À l'est d'Eden

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.

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.

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 read the book, saw the mini-series, then viewed the James Dean version.

Simply put, the mini-series was hands down the better version. Beautifully filmed, intelligently written (keeping true to the novel) and impeccably cast, the mini-series is inspired stuff.

Every important aspect of the novel was captured. Timothy Bottoms and Bruce Boxleitner fleshed out their respective characters faithfully to those conceived by Steinbeck. But it is Jane Seymour's convincing portrayal, almost beyond description, of the evil Kate, that is the kind of thing movie legends are made. She made a believer out of me in a matter of a few frames.

Other standout performances include Warren Oates as the patriarch both boys rival to please and Lloyd Bridges as the ultra good father of the Hamilton clan.

Of the best mini-series prevalent around this time - Rich Man, Poor Man, Sho-Gun and East of Eden would rank in my top three, and not necessarily in that order.

Character development is set-up in the beginning of this film and brings understanding of both the good and bad sides of the essential characters. I viewed this film during its original airdate and have ever since considered it among my favorite mini-series. Jayne Seymour is fantastic! Bruce Boxleitner and Timothy Bottoms are perfectly cast as brotherly rivals.