East of Eden 1955 - Magnificent feature film debut of the iconic film star

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IMDB Rating: 8,0

Director: Elia Kazan
Main Cast: James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, Jo Van Fleet, Albert Dekker

"This truncated screen version of John Steinbeck's best-seller was the first starring vehicle for explosive 1950s screen personality James Dean. A grand, visually remarkable adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden was one of the films responsible for the cult that grew up around James Dean. Released in 1955, the same year as Dean's Rebel Without a Cause, Eden featured the actor in his sullen, troubled prime, rolling his eyes, mumbling his words, and stuffing his hands into his pockets as only he knew how. At once angry and vulnerable, Dean's performances in both movies established him as an icon of youthful discontent for decades to come. Aside from its place in the Dean iconography, East of Eden remains remarkable for Elia Kazan's use of CinemaScope, capturing with harsh vibrancy the expanse and breathtaking desolation of the California farmlands. The landscape crackles with a moody intensity that mirrors the conflicts among the film's central characters. In this respect, East of Eden earned its place in Hollywood legend: it featured great performances from its human principals, while the scenery gave a spellbinding performance in its own right. Released the same year as Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden provided Dean with his first Oscar nomination, for Best Actor. Among the movie's other stellar performances, Jo Van Fleet won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. " - www.allmovie.com

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On the waterfront 1954 - "I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody"

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IMDB Rating: 8,3

Director: Elia Kazan
Main Cast: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint

"Arguably the best movie ever released by Columbia Pictures and among the finest movies ever made in America, On the Waterfront's reputation has only grown across the decades since its release. Based on a series of articles about corruption on the New York/New Jersey docks, with a story and screenplay by Budd Schulberg (who also wrote a novel, Waterfront, to tell the story without the compromises necessary for the screenplay), the movie - directed by Elia Kazan - retains the feel of truth from the first frame to the last, down to the smallest nuances of the supporting players.
The acting in On the Waterfront has the aura of truth, and the decision to shoot on location in northern New Jersey gave the film the immediacy and realism of a documentary. Into that mix goes Leonard Bernstein's music (his only film score), which anticipates elements of West Side Story and, in its editing and mixing into the audio track, imparts a very subtle operatic quality to the otherwise hyper-realistic film. Just check out the interaction of the visuals and the music in the scene depicting the fight at the morning shape-up, especially the build up to the horn flourish at the moment when Terry's friend points out that he's fighting with Joey Doyle's sister. The film is an extraordinary mix of elements both coarse and refined - harsh realism and art at its most quietly elegant - in a coherent and compelling whole that still holds up more than a half century later.
Featuring Brando's famous 'I coulda been a contendah' speech, On the Waterfront has often been seen as an allegory of 'naming names' against suspected Communists during the anti-Communist investigations of the 1950s. Director Elia Kazan famously informed on suspected Communists before a government committee - unlike many of his colleagues, some of whom went to prison for refusing to 'name names' and many more of whom were blacklisted from working in the film industry for many years to come - and Budd Schulberg's screenplay has often been read as an elaborate defense of the informer's position.
On the Waterfront won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Brando, Best Supporting Actress for Saint, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Editing." - www.allmovie.com

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A streetcar named Desire 1951 - A milestone Hollywood work with Brando's star-making performance

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IMDB rating: 8,1

Director: Elia Kazan
Main Cast: Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden

"With the same director (Elia Kazan), a screenplay co-adapted by the playwright (Tennessee Williams), and three-quarters of the Broadway production's stars, A Streetcar Named Desire transcended 'filmed theater' to become a groundbreaking Hollywood work. Battling the stringent Production Code, Kazan and Williams made concessions concerning the 'perverse' sexual elements of Blanche DuBois' past, but they retained the crucial rape of 'delicate', old-fashioned Blanche by brutal, 'modern' Stanley Kowalski, earning the Code's approval for a film definitively aimed toward adults. Marlon Brando's star-making performance as the 'Stella'-howling Stanley burned itself into popular consciousness with its combination of carnality and Method-acting 'naturalness', establishing Brando as the premier purveyor of the then-innovative Method acting style and a striking erotic presence. The more traditional Vivien Leigh, replacing Broadway's Jessica Tandy, similarly flourished as Blanche, while the Oscar-winning art direction, Harry Stradling's photography, and Alex North's moody, influential jazz score enhanced the hothouse atmosphere. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars, including Best Picture, and took home awards for Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter, though Brando lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen." - www.allmovie.com

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A tree grows in Brooklyn 1945 - A deeply moving coming-of-age drama

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IMDB rating: 8,2

Director: Elia Kazan
Main Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell, James Dunn, Lloyd Nolan, James Gleason, Ted Donaldson, Peggy Ann Garner

"Based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith, the film relates the trials and tribulations of a turn-of-the-century Brooklyn tenement family. A tree grows in Brooklyn is a prototypical 'family values' film. Its coming-of-age motifs were perfectly suited for 1945 audiences looking for reassurance that American ideals would survive the tumult of World War II and the challenge of Communism.The performances are first-rate, particularly one-time movie song-and-dance man James Dunn who won an Academy Award for his 'comeback' performance, and Peggy Ann Garner, who won a special Oscar as 'Most Promising Juvenile Performer'. Dorothy McGuire provides a steady centerpiece, and the film is also a splendid recreation of New York circa 1900. A Tree Grows From Brooklyn was remade for TV in 1974, and also served as the basis of a Broadway musical." - www.allmovie.com

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