Top 50 Actors, #40 - James Dean: "East of Eden" (1955)

Movie Stats:
Released 1955 (USA)
American, in English
Director - Elia Kazan
Stars - James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris

Plot Summary:
Set in California during WWI, young Cal Trask (Dean) struggles to earn love and acceptance from his religious father Adam (Massey) after spending his life in the shadow of his “golden child” brother Aron (Richard Davalos). Harris co-stars as Aron’s girlfriend, Abra.

Warnings:
Minor violence; very minor gore.

Bad Stuff:
I found it a bit boring.

A lot of the acting is so overblown that it’s difficult not to have a little chuckle about it.

Aron is woefully underdeveloped. It’s been a long time since I’ve read the book, but I’m going to guess that he had better characterization in that medium.

Good Stuff:
While I didn’t care for his character, I thought Massey did a fantastic job of playing Adam, a man who is, in some ways, a great deal less righteous than he thinks he is.

It explores a couple of topics in a way that I really enjoyed: nature vs. nurture and fate/destiny. It asks the question: Is Cal destined to be the “bad one” because everyone believes he was born to be? I liked that even Cal himself spends most of the story uncertain of the answer to that.

I admire its openness in regards to a topic typically danced around in that era of film (prostitution), although I can’t say that it was particularly progressive about it.

About the Performance:
Not my favorite of Dean’s. I saw this film many years ago & remembered not being very fond of it (although I liked the book). I wasn’t keen to see it again, but I had no choice, as James Dean only starred in three feature films and I’ve reviewed the other two. Looking at his filmography, I see that his three films were released in this order: East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant. That’s also my exact order of how much I enjoy Dean, from least to most. IMO his craft improved with each film. Too bad we never got to see how much he could grow.

Other performances of Dean’s I’ve reviewed: Giant; Rebel Without a Cause.

The Verdict:
I honestly didn’t hate it. I definitely enjoyed the themes. I’m neutral about a lot of the other stuff: costuming, score, cinematography, etc. I think my problem with this film is that it assumes you’ve read the book/remember enough of it to cover the movie’s shortcomings. I wish Aron had gotten more screen time, in order to make his actions later in the film make more sense. Also, I wish Dean and Harris had dialed down the acting a notch or two.

I give it 3.25 stars.