Friday | July 31, 2009 7:00 pm

East of Eden

Screening on Film

Directed by Elia Kazan.
With James Dean, Julie Harris, Raymond Massey.
US, 1955, 35mm, color, 115 min.
Print source: Warner Bros.

Kazan worked closely with John Steinbeck to adapt his sweeping six-hundred page epic about two rival families in early 20th century Salinas, California, eventually distilling the story to the tortured relationship between a well-meaning patriarch and his two sons as they come of age and fall in love with the same winsome young woman. Featuring an unknown James Dean as the younger, awkward brother, East of Eden offers one of the 1950s' most memorable and harrowing portraits of familial discontent. Kazan's passion for the American landscape and history is made clear by the film's use of gorgeous, painterly landscapes and vivid period detail.