Focus: 1955 James Dean version of Steinbeck's East of Eden.

Be patient while the graphics load.

A picture can indeed be worth a thousand words.

And with a movie, the unspoken words can be just as interesting as the spoken words.

This is a scene of Cal with his brother's girlfriend. Keep in mind that this move was made in 1955 and is G rated.

The James Dean character Caleb is trying to get advice and help to make money to give to his father. He is motivated partly out of love and partly to try to buy his father's love. The older dude, Will Hamilton, he is trying to talk with has been in the gym exercising. To disrupt the exercise so he can talk with the man, he sets off a fire alarm and then swings down on a rope and catches Will before he exits the gym.

Caleb and Will Hamilton head for the locker room after he agrees to listen to Caleb. The conversation in the above scene says one thing, but the body language says something else if you catch my drift.

Talking with Will, Cal is told that he will need $5,000 for the project he has in mind. Cal has discovered that his mother is alive and runs a whore house. He goes to her and gets the money.

Movie Review: By Andy Gill

It seems odd to me that Nicholas Ray's 'Rebel Without A Cause' is the movie that everyone thinks of in association with James Dean, when 'East of Eden' is by far the better film in terms of acting, direction, cinematography and story line. What is also odd is how director Kazan created such a sensitive and compassionate movie with incredible depth of understanding when he regarded both James Dean and main character Cal as "self-pitying, self-dramatizing good-for-nothings". But then nothing about the phenomena surrounding James Dean makes sense, and so the underlying irony of this film, and the obvious tensions it brought to the production that enhanced the emotions onscreen, is perhaps to be merited.

Dean's first, and greatest, big screen outing is a masterpiece of intrigue, emotion and style, in which our heart breaks as often as the chief protagaonist's, misunderstood, unloved Cal. The tension between father-figure Massey and black-sheep Dean, reportedly a dislike that existed off-set and was exploited by Kazan, is a fully-realised element that is as powerful as it is heart-rending. Dean plays the archetypal rebel with much more soul than he would later bring to the role of Jim Stark, and our empathy with the character as he tries to win his father's affections despite knowing he is bad is what makes this movie so remarkable. With Cal we feel the hope and expectation, the suspense and anxiety, and with him we feel the hurt and confusion as good-natured brother Aron steals his father's love time and time again. I would defy anyone who claims that they can watch the scene in which Cal gives his father his birthday present without riding a rollercoaster of emotions that begin with longing, move through dejection, sink to tragically futile hope, and then end in bitter despair. It is perhaps one of the most powerful scenes of any Classical Hollywood film, and most certainly Dean's finest moment in his unfortunately short career.

Obviously, 'East of Eden' has to trim back from Steinbeck's far-reaching novel, but it is a tight, concise and infinitely moving adaptation. Dean's portrayal aside, the acting all round is incredibly strong; even minor characters who have perhaps a minute of screen time leave a lasting impression on the viewer. Added to this, an emotive score, an involving story, high-quality camerawork and stunning scenery set in and around the Salinas Valley area of California make 'East of Eden' something to be treasured, a work of immeasurable historical and emotional value, and a movie that truly lives up to the poignant and idealised James Dean legend.