East of Eden

It”s an iconic photograph: Dean walking down a rainy street in New York hunched in his wool coat, every inch the handsome tormented young man hiding his emotions. The photograph was published in April 1955 as part of a series shot by photographer Dennis Stock to chart Dean”s momentous rise to fame. The well-known image of Hollywood”s latest star partly resonated with Dean”s role of the rejected son in East of Eden.

East of Eden, a film in Cinemascope about the rivalry between two farmer”s sons in Salinas valley in California at the time of World War I, had just premiered in New York the month before. In carefully selected colours, Kazan highlighted the psychology of his characters locked in their own world. The lighting, ranging from dim to bright, also reflected the emotional state of the protagonists.

Dean died five months after the premiere as a result of a car accident at the age of 24. He was posthumously nominated for an Oscar for his role of Sal. Earlier, East of Eden had already won the Best Dramatic Film Award at Cannes. The restored American copy of East of Eden is now screened for a limited period with specially provided Dutch subtitles.