While "Peyton Place" was a commercial hit, many critics noted that the most salacious elements of the Metalious novel had been whitewashed or eliminated completely. In "The New York Times", Bosley Crowther remarked "There is no sense of massive corruption here." However, he did generally like the film, praising Hope Lange for a "gentle and sensitive performance" and finding Lloyd Nolan "excellent." "[Variety" wrote that the film was "impressively acted by an excellent cast," but noted that "in leaning backwards not to offend, Wald and Hayes have gone acrobatic ... On the screen is not the unpleasant sex-secret little town against which Grace Metalious set her story. These aren't the gossiping, spiteful, immoral people she portrayed. There are hints of this in the film, but only hints." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" wrote "While the four-letter words of the Grace Metalious novel have been adroitly erased, it's easy for one of the apparent few who didn't read the book to see why so many did. There are several strong stories and the characters are sharply drawn. Without these two characteristics the best written novels remain unread." Edwin Schallert of the "Los Angeles Times" declared the film "probably the most powerful small-town picture ever produced," and "Harrison's Reports" praised it as "an absorbing adult drama" that "grips one's attention the whole time it is on the screen, thanks to the sensitive direction and the effective acting of the capable cast."