East of Eden

The first of James Dean’s three movies, and the one tha catapulted him to celebrity, securing his plac ein Hollywood firmament. Type-cast from the start, Dean plays the troubled adolescent, Cal Trask at odds with his father and brother in this treatment of part of John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name. Dean’s display of ‘method acting’ under Elia Kazan’s assured direction lays the foundation for his more contemporary persona in a Rebel Without a Cause, but the movie still holds up in its epic scale and intesity.