Why So Blu?

East Of Eden (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

Warner Bros has been gifting us some of the catalog titles from its 100 year history in 2023 for said centennial anniversary celebration. We’ve seen the likes of James Dean already with Rebel Without A Cause’s debut on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. On August 1st, we’ll be receiving his breakout and Academy Award nominated performance in Elia Kazan’s East of Eden. The release only carries over the commentary from the previous releases, but does add a Dolby Atmos track. This will only be a 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray disc and a redeemable digital code. With the release of Giant last year, you now can own the James Dean trifecta in your collection. Pre-order a copy for yourself to have at or around release day by using the paid Amazon Associates link that follows the review at the bottom of this page.

Film

In the Salinas Valley in and around World War I, Cal Trask feels he must compete against overwhelming odds with his brother Aron for the love of their father Adam. Carl is frustrated at every turn, from his reaction to the war, to how to get ahead in business and in life, to how to relate to his estranged mother.

While East of Eden has remained notable for being one of the three major James Dean films, as well as the one he was nominated for a Best Actor award, there’s plenty more for it to be offered. Elia Kazan’s film is a big bold drama with very old west style grand location work. Its beautiful to behold the small town with a train passing through. Its big, its grand and has no problem not only showcasing its location but incorporating it into the film.

James Dean is surely the scene stealer here as his rebellious bad boy with a heart of gold persona takes off. He’s relatively a similar character in his next film, but this one came first. There’s  an honesty in his performance that just can’t be duplicate. A deep trouble brews within his character of Cal and you can see it in his stature as well as more obviously in the outbursts throughout the movie. What gels the film mostly is the chemistry he has with Julie Harris. Her character has to make a jump from brother to another in terms of emotional attachment, and you can genuinely see it gradually build throughout the film.

There’s a great soap opera and old west family drama baked into this Caine and Abel infused tale from Elia Kazan. East of Eden boasts its strengths in the performances and grand scale camera work to bring to life this tale of the feeling of neglect, betrayal and spite. There’s good drama that feels ageless and craft of its creators that still can draw attention and appreciation today. For a guy who only got in three major roles before he departed us here on Earth, James Dean sure picked ’em right and made them count.

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review are from promotional images provided by the studio, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC/H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.55:1

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail: East of Eden rocks a lovely new transfer here. The image is pretty crisp and clean, looking and moving in a filmic fashion. There’s a beautiful natural display of color here and the contrast of characters and the like against a nighttime scene or shadowy interior works wonderfully. Details shine through with plenty of fine information quite easy and impressive to make out as you watch.

Depth:  Depth of field is quite strong as it showcases the cinematography with grand scale and good spacing with wonderful pushback. Motion is cinematic and impeccable with its motion, not being hit with any blur or jitter during more rapid action.

Black Levels: Blacks are deep and natural with really good contrast to bring out colors. No information is lost and patterns/textures/finer information is impressive in the many dark shades on night scenes, shadows or dark surfaces.

Color Reproduction: Colors are natural but many of the fabrics with have a nice pop to them. Greens are lovely and browns showcase a good and boldness throughout varied shades.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish. Facial features and textures are easy to make out from any given distance in the frame.

Noise/Artifacts:  Clean

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, Original Theatrical English Mono 2.0 DTS-HD MA, French 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital, German 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital, Italian 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital, Spanish (Castilian) 2.0 Mono Dolby Digital, Spanish (Latin American) 2.0 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish (Castilian), Dutch, Spanish (Latin America), Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Dynamics: East of Eden getting an Atmos mix is certainly an interesting choice here. While it does give more room and space to the film, a lot of this hangs up front. The 2.0 probably would have been enough for this to be just as effective and maybe more suited to the movie. Nonetheless, this is a very balances mix with good depth and layering even if it lightly takes advantage of its entire space. The good news is, it doesn’t go overboard and is never phony in its additions or updates.

Height: From above you get some ambiance mostly and a few little lighter contributions.

Low Frequency Extension: The train and some more smashing noises get a little bump from the subwoofer.

Surround Sound Presentation: This is a mainly front heavy mix, but the rear and side channels do provide some ambiance and other unique contributions to give more space for the sound. Sound travel rolls with some decent power to travel in scenes requiring movement around the room.

Dialogue Reproduction: Vocals are clear and crisp.

Extras

East Of Eden comes with a redeemable digital code.

Audio Commentary

• by Richard Schickel

Summary

East of Eden kicks off the James Dean, troubled bad boy with a heart of gold image and carries us through a sweeping drama informed by a classic biblical tale.  It both looks and sounds pretty terrific on the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray format. The only downside is the loss of previous bonus features not carried over to the disc nor the digital version when the code is redeemed. Film collectors will want to pick it up but hold onto their standard Blu-ray copy for the features.

This is a paid Amazon Associates link