Production Credits: Producer Elia Kazan Director Elia Kazan Screenwriter Paul Osborn based on the novel by John Steinbeck Cinematographer Ted McCord Editor Owen Marks Composer Leonard Rosenman Art director James Basevi Malcolm Bert Set designer George James Hopkins Costumes Anna Hill Johnstone
CineBooks' Motion Picture Guide Review: 5.0 stars out of 5
115 min, No rating, Color, Available on videocassette and laserdisc
James Dean made his stunning screen debut in EAST OF EDEN, a haunting adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel. A powerful film whose influence can be seen in HUD (1963) and many other familiar productions, the film is masterfully directed by Elia Kazan.
Synopsis Background Awards
Pauline Kael Review:
An amazingly high-strung, feverishly poetic movie about Cain and Abel as American brothers living on a lettuce farm in California in the years just before the First World War. Elia Kazan directed this adaptation of Steinbeck's novel, and it's like seeing a series of teasers: violent moments and charged scenes without much coherence. As the romantic, alienated young hero, James Dean is decorated with all sorts of charming gaucheries; he's sensitive, defenseless, hurting. Maybe his father (Raymond Massey) doesn't love him, but the camera does, and we're supposed to; we're thrust into upsetting angles, caught in infatuated closeups, and prodded—"Look at all that beautiful desperation." When this Cain strikes his brother (Richard Davalos), the sound track amplifies the blow as if worlds were colliding; a short, heavy dose of Expressionism may be followed by a pastoral romp or an elaborate bit of Americana; an actor may suddenly assume a psychotic stance and another actor shatter a train window with his head. It's far from a dull movie, but it's certainly a very strange one; it's an enshrinement of the mixed-up kid. Here and in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, Dean seems to go just about as far as anybody can in acting misunderstood. With Julie Harris, who gives a memorably lyric performance, and Burl Ives, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Dekker, Lois Smith, Barbara Baxley, Timothy Carey, Jonathan Haze, Mario Siletti, Harold Gordon, Lonny Chapman, and Nick Dennis. Script by Paul Osborn; cinematography by Ted McCord; music by Leonard Rosenman. Warners. CinemaScope.
For a more extended discussion, see Pauline Kael's book I Lost it at the Movies.
Leonard Maltin Review: 4.0 stars out of 4
Emotionally overwhelming adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel about two brothers' rivalry for the love of their father; affects today's generation as much as those who witnessed Dean's starring debut. Van Fleet won Oscar as boys' mother. Screenplay by Paul Osborn. Remade as TV mini-series. CinemaScope.
Cain and Abel. Dean plays the neurotic son of a devoutly religious lettuce farmer, (Raymond Massey), whose vast acreage stretches through the rich Salinas Valley of California. Dean's twin brother (Richard Davalos, also making a powerful film debut) is well adjusted and upstanding, involved in a stable relationship with his girlfriend (Julie Harris) and diligently pursuing the development of his father's lands. Dean is his brother's opposite; troubled and troublesome, he challenges all authority, including his father's, and mistakenly believes that Davalos is the favored and beloved son while he has nothing. It is the Cain and Abel story, circa 1917, and the rush from stability to destruction and tragedy is swift, as Dean seeks to undo his brother and himself.
Family undone. To earn his father's blessing, Dean devises a scheme to plant special crops, while Massey banks on a new process of shipping his lettuce east, packing the cargo in ice. But the newly developed refrigeration process fails, and the ice melts before the train gets over the Sierra Mountains. The crop is ruined and Massey's fortunes nose-dive. So does his family life. Dean has discovered that his real mother (Jo Van Fleet), long a skeleton in the family closet, is not only alive but is a well-to-do madam operating a whorehouse in Monterey. Van Fleet advances Dean the money to produce the surprise crop to save his father's fortunes.
But when Dean goes to Massey to offer him money from his enterprise, Massey rejects the funds, considering them tainted. The ensuing confrontation causes Massey to suffer a paralyzing stroke. Full of anger, Dean leads Davalos to Van Fleet, which traumatizes Dean's twin. Davalos later gets drunk, joins the Army, and goes off to war full of hate. Harris, whom Dean has also managed to steal away from his brother, is left to deal with the self-destructive Dean. She has loved Davalos but is unable to conquer her sexual attraction to his dynamic twin.
Overnight sensation. All the principals give riveting performances, but it was Dean who emerged as an overnight sensation, despite his identification with a naturalistic style of acting. Dean instantly became a symbol and icon for America's disillusioned and disassociated youth; his fans and imitators became myriad, a cult following that lingered long after the actor's death in an auto accident a few years later at the tender age of twenty-four.
All the technical contributions in EAST OF EDEN are also superior, with Rosenman's score appropriately evocative—as nervous as the film's explosively energetic, star-crossed lead.
Van Fleet won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and the film was nominated for Best Actor (Dean, who lost to Ernest Borgnine for MARTY), Best Direction, and Best Screenplay.