Junius Matthews	...	Mr. Hamble (uncredited)
Nancy Matthews	...	Girl in dormitory at Briarwood School for Girls (uncredited)
Dale J. Nicholson	...	Minister (uncredited)
Susan Odin	...	Girl in dormitory at Briarwood School for Girls (uncredited)
Roberta Shore	...	Anne Talbert (uncredited)
Arthur Space	...	Ken's attorney (uncredited)
George Taylor	...	Bart's attorney (uncredited)
Helen Wallace	...	Wife (uncredited)

Directed by
Delmer Daves

Writing credits
Sloan Wilson		(novel)
Delmer Daves		(writer)

Produced by
Delmer Daves	....	producer

Original Music by
Max Steiner

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Sr.

Film Editing by
Owen Marks

Art Direction by
Leo K. Kuter

Set Decoration by
William L. Kuehl

Costume Design by
Howard Shoup

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Russell Llewellyn	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Stanley Jones	....	sound

Stunts
Lila Finn	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Bert Stein	....	dialogue supervisor

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1960) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (2004) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1967) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (cut) | West Germany:12 (f) (cut version) | West Germany:18 (f) (original version) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #19324)

Filming Locations:

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Richard Egan's (Ken) impassioned speech to his wife about her disgraceful bigotry was so powerful that an entire packed audience at Radio City Music Hall gave it an immediate standing ovation.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Molly is getting ready to go Christmas shopping with her mother, her mother begins to zip up the back of her dress. Molly breaks away and runs to bed to get letters, argues with her mother, still with her dress unzipped. When she runs to fireplace to burn the letters, her dress is zipped.

Quotes:

Bart Hunter: As soon as Molly is found - and I'm sure she will be - I suggest you vacate these rooms as swiftly as possible.
Helen Jorgenson: [incredulously] Don't tell me that you're on their side!
Bart Hunter: Let's merely say that I'm not on yours.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Batman (1989)

Soundtrack:

Liebestraum

a Summer Place

Wow, Sandra Dee made two big soap opera connections in 1959, starring opposite of two of Hollywood's biggest female stars, Lana Turner in "Imitation of Life" and then "A Summer Place" with Dorothy McGuire. Pure soap on a rope in both of these films.....was in my first year of high school when this film opened and every girl I ever knew of in school and my neighborhood was hooked on this movie. Tell any girl you liked back then you would take them to see this movie, some of them 2-3 times and you had a sure date! Troy Donahue who had a bit role in "Imitation of Life" with Dee is the full blown boyfriend in this soaper. Good performances by the venerable actors Richard Egan, Dorothy Mcguire (in another never ending mother role), Arthur Kennedy and Constance Ford. How about Ford, Sandra Dee's evil, overbearing, sinister mother who wouldn't say a kind work about even Mother Theresa? By the middle of the film she has given the entire audience chills. Arthur Kennedy gave a solid performance as a drunk, down and out misfit father who offers a very sordid outlook on life for the young lovers, Dee and Donahue. Dorothy McGuire who appeared a little too old to me to be in love with the younger Egan gives a soaper-doaper performance extraordinare as the swindled mother who longs for her old boyfriend Egan. Then there is that never ending Max Steiner/Percy Faith theme song from the movie blurting out every few seconds.....no one in their 50s or 60s today could ever forget how many thousands of times they heard that song on the old am radios. Donahue became a soap opera lothario thanks to this film, making other soap suds in "Parrish" with Connie Stevens, and reuniting with McGuire in "Susan Slade" again with Stevens as the love interest. So sad to hear last year of the death of Dee and a couple of years earlier Donahue....... Dorothy McGuire a couple of years ago too. This film must have been the inspiration for any number of television soapers that have stayed on TV over the years.