East Of Eden DVD (1955)

East Of Eden

1955

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

from 2071 members

This truncated screen version of John Steinbeck's best-seller was the first starring vehicle for explosive 1950s screen personality James Dean, who plays Cal Trask, the bad son of taciturn Salinas valley lettuce farmer Adam Trask (Raymond Massey). Although he means well, Cal can't stay out of trouble, nor is he able to match the esteem in which his father holds his good brother Aron (Richard Davalos). Only Aron's girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris) and kindly old sheriff Sam Burl Ives) can see the essential goodness in the troublesome Cal.When Adam invests in a chancy and wholly unsuccessful method of shipping his crops east, his wealth plummets. In an effort to save the business, Cal obtains money from his estranged mother (the proprietor of a whorehouse) and invests it in a risky new bean crop. The gamble pays off (thanks in no small part to the war), but Adam refuses to take the money from Cal, and the resultant quarrel causes Adam to have a stroke. Released the same year as Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden provided Dean with his first Oscar nomination, for Best Actor.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

East Of Eden details

Format:	PG DVD
Starring:	James Dean, Jo Van Fleet, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris
Director:	Elia Kazan
Genre:	Drama - General
Studio:	WARNER HOME VIDEO

DVD 1 disc & 1 bonus disc

Name	Discs
East Of Eden	PG Feature
East Of Eden - Bonus Features	PG Bonus

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 52 minutes
Rental release:	06 Jun 2005
Main languages:	English

Write your own review

Most helpful review East Of Eden

East of Eden

By a customer from North West UK , 19 Jul 2005

[Highly rated reviewer]

Oh god, first film I ever saw with James Dean and it was awful. Hardly stuck to the plot of the book, and jumped in to the middle of the story missing everything out that made the characters act in the way that they did.

Avoid at all costs, go and read the book.
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (13) Yes |
- No (3)
Report this review

All reviews

(22)

Sort by:

A bit too long.

By Kowalski (36 reviews) , 28 Apr 2013

I did enjoy this film, but I think it could have lost twenty minutes. The story is engaging, the performances are mostly good and the direction and soundtrack are impressive. The biblical metaphor that runs through the film works well, as does the treatment of the theme of free-will.
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (0)
Report this review
A shocker

By hammer99 (28 reviews) from Chelmsford , 17 Nov 2012

Any lover of Steinbeck's epic will almost certainly hate this film. It covers just the last third of the book and no character bears any resemblence to their depictions in the novel. The film is all about Cal but the book gives everyone equal billing and one of the main characters, Lee, is missing entirely from the celluloid version. Dean's performance may have have been fine for Rebel Without a Cause but totally out of place here. This film wasn't Elia Kazan's (McCarthy's snitch) biggest crime - but it sure comes close.
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (0)
Report this review
James Dean - what more can you say?

By pixie (238 reviews) from Redruth , 05 Sep 2012

What can you say about James Dean, such a talent and such a waste.

Very strange to see him set in an era at the beginning of the century. Set on the Cain and Abel story from the bible really but I did enjoy it.

Shame he only made 3 films
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (1)
Report this review
East of Eden

By a customer , 30 Jun 2011

This film was dull and boring; the acting was painful and the period features were laughable, especially James Dean's 1950's hairstyle and clothes in a period (supposedly 1917) film.
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (2)
Report this review
Poor adaptation of the novel

By JamesAndLauren (3 reviews) from UK , 09 Jan 2011

I found this to be a dull and superficial adaptation of East of Eden. Much of the depth and meaning of the novel seemed to be absent, leaving just a husk of the plot of the novel at the centre of the film.
- Was this review helpful to you?
- (0) Yes |
- No (0)
Report this review