One day, my attention turned to Elia Kazan’s East of Paradise, a very free and I would say partial adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1955 novel. I read the book, but I wasn’t sure about the movie. As a result of watching it, I found out that I still didn’t look at it, but I can’t say that I was very happy with the film, I expected more.
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One day, my attention turned to Elia Kazan’s East of Paradise, a very free and I would say partial adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1955 novel. I read the book, but I wasn’t sure about the movie. As a result of watching it, I found out that I still didn’t look at it, but I can’t say that I was very happy with the film, I expected more. The story shown in the film, although significantly different from the book, of course, in fact very heartwarming, but the incarnation I was not very satisfied and not only because of the free treatment of the book. Two guys live together with his father, who seems to be a good person, but in business is not particularly successful, he is constantly unlucky. One of the guys Caleb - a kind of bad boy, he is played by the promising James Dean, who died in the year of the release of this film in a car accident at the age of 24, learns that his mother, whom he and his brother believed to be dead, is actually alive and well. He suffers from dislike of his father, who gives a clear preference to his brother Aron, who is considered in all respects positive. In the end, he seems to find a way to do something good for his father, but alas, his father rejects his gift. Then there are some events and actions, as a result of which the brother goes to the front, and the father is struck by a stroke. The end, while dramatic, offers little hope for a relatively good outcome in their relationship. What didn't suit me? Although the film is considered a good classic, but it already looks somewhat outdated in its techniques, you feel some playfulness and theatricality, which at that time was often met, but is not perceived by me as successful techniques. James Dean among them looks, by the way, the most organic in his role, he was posthumously nominated for an Oscar, this is kind of the only such case. And I didn’t like the musical accompaniment, it seemed to me quite heavy.
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