Review of East of Eden (1955) by Javier D — 01 Jul 2012

Good adaptation by Elia Kazan of John Steinbeck's classic novel. Lavish production and decent story, though initially struggles to get going. Plot does drift from time to time, and there are some discontinuities between scenes.

I have always thought that James Dean was vastly over-rated, and this confirmed that suspicion. He is responsible for the movie starting badly, with an irritating performance in the opening few scenes. He gets better, but it always appears that he is over-acting: the performance doesn't feel entirely natural and isn't 100% convincing.

Remaining performances are OK. Jo van Fleet won the 1956 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Kate.