East of Eden

United States, 1954

Film
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It is 1917, just before the United States’ entry into World War I and two brothers are graduating from High School at a time of great social change. James Dean gives a powerful performance as Cal, rebelling against his farmer father and slowly coming to grips with the secrets and betrayals his family have kept from him. Using biblical metaphors and Freudian symbolism Kazan delivers a hard-hitting and emotionally intense drama based on the latter half of John Steinbeck’s novel. Though Dean’s performance as the psychologically scarred son stands out, other performers such as Burl Ives, Julie Harris and Jo Van Fleet are equally fine.

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

producer/director

Elia Kazan

production company

Warner Bros Pictures

Duration

01:50:00:00

Production places
United States
Production dates
1954

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302743

Language

English

Audience classification

PG

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q1129778

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

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If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81636--east-of-eden/ |title=East of Eden |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=14 November 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}