East of Eden

One of the most brilliant film I have ever seen. It captures the two sides that every living person have within themselves.

One dark ugly side and another good one, and the battle between them... Jane Seymore acting as the wicked mother who only lives for taken advantage of others including her sons, who does not know who she is. Bruce Boxlaitner (from the family Maccahan) also do a very good acting performance in playing the evil brother who only tries to get his fathers approval. I await the moment when this movie is put out on DVD - then I will get it as quick as ever possible.

I saw this film on television some years ago, and I can't forget it....

A sure 10 pointer ++

With all due respect to the James Dean classic, that fine work only took in roughly 1/3 of the novel. The 1981 TV miniseries is a great example of how to transfer a literary work onto film.The writers managed to keep all the main characters, most of the secondary ones, and keep true to the story too....no small feat. The cast was impeccably chosen--they looked and acted just as they were written. (A curious exception: Kate and Aaron--described as fair and blonde in the book--and Cal--dark and somber--were physically just the opposite in Jane Seymour, Hart Bochner and Sam Bottoms)....but why nitpick? Their performances make THAT inconsequential. Miss Seymour will probably be best remembered as Dr. Michaela Quinn, or as TV-movie royalty, but her performance as Kate should be the standout---she walked right out of the pages of the novel. She's electric in her scenes with Bruce Boxleitner, who is excellent as kindred spirit Charles Trask. And when with her husband (Timothy Bottoms, restrained and aloof, just as Adam was written)she does the spectrum, from loving innocence to the incarnation of evil. A must-see for anyone who's ever read the book--SEE IT. You won't be sorry.

I have to say that I loved the book and was not impressed by the earlier movie with James Dean because I didn't think it did justice to the storyline of the book.

This miniseries follows the book fairly faithfully, the way it was written. I do seem to remember Sam Hamilton's wife being more fleshed out in the book, though. I also liked the scenery, sets, and other production items of this series.

There were times, though, were the acting made me cringe. For one, when Cathy was being beat up, it was obvious that the fists missed her by a mile. I did think that Soon-Tek Oh did a fantastic job as Lee and Jane Seymour did a great job as Cathy/Kate.

One thing that I felt should be improved is in make-up. They could have done a little more to show the characters aging. For example, they could have at least made Adam's and Kate's hair appear more gray as they aged. Afterall, they were in their sixties at the end of the story. And, they could have done more to Kate's hands to make her arthritis seem more convincing.

We all know the '55 version with James Dean, which is based (loosely) on the epic novel by John Steinbeck. The three major films of James Dean were destined to become cult classics because Dean and his tragic early death lends itself to cultism. But, Dean's East of Eden was Hollywood and hardly Steinbeck. Not to slam it as it was a fine film-- but not Steinbeck. This miniseries utilizing the skills of the Bottoms Brothers and a fine cast-- Jane Seymour is superb. The epic unfolds with the biblical story of betrayal, fratricide, envy and passion found in the book of Genesis. Steinbeck's books in his California period are sweeping epics that cross generations, sprout archetypes and are a wealth of discovery for the reader. Alas, his later works, in comparison, disappoint. But, East of Eden, which with its classic epic mate, The Grapes of Wrath, bring to light a struggle and conflict inherent in the human condition. This is no slight challenge to bring to the screen and it takes the length of a mini-series to do it justice. The saga of the Trask family becomes not only the tale of the fall from grace we all know from our Judeo-Christian tradition but the conflict that is part of all of us. Wrought with deceit, pain, misunderstanding and misjudgement, it is a tale of redemption, forgiving and hope. This is one of the best mini-series I've ever come across and for one that hates TV to sit with eyes glued to the screen from beginning to conclusion, it had to be good. Alas, no video or DVD. Watch for it on reruns.

This was produced during ABC's Golden Age of great miniseries, which began with Roots and ended with War and Rememberance. But, IMHO this was the apex of their efforts. "East of Eden" is storytelling on the grandest scale possible, an epic tale of multigenerational sibling rivalry that covers decades, and thousands of miles of American terrain. Yet, it still retains the intimacy of family relationships as the Trask family is cursed to repeat the lessons of Genesis time and again. The film is chock-full of amazing performance, especially from Timothy Bottoms who is more than up to the Herculean task of portraying Adam Trask over a lifetime, from a weak-willed teenager to a pillar of his community and from Soon Tek-Oh who is able to take the stereotype of the pigdin-speaking Chinese houseboy and turn it on its ear. But this adaptation surely belongs to Jane Seymour. She gives a mesmerizing performance that not only rivals Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, but surpasses it; It is my all-time favorite performance by an actress in any medium. She was one of the greatest actresses of the latter half of the 20th Century, you will be quite amazed if your point of reference for her is only Dr. Quinn! Do try and find the uncut version of this film-it is well-worth your time.