EAST OF EDEN (1954)

Cast

Plot

An atmospheric and emoptionally charged adaptation of Steinbeck's most powerful novel. Adam, the father of Cal and Aaron lives with the painful memory of having been deserted by the boys' mother, the only woman he ever loved. Having been told that their mother was dead, Cal's discovery that she is alive and running a brothel in Monterey sends him half mad. Obsessed with the fact that he inherited his badness from his mother, Cal grapples with notions of free will and the essential nature of good and evil. James Dean gives a fantastic performance as the disturbed Cal and his relationship with his father is convincingly portrayed. The biblical references offer a dramatic moral backdrop which is subsequently blurred as the complexities of the characters emerge. Highly recommended.