Dean’s lead debut, first archiveable film, first nom, and the only film that was released prior to his death in Sep 1955
First film for Kazan in color and widescreen
Trademark yellow sweater for Dean in every scene almost like his red jacket in Rebel Without a Cause
Cain and Abel via Steinbeck in Salinas (on location shooting- gorgeous) California—meditation on hypocrisy from father Raymond Massey
Dean is enchanting—method—apparently he even went so far as to provoke Massey (who did not like Dean he said during and after) off-screen to increase the intensity of the performance and the gulf/dynamic between the two
Like Rebel– troubled teen, tormented by parents/family relationship – debut for Jo Van Fleet (who is very good here- won best supporting actress)
Dean and Massey are two complex characters- I mean Massey is on the draft board and Dean is a war profiteer—it’s believable that he would be upset
Dean is such a gifted physical after—grabbing his hair (busy with his hands like Brando grabbing Eva Marie Saint’s glove in On the Waterfront– the way Dean slinks out of the back of the car
Dean has his trademark changes in volume of speaking—soft spoken and mumbling to almost over the top outpouring of emotion
Kazan’s triumphs are the train shot using widescreen, the gorgeous yellow flowers in the dialogue scene with Julie Harris (she’s on-point as well as far as the ensemble goes) and the greatest achievement of Kazan here is that he tilts the camera often- Dutch angles—it’s shocking- great art—once he does it to run parallel with Dean’s slouching elbow
Dean has a bunch of complex relationships in the film—he dotes on his father, jealous of perfect (Abel) brother, his best friend is Julie Harris— of course the mother—and Burl Ives is strong as the surprisingly sensitive sheriff
“brother’s keeper” line—the brother Richard Davalos (Aron) looks like dean in some scenes- under the tree of knowledge especially
Largely a melodrama, well-acted with the allegorical backdrop
[…] East of Eden – Kazan […]