East of Eden

East of Eden (1955) is Elia Kazan's drama you can watch online on iFILM. In the Salinas Valley on the edge of the First World War, Cal Trask grows up certain his father loves his favored brother more, and that wound slowly twists him out of shape.

Cal keeps trying to earn the warmth he never gets: he chases money, digs into family secrets, and tracks down the mother everyone said was dead. James Dean plays him on raw nerve, all flinch and feral grace, never once smoothing the part down. This was Dean's first leading role and the one that turned him into the face of restless youth, with barely a year left to live once shooting wrapped. Around him stand Julie Harris, Raymond Massey as the rigid father, and Jo Van Fleet, whose performance here is what landed her the supporting-actress Oscar.

The screenplay lifts only the final third of John Steinbeck's novel, the stretch where the Cain-and-Abel story surfaces through one farming family's ordinary days. Kazan shot it in wide CinemaScope and lush color, unusual for a domestic drama of the time. If you want to understand why the fuss around Dean has never died down, start right here. Stream East of Eden (1955) online on iFILM.