James Dean: The Complete James Dean Collection [DVD] [2005]

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The only three films the iconic 1950s film star James Dean made before his untimely death at the age of 24. 'East of Eden' (1955), Elia Kazan's classic adaptation of Steinbeck's novel, is set in a small farming valley in California in 1917. Two brothers rival for the love of their stern, over-bearing, widowed her. However, when Cal (Dean), the rejected 'rebel' son, discovers that his mother is not dead but running a nearby brothel, he decides to tell his brother, Aron (Richard Avalos). This spiteful decision soon leads to the destruction of Cal's relationship with Aron, who in a drunken frenzy runs off to enlist in an army unit being shipped overseas to the battlefields of France. Unable to bear the loss of his favourite son, Cal's pacifist her (Raymond Massey) breaks down completely. Nicholas Ray's juvenile-delinquent film 'Rebel Without a Cause' (1955), originally intended as a vehicle for Marlon Brando, opened soon after the death of James Dean in a car c - and promptly made Dean into an icon of rebellion. The storyline takes place over a 24-hour period and follows Jim Stark (Dean), a restless teenager always in trouble with the law. His mother smothers him, while his her is weak and ineffectual, and the family has only recently moved to Los Angeles to try and save Jim from a life of crime. When Jim is picked up for being drunk and disorderly he notices Judy (Natalie Wood) at the station and determines to ask her on a date at high school the next day. This leads him into conflict with Judy's boyfriend, Buzz (Corey Allen). He is determined to prove himself with his newfound 'friends' by taking part in switchblade fights and a 'chickie' game in which cars race to the edge of a seaside cliff. 'Giant' (1956) is an epic saga which begins whenTexas cattle baron Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) takes a non-Texan wife, Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor). The story then traces two generations of his family, alongside the life of disreputable ranch-hand Jett Rink (Dean), who strikes it rich on an oil well and falls in love with Leslie. Director George Stevens won an O for his work, and the film garnered nine more nominations, including one for James Dean, who died soon after filming was completed.