La valle dell'Eden

I am a lover of classic movies. I'm in my 20s, but I've been watching them since I was little. I try not to fall for the "hype" of many of the classics (i.e. Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, East of Eden) until I've seen them for myself. Not that my opinion changes their status, but I think a lot of movies have a reputation and too many people are afraid to go against the grain of popular belief.

Anyways, this movie was on TCM this week and I finally got a chance to watch it. I've never read the book, so imagine my surprise when through the reviews and messageboard here, that this movie was only the last portion of the book. That probably explains why nothing in it made me sympathize with the characters. I thought the Cain/Abel theme might be intriguing, but frankly, this was a very boring and overdone movie. I have never understood the hype of James Dean (RIP). What I've seen of him has been hammish. Hammish actors unless it's completely intentional makes me cringe. Anyway, many people have addressed the storyline already, so I will only give my impressions. Maybe it's b/c I was born 30 years after the fact, but James Dean does not come off as a teenager. He comes off as an immature, whiny, self-absorbed young adult. I enjoyed him more in Giant (one of my favorites ever). I kept wanting to tell him to grow up, even at the end.

Now that I've seen it, I will probably never watch it again. The melodrama effect just didn't work for me. I prefer Brando and Newman as well.

I just reserved the book at my library so I can see what was missing.

James Dean died in September 1955, leaving behind him mystery, legacy… and eternal youth. Indeed, we'd never know what was eating that spirit torn between the tumultuous torments of young age and the realm of coming adulthood, but we know though that the tragically abrupt end to his lightning way to success turned, Dean into an instant icon. He'd be to youth what Marilyn Monroe was to glamour, John Wayne to Western and Hitchcock to thrills.

His first film, "East of Eden", moves in the same circle than "Rebel Without a Cause" but in the polar side. If Jim Stark in "Rebel" faced the emasculation of his father and drove his own self like a racing car that would ultimately crash into the wall of reality, Cal Trask's father doesn't quite lack authority but perhaps something more life-impacting: love. Cal Trask is like the counterpart of Jim Stark, the rebellion is the tool for the former, the end for the latter, and both are directed toward the father… or the authority figure. And are you surprised that the two names' anagrams are exactly the same? It's never about Stark or Trask, but about James Dean.

Dean inhabited his roles because they inhabited his life already. Dean had lost his mother at the age of nine and had no connection whatsoever with his father who worked in Los Angeles while he grew up in Indiana. In an especially poignant moment, facing the disapproval of his father, and the rejection of his gift, Cal tries to embrace him but his hands can barely reach his father's neck. It's physically painful to watch, but it gives us enough time to measure the desperation in Cal, facing the incapability to reach his father Adam, a farm-owner who didn't only plant lettuce in his grounds but also the seeds of his younger son's jealousy. He's played by the towering Raymond Massey.

Adam is a stiff man, who loves both God and his son Aron (Richard Cavados) but can't duplicate that feeling toward Cal. It is left open to interpretation whether Cal grew these awkward mannerisms and emotional secrecy from the lack of paternal love or whether Adam seemed to favor Aron because of his odd behavior. But there are two certitudes; Adam could only love Cal if he was like Aron. Interestingly, Massey didn't get along with Dean who kept on teasing him and improvising his lines, the clash between the old-school and the new generation drove an interesting feud that Kazan expertly exploited for the film. Cal couldn't be like Aron even if he tried, just like Dean.

But the awkwardness of Dean finally pays off in the terrifyingly poignant third act, in "Rebel" Dean incarnated a son who killed the father (symbolically) not to disappoint himself, in "Eden", it's the very fear of disappointment that drove Cal for most of the film, and many so-called rebellious kids where fearing disappointment like plague and only became rebels by rebelling from their own ties, once they realized the efforts would be fruitless. There is some Freudian parricide so to speak in "East of Eden", but the original 1952 novel, by John Steinbeck, is also a retelling of the story of Abel and Cain, it's also a brother's story with a rivalry caused by women. Starting with the most significant one: he Cal and Aron's mother, who fled from Adam's virtuous grip in Salinas and went to the 'east of Eden', in Monterey, a fishing port where she lead a successful brothel. She's played by Jo Van Fleet.

Obviously, Cal inherited that 'dark side' from Kate, but when she finally tells her story, we start to see goodness in her, or at least, attenuating circumstances, and through a mirror effect, in Cal too. And the well-meaning Adam becomes a Biblical tyrant who tried to mold everyone under his own vision of family, to the point of lying to his son Aron and telling her that she went to heaven. The other female player is Aron's fiancée Abra (Julie Harris). She's a respectful and optimist girl who had her deal of troubles in the past, enough to be able to see goodness in Cal when he tries to please his gather and jealousy in Aron's when he suspects some ill behavior from his brother. Abra could have cemented the family, but there are just too many conflicts to expect a happy ending.

Basically, envy, wrath, jealousy run in the family, and create many hellish situations paved by the best intentions, even the only money Cal can earn for his father will be deemed as dirty and unholy and will provoke the breakdown we all expected. Indeed, watching "East of Eden" is like knowing a ticking bomb will soon explode and the anticipation of a family meltdown is magnificently conveyed by the nervous, awkward but electrifying performance of James Dean. Elia Kazan contributed to cinema in many ways, but besides Brando who changed the face of acting, Dean was his best gift to the world. Dean was a newcomer, an unknown face, but when Kazan saw him and had a few exchanges, he knew Dean had Cal in him, he knew his life experience created that odd concoction of delicacy, shyness and rebellion.

Many critics found his acting weird, difficult to enjoy or too mimicking his then-idol Brando. But there's a lightness of being in Dean I can't find in the steaming passion of Brando, Dean still tries to fit in his environment, conveying an ahead-of-its-time brilliant embodiment of vulnerability, something new but that holds up very well today, and that Academy members were clairvoyant enough to notice, and give Dean the first posthumous nomination of Oscar history.

Unfortunately, "East of Eden" was the only film he could see released, by the time the two others came, he was history, and a legend.

In 1917, Monterey is a rough and tumble place. Cal Trask (James Dean)lives in the quiet neighboring farming community in the Salinas Valley. He doesn't get along with his father Adam (Raymond Massey). His brother Aron is the more liked especially by their father. He found out that his mother isn't dead but just left their family. He finds out that his mother is Kate (Jo Van Fleet) who runs a brothel in Monterey. He's a tortured soul who hates both his mother and his father but he's constantly trying to impress his father. Aron's girlfriend Abra (Julie Harris) grows more and more attracted to him. His father loses a lot of money when he tried to ship lettuce with ice on the train. He aims to recover the lost by growing beans for the war but he needs $5k which he borrows from a reluctant Kate.

It's a massive performance from James Dean. He's all emotions and no reservation. He's throwing everything into his character. There is an undirected energy about him as he flail away for his father's approval. I try and can only envision a bland unremakeable film without James Dean. He makes this movie unique and he's not overpowered by the scale of this Steinbeck novel.

James Dean plays Cal, a son of Adam Trask (Raymond Massey) who feels unloved and unwanted by his stern father, a situation not helped by Adam's apparent acceptance of Cal's brother... Cal suspects that his mother, long believed dead, is the madame of a local brothel, and when this is confirmed, the young man is convinced that he has found the reason why he is bad...

His awkward, unhelpful attempts to find himself and come to terms with his situation led young audiences to identify with him immediately, an identification that was compounded by his role in 'Rebel Without a Cause' where again, only with more violence, he rebelled against his middle class family...

The impact he had made on the anxious, unhappy youth of that time was confirmed as much by his death as by the style and abandon of his life..

Dean was a youth who rebelled against the riches of the American Dream, though he finally denounced it all in a reckless moment... Dean therefore embodied the confused attitudes of a generation who had never suffered through the Depression and rejected the acquisitive attitudes of their parents, while at the same time they hankered after the American Dream... Dean gave physical form to the perplexing confusion of ideals, that haunted the majority of postwar American youth...

"East of Eden", based on the novel by John Steinbeck, concerns an upright father (Raymond Massey) and his two sons: one whom he considers good (Richard Davalos) and another whom he considers bad (James Dean). The story is influenced by the biblical story of Cain & Abel while much of the film focuses on Dean's character striving to earn the love of his father.

The cast is a pretty good one. James Dean received a posthumous Oscar nomination for what was his first major film role. I think that his performance here is every bit as memorable as his work in "Rebel Without a Cause". Jo Van Fleet ended up winning an Oscar for her performance while Julie Harris also delivered a fine performance. Unfortunately, I found the performances of Richard Davalos & Raymond Massey too bland to stand out, especially in comparison to the other cast members.

Elia Kazan's direction was good enough to land a Best Director Oscar nomination but I don't think that the film looks quite as good as other films of his. The score by Leonard Rosenman is stirring and is showcased in an overture at the beginning of the film.

I would certainly recommend this film to anyone wanting to know what all the fuss is about James Dean. Even if you're not interested in him particularly, you'll likely find the story an enthralling one.