The James Dean Story (1957)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Directors:

Robert Altman
George W. George

Writer:

Stewart Stern (written by)

Release Date:

30 December 1957 (Sweden)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Plot:

This documentary, which was undertaken soon after James Dean's death, looks at Dean's life through the use of still photographs with narration...

Plot Keywords:

Narration | Part Animation | Actor | Character Name In Title

Cast

Martin Gabel	...	Narrator (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Dean	...	Himself ('East of Eden' screen test footage) (archive footage)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Fairmount, Indiana, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Originally conceived as a biographical film. Elvis Presley lobbied to play Dean, but the decision was made to make a documentary instead.

Movie Connections:

References The Wild One (1953)

Soundtrack:

Let me be loved

Mediocre documentary of Dean's life

This 1957 documentary was thrown together to capitalize on the Dean legend and hopefully cash in on it. Out of luck - even Dean's ardent fans avoided this turkey. Using still photography and a morose narrator, Martin Gabel, this contains little useful information not already known about Dean. Interviews with family and neighbors back home shed little light - they are so terminally dull and brimming with flat affect, one is astonished that Dean's fluidity of expression and sensitivity grew out of this environment. Of some value is an outtake from EAST OF EDEN (presented here in dimly lit black and white) between Dean and Davalos. It's a gruelling 82 minutes.