This is the only major movie James Dean lived to see in which he had acted--too bad he didn't show up to the premier. Within months of the debut he'd be dead--and never see the success he'd attain in "Giant" or "Rebel Without a Cause".

Dean is THE star of this film--a troubled young man who just assumes he's 'bad'. The reason for it, he discovers, might be because his dead mother is NOT dead but alive--alive and working in a brothel! This is a huge contrast to his father and 'good' brother and pious father. The father (Raymond Massey) doesn't understand Dean and there is a huge gulf between them. Some of it clearly is because the father is filled with self-righteousness--a self-righteousness that makes it hard to connect with mere mortals. Oddly, although he's seen as the bad boy, Dean tries again and again to do right and make his father proud--in many ways he really is the good son because he tries so very hard to gain his father's approval. How can all this get sorted out and what about the relationship between the two amazingly different brothers? Tune in to this excellent film--which is, believe it or not, a highly unusual reworking of the Biblical story of Cain and Abel--and Steinbeck seems to strongly favor the under-dog, Cain! Excellent acting, a nice script and a sense that this is something different from Hollywood all make this a film you won't want to miss.

OK, the book is a masterpiece, very layered and beautifully and intelligently written with complex characters and plenty of emotional wallop. It is a very wordy and sometimes sprawling book as well as a long one, so when it comes to be adapted things will be missed out. The film may not the greatest of adaptations, it's not as complex, Kate and Aron are far more interesting in the book(Aron could be seen as the driving force and Kate is not a plot device) and there's the omission of Lee(the one that could be seen as the character who links everything together). Despite all that though, as a film on its own- which is a much fairer way to judge because book and film are two different mediums, there are plenty of films that are not good adaptations but are great films- East of Eden is still a great film and a powerful one too. With the only flaw for me being the occasionally heavy handed direction with an over-reliance of camera tilts, sure they are deliberate choices to show the character contrasts and how distorted the relationship with Cal and his father has become but there were parts where the technique technique wasn't needed like at the dinner table. Timothy Carey's voice not sounding like Timothy Carey is a touch jarring, but not enough to be a flaw. Kazan's direction is mostly fine though and East of Eden is a wonderfully-made film, sumptuous in colour and brilliantly shot(excepting a few of the tilted camera shots),especially in the poppy field which hasn't aged a jot and actually looks as though it was shot outdoors. Some of it is clever too like with Dean standing in the doorway, the shadow that you see very symbolic of how twisted and vengeful Cal is by this point. Leonard Rosenman's score is very lush-sounding with a very sophisticated vibe, enhancing the mood in every scene beautifully. East of Eden is very intelligently written if wordy like in the book and the story is still compelling and powerful, the ending and Cal giving his father the money and his father rejecting it are heart-breaking scenes. A lot of the details from the book may not be there but the spirit and the meaning of it are. The characters drive the film very well and are interesting, especially Cal who is a very tormented character who we do feel lots of empathy for. And the acting is great, Julie Harris may be too mature but her performance is still full of innocence and compassion, Burl Ives is a charming presence, Jo Van Fleet makes Kate very memorable and layered despite her quite short screen time, Raymond Massey is perfect as the at times controlling father and Richard Davalos' screen debut is a wonderful one, you hate him at first but in the climatic scene for instance you do feel empathy for him. But the best performance does come from James Dean who is superb and the emotional power of his performance really hit home with me. His role in Rebel Without a Cause may be more iconic(and for good reason) but his role as Cal is played with more depth I feel. Overall, as an adaptation East of Eden may not be great and will leave fans wanting but as a film it is truly excellent with a lot of powerful things. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The first film of the James Dean trilogy that established him as the once and forever spokesperson of male youth in angst is East of Eden. It's a novel by John Steinbeck telling of the California of Steinbeck's youth in the years just before World War I.

It's the story of two brothers brought up by a self righteous father, one of whom is the apple of his eye and the other a complete screwup who can't get anything right. Sounds a lot like Cain and Abel, doesn't it?

In Genesis it really doesn't go into why Abel was so favored by God as opposed to Cain. The only thing it says is about their occupations and presumably tending sheep is a better thing to do on the social scale than working with iron. God seems kind of arbitrary there as is the father Raymond Massey who's not named 'Adam' Trask for nothing.

James Dean is the bad son named Caleb or Cal for short and Dick Davalos is the good son named Aaron. Davalos even aspires to the ministry, a calling no doubt Massey might have enjoyed. He's raised the two without a mother and he's told them she's dead.

But Dean finds out different, she's not only alive, but is the prosperous madam of a bordello in nearby Monterey. Dean looks her up and saves his news for Davalos at a time when he's vulnerable.

Like God seeming to arbitrarily and capriciously preferring Abel to Cain, Massey just favors this one son versus the other. Dean knows this on some level and it eats him alive.

Julie Harris has a good role in the film as the fiancé of Davalos who gets more and more drawn to Dean as the film progresses. I very much liked Burl Ives who has the role of sheriff and who really functions as the audience's eyes and ears in East of Eden. It's his perspective from where the film is drawn. He has Massey down just about right, as a good man and a good friend, in many ways just too good and not real into the ways of the world.

In Genesis God ordered Adam and Eve from paradise, but in East of Eden it's Adam who kicks Eve out. The mother is played by Jo Van Fleet who won a Best Supporting Actress Award that year. The confrontation scene with Dean and Davalos is unforgettable.

James Dean was nominated for Best Actor in fact his was the first posthumous nomination given in any of the acting categories. He lost to Ernest Borgnine for Marty. Incredibly enough his last two films were both released after his death on September 29, 1955. It made the tragedy of a promising young star's death into 20th century legend.

I'm not sure why Dick Davalos did not receive equal acclaim for his part as James Dean did. As the chip off the old Massey self righteous block it's far from a one dimensional portrayal. Davalos feels it almost his mission in life to reflect father in every way possible.

The Steinbeck novel was much cut down, there's half the book which explains how the Trask family got to where it is that's completely missing and some more into the future to explain what happens to all of them. Still there's more than enough here and the salient parts of the story and the characters are not missed.