East of Rden was first made into a motion picture in 1955, It was as we all know (or should) the film that introduced us to James Dean,his mesmerizing performance will never be forgotten,or will it.
This 1955 production by Warner Bros.was only concerned with the last part of the sprawling 3 generation novel.
We now come to 1981, CBS decided to film the novel as a mini-series, so thusly we now have on 3 DVD discs 382 minutes of very good TV. The folks who saw this in 1981 had to suffer thru endless commercials.
It is now such a pleasure to see these fine mini-series without boring dull commercials ruining the fine dramatic moments we just witnessed.
As with most (if not all) mini-series there is an all star cast of current (for 1981) TV performers & stars of prior years.
This cast is headed by Jane Alexander as the conniving, bitchy,evil & rotten Kate. She won a well deserved Golden Globe for her efforts. . Two of the Bottoms family of brothers play father & son. Both Timothy (Adam) & Samuel (Cal) are excellent, Here is maybe a bit of sacrilege but I feel Sam Bottoms Cal was just as good if not better than James Dean's was in the Elia Kazan film. Sam seemed a bit more natural.
Next I must mention Soon Teck-Oh as Lee,a character not in the 1955 film. He was just magnificent & it is a role to admire .Karen Allen is Abra, she was & still is very pretty,.Hart Bochner is fine as Aron, Bruce Boindexter is Charles (Adam's brother) & is only in the first part of the series,. Warren Oates,Howard Duff,Lloyd Bridges, Wendall Burton,Richard Mazur & Anne Baxter are all excellent in other characters.
One more cast member of note. Timothy Carey is in both the original movie as Joe & as the Preacher in the this mini-series.
All the production elements are excellent This is a very worthwhile program considering there will be a new mini-series coming soon,
I forgot to mention the director & tele-script writer Harvey Hart & Richard Shapiro. High praise for both.
Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points(out of 100) IMDb 9(out of 10
This 1955 production by Warner Bros.was only concerned with the last part of the sprawling 3 generation novel.
We now come to 1981, CBS decided to film the novel as a mini-series, so thusly we now have on 3 DVD discs 382 minutes of very good TV. The folks who saw this in 1981 had to suffer thru endless commercials.
It is now such a pleasure to see these fine mini-series without boring dull commercials ruining the fine dramatic moments we just witnessed.
As with most (if not all) mini-series there is an all star cast of current (for 1981) TV performers & stars of prior years.
This cast is headed by Jane Alexander as the conniving, bitchy,evil & rotten Kate. She won a well deserved Golden Globe for her efforts. . Two of the Bottoms family of brothers play father & son. Both Timothy (Adam) & Samuel (Cal) are excellent, Here is maybe a bit of sacrilege but I feel Sam Bottoms Cal was just as good if not better than James Dean's was in the Elia Kazan film. Sam seemed a bit more natural.
Next I must mention Soon Teck-Oh as Lee,a character not in the 1955 film. He was just magnificent & it is a role to admire .Karen Allen is Abra, she was & still is very pretty,.Hart Bochner is fine as Aron, Bruce Boindexter is Charles (Adam's brother) & is only in the first part of the series,. Warren Oates,Howard Duff,Lloyd Bridges, Wendall Burton,Richard Mazur & Anne Baxter are all excellent in other characters.
One more cast member of note. Timothy Carey is in both the original movie as Joe & as the Preacher in the this mini-series.
All the production elements are excellent This is a very worthwhile program considering there will be a new mini-series coming soon,
I forgot to mention the director & tele-script writer Harvey Hart & Richard Shapiro. High praise for both.
Ratings: ***1/2 (out of 4) 95 points(out of 100) IMDb 9(out of 10