Just 10 days ago, Warner Home Video released The Complete James Dean Collection, which of course really is "complete," containing the only three feature films the brooding icon lived to make. This September marks the 50th anniversary of Dean's death in a car accident that cemented his 24 year old visage in the minds of film fans and students for eternity. The collection includes two-disc special editions of Rebel Without a Cause, Giant and, finally out on DVD for the first time, East of Eden.
If you live in New York, Film Forum, as often is the case, is doing Warner Home Video one better. Over the course of the next two weeks, Film Forum will screen brand new 35 mm prints of all three of Dean's films starting today through next Thursday with Eden. (Rebel will screen for five days from 6/17-6/21, and Giant will show on 6/22 and 6/23.) Everyone should make it a point to see each of these titles on Film Forum's biggish screens, but if you can only make it to one, don't miss Eden.
Notable for being both Dean's first film and the only one actually released before his death, Elia Kazan's East of Eden also features Dean's best performance. Sure, Rebel is the one for which he's best known: that photo of Dean as Jim Stark in the Red Jacket transcended simple movie advertisement into full on pop culture art and symbolism, but it's his performance as Cal Trask – the "bad" brother in John Steinbeck's modern version of Cain & Abel -- that really established his persona as the troubled, petulant, impetuous youth for which he will always be remembered. But more important than just the persona or even the greatness of this film is the startling emergence of a gigantic talent unlike almost anything seen on film before or since. It's not that Dean was specifically the best actor, and certainly he has his more whiny moments that rub a lot of people the wrong way, sometimes even feeling somewhat forced. But Dean had the perfect combination acting chops and, as importantly, screen presence. It is completely impossible to take your eyes off of Dean when he's on screen. Whatever he's doing – a line or a short movement – he interacts with the camera effortlessly. It's why at only 24 and in just three films he was able to become as (and even more) notable a screen icon as many of the stars from his day to the present one.
And as soon as that's done, they'll move to Cambridge, MA, where The Brattle Theater will have East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause as a double feature from 24 June to 3 July, and Giant for 1 July to 3 July.
Posted by: Jay Seaver | Friday, June 10, 2005 at 01:25 PM