East of Eden
Starring James Dean in his first major film role, Kazan's landmark work helped to define the young actor as the indelible "hero of adolescence" (Edgar Morin).
Concerns of youth, the resistance against conservative domesticity and the poetic simplicity of love are all beautifully rendered in a screenplay sensitively adapted from John Steinbeck's novel.
With Kazan's atmospheric mise en scène and Ted McCord's masterful use of CinemaScope, this is one of the defining films of its decade.
With Jo Van Fleet, Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Julie Harris and Richard Davalos.
