East of Eden (PG) - Review
"South of Steinbeck"
"South of Steinbeck"
One of John Steinbeck's seminal (and longest) novels gets eroded into a Hollywood sized chunk in Elias Kazan's acclaimed adaptation. Twin motherless brothers with a competitive streak, one mischievous the other scholarly, fight over the affections of their father and a young lady in the early 1900s Salinas Valley. When the truth of their mother comes to troubled Cal, it may rip their family apart.
A bare ghost of the source novel, with much of the humor and black despair removed, East of Eden instead becomes a showpiece for emerging star James Dean to whimper and pose for Kazan's gorgeously shot scenes. Gone is the insightful Chinese friend, the family history, the mother's true black intentions. Getting the Hollywood Classic firmly stitched onto its sleeve, East of Eden woodenly strips nearly everything the novel intended, articulating whats left with empty posturing in front of lovely backdrops devoid of real life.
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