Beautiful adaptation deserves restoration.
Added 12/27/2008
The full length miniseries does a good job of covering most of the novel. LLoyd Bridges is terrific, as is Richard Masur, and Sam Bottoms as Caleb. Karen Allen is very touching. Jane Seymour's Cathy is riveting. I've always liked Jane, but I did not know she was capable of his. The score is extremely beautiful. Sadly, this old VHS transfer is blurry and the sound is muddled. This truly deserves a dvd restoration.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Once you start, you can't stop
Added 10/8/2005
This 6-hour long tape is not going to stop once you press play. You might rewind for a few instant replays, but you won't be able to do anything until you finish watching.
I was skeptical at first, thinking this was going to be some romantic hogwash intended for women only. But low and behold, Steinbeck's fiction proved as superior as they say. Add to that the youthful Seymour, who'll leave you wanting to see more, and it's genuine entertainment. Today's TV shows pale in comparison.
Many of the characters deserve applause. The old well-digger, the feuding brothers, the philosophical Chinaman/pretend simpleton... they all mesh into quite a team. It's a memorable production, and first-rate drama.
11 out of 11 people found this helpful.
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The cast of East of Eden with Jane Seymour
Added 9/26/2005
It is too bad that Viacom can't see fit to put this video out on DVD and refresh it. The video tape version looks like the original has deteriorated and color faded. Fantastic mini-series though, very engaging and beautiful scenery. At least one scene from the original broadcast is left out, when the Jane Seymour character is young and kills her parents by fire in the barn, because they punished her for being sexually curious.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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GREAT movie
Added 9/4/2005
I loved this verison of East of Eden. J. Seymour was wonderful. I also watched the James Dean verison and although it was ok...the J. Seymour verison had lots of detail from the book which I enjoyed. I have recommended the 80's verison to several friends who have read the book.
6 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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It's not the James Dean version!
Added 1/30/2005
This made-for-tv version includes more of the original story than the James Dean version, but still excludes some of the autobiographical details of the Steinbeck family. At that, it's still six hours long! Jane Seymour has far too much fun playing the evil Cathy, and Timothy Bottoms does his best to be original, but has obviously been affected by Dean's acting of the role. What's nice about this version is that includes so much more of the Old Testament allegory, and, of course, the Chinese houseman, Lee. ("I'm a heathen, thank you.") Buy this if you're a Steinbeck freak, a Bible freak, or a film freak who wants to compare Dean's version. However, it is six hours long, so if you're not one of the above, don't spend the money or the time.
10 out of 11 people found this helpful.
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Seymore's Kate superb in best Steinbeck Eden rendition
Added 10/5/2009
I've lately been on a kick of reading the best American novels of the twentieth century,and I'd just read John Steinbeck's East of Eden. I'd also never seen the classic James Dean movie. I ordered it, but I also purchased a used copy of the 1981 mini-series version. I highly recommend the latter over the former. Not only does it tell the whole story rather than only the end, but you get to see Jane Seymore in what I believe was the best performance of her entire career. I've always appreciated her ravishing beauty and acting skill, but she portrayed Kate better than Steinbeck, if that's possible. Soon Tek Oh, a character actor with over 100 TV and film roles to his credit by now (Hawaii Five O, Mulan), also was superb as Lee, the Chinese manservant who holds a dysfunctional Anglo family together. And Karen Allen, later of Indiana Jones fame, was strangely cast but delightful as Abra. East of Eden, surely Steinbeck's greatest masterpiece, is a powerful story examining nurture vs. nature and reflecting on the Biblical "badness" vs. "goodness" theme with a post-modern sense ahead of its time.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Where's the DVD???????
Added 12/1/2008
this is FAR superior to the the original James Dean movie which only tells the second half of the book
don't we all deserve this on DVD???
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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East of Eden 1991 version
Added 10/14/2008
I was very disappointed with my purchase. I paid $41.00 for this video tape and when I viewed it, the reception was distractingly snowy. Also, the voices were somewhat muffled. All in all, this purchase was a total rip-off!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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