East of Eden

Name: East of Eden
Genre: Drama
Released: April 10, 1955
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 72
Cast: Albert Dekker, Burl Ives, Harold Gordon, James Dean, Jo Van Fleet

1955

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	Your Score
7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Ratings

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East Of Eden

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: April 10, 1955 | TV-PG

Starring: Albert Dekker, Burl Ives, Harold Gordon, James Dean, Jo Van Fleet, Julie Harris, Lois Smith, Nick Dennis, Raymond Massey, Richard Davalos

Summary: A wilful young man contends against his brother for the attention of their religious father while reconnecting with his estranged mother and falling for his brother's girlfriend.

Director: Elia Kazan

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: TV-PG

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

A powerful film whose influence can be seen in Hud and most other antihero films, East of Eden is masterfully directed by Kazan. All the principals give riveting performances, but it was Dean who emerged as an overnight sensation. Eden also features a quintessentially hardbitten performance from Van Fleet, who won an Oscar for her pains. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Powerfully somber dramatics have been captured from the pages of John Steinbeck's East of ed en and put on film by Elia Kazan. It is a tour de force for the director's penchant for hard-hitting forays with life. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Never in the history of movies was a film so absolutely enraptured by its subject than East of Eden is with Dean. The camera desperately records his every twist and turn of emotion as if preserving it were of the utmost importance. Read full review

Dave Kehr

John Steinbeck's painful biblical allegory—Genesis replayed in Monterey, California, circa 1917—is more palatable on the screen, thanks to the down-to-earth performances of James Dean as Cal/Cain and Richard Davalos as Aron/Abel. Read full review

Dan Callahan

Even viewers who acknowledge Kazan’s lack of visual imagination usually concede that nobody got better performances out of actors, but this last vestige of his reputation is in real need of examination. Read full review

Pauline Kael

It’s far from a dull movie, but it’s certainly a very strange one; it’s an enshrinement of the mixed-up kid. Here and in Rebel Without a Cause, Dean seems to go just about as far as anybody can in acting misunderstood. Read full review

Bosley Crowther

In short, there is energy and intensity but little clarity and emotion in this film. It is like a great, green iceberg: mammoth and imposing but very cold. Read full review

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User Reviews

Habibiehakim

Jul 24, 2021

It's not only James Dean but everybody's amazing performance that make East Of Eden incredible, it's a simple story but they make it more darker and it just way better than i expected to be, East Of Eden is a truly amazing film.

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alejandro970

Mar 3, 2023

I don't know the original book that served as the basis, but I would like to say that this film was one of those that made James Dean a legend, in the role of a young man who struggles to find his place in a puritanical society and, especially, in the heart from his strict father andI don't know the original book that served as the basis, but I would like to say that this film was one of those that made James Dean a legend, in the role of a young man who struggles to find his place in a puritanical society and, especially, in the heart from his strict father and estranged mother. A classic that does not show the years.… Expand

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FraJer212

Mar 21, 2021

Great movie that I enjoyed, a matter of pop culture because of Steinbeck and Dean. Acting is on point, story satisfiable, although left ambiguous.

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