East of Eden (****)
review by Jon Waterman

Troubled youth Cal just wants to be accepted. His mother disowned him and the rest of the family when she left to become a madam in a nearby town. His brother grows weary of the close friendship that has formed between his fiancée and Cal. His father seems to disapprove of everything Cal does no matter how good his intentions may be. It’s all starting to build up. Will Cal ever find the love and affection he needs to survive?

Director Elia Kazan does a phenomenal job with this film. It’s truly cinematic in every sense of the word. He captures the moods and emotions well through the canted angles during conversations with the father, the pivoted swing shot, shots of Cal riding on top of a moving train, the fun house mirrors shot, and hiding the characters underneath the tree during a key emotional moment. The movie is a beautiful sight. The lighting is darker and moodier than what audiences are used to seeing. Cinematographer Ted McCord gives us an interesting mix of centered composition along with dividing the frame into thirds. There are a lot of lingering, one-perspective shots that would never be used in contemporary films, but those shots carry the weight and emotion and pacing of the scenes extremely well.

The most interesting aspect of the movie was the character of Cal and the environment surrounding him. What seems to make him the “troubled youth” is that he goes about doing things the wrong way. For instance, he steals a chute so that the lettuce from his dad’s business can be loaded up onto the train faster. It’s a good idea, but with a little bit of mixed morality. I found it interesting that he always wore white. If you think about a troubled youth of today, you’d find them completely ignoring the family and sometimes even trying to sabotage them. Cal sometimes acts like he doesn’t care, but he cares more than most people, He doesn’t take the love of another person for granted, because he hasn’t been shown that love. Instead, everyone calls him crazy for trying to do well. The film does well to follow only his perspective throughout.

Perhaps what makes the character so interesting is the performance by James Dean. All of the actors were very good, but Dean is outstanding. He exudes awkwardness. His nervous, shy mannerisms make him a lovable character and you truly feel like he’s just misunderstood. Dean does a wonderful job of slowly building the character to the point he reaches at the end. Since he was nearly always on camera, he needed to carry the movie. This turned out to be no problem at all. It was a very powerful and timeless performance.

I was amazed that so much happens without any real subplots. There’s not a time when we switch over and follow another person’s story for a while. Everything that occurs is from Cal’s point of view. Yet the story is extremely full of events and the supporting cast gets fleshed out nicely.

If I have any complaint about the film, it’s that the music doesn’t always fit. Bringing the piccolo in when the mood should be a somber one didn’t quite work for me. Other than a couple of unusual musical cues, the film is astonishing. It’s a great story of a young man, struggling with good versus bad, on a quest of self-discovery through others. Great acting, a great story and great visuals produce a great film that is not to be missed.

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