East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

The story of Left Hand.

Following Giant and Rebel Without a Cause, Warner Bros. finally completes their backwards hat trick of films starring James Dean by offering Elia Kazan's East of Eden on 4K. Having previously been released on Blu-ray as both a stand-alone Blu-ray (later re-issued in keepcase packaging and as part of the more expansive James Dean Collector's Set), its new 2160p/HDR10 transfer predictably tightens up the visuals but continues WB's war against Blu-rays and the legacy bonus features that come with them. In short: this one's worth owning, but keep your old discs too.

East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots were sourced from our review of the 2013 Blu-ray, which is not included.

East of Eden has always been a somewhat unusual looking film, one with off-balance and skewed camera angles during key scenes -- Cal's extremely uncomfortable dining-room conversation with his ultra-religious father Adam immediately comes to find -- and extremely strict blocking, some of it the direct result of director Elia Kazan and cinematographer Ted D. McCord working out the kinks of ultra-wide 2.55:1 Cinemascope, a format still in its infancy during the mid-50s. As such, a number of scenes will require some visual adjustment on the viewer's behalf, including many camera pans (an early moment with Cal walking near train tracks, for example) that look noticeably stretched and distorted at the edges from the anamorphic lens, almost like a subtle variant of the "fisheye" effect. These elements make East of Eden more visually peculiar than most dramas, yet all were purposeful or byproducts of the source material.

But much like Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, East of Eden looks quite healthy on 4K UHD thanks to Warner Bros.' new 2160p, HDR-enhanced transfer, one that doesn't proportionately catapult over the already-solid 2013 Blu-ray presentation -- which was itself sourced from a then-new 4K scan, if I remember correctly -- but nonetheless benefits from a few appreciated refinements. A lack of specific detail on the studio's recent press release, indicating that the film has been simply "restored by Warner Bros.", suggests that the original Technicolor negative was likely not given a fresh scan, with quick-and-dirty comparisons between this and the older Blu-ray supporting that theory. Image detail and textures are certainly tighter overall, likely due more to the native resolution boost (and, of course, better encoding afforded by the more efficient HEVC codec and higher 4K storage capacity) than anything else, but in any case these base-level improvements should certainly be noticeable on medium to large-sized displays.

Color gets a more noticeable upgrade, with most of its newfound strength coming courtesy of the new HDR pass that livens up some of East of Eden's brownish and earth-toned hues (which, to be fair, have long been associated with WarnerColor), but thankfully there are no perceivable signs of oversaturation or, worse yet, revisionism. Costumes and background elements benefit the most (blooming flowers, signs, etc.), with warmer flesh tones now standing out a bit more strongly against dark and cool environments while again staying accurate to the source. Likewise, overall contrast levels are more refined this time around, contributing to a greater sense of depth between darker blacks -- which don't dig especially deep by design -- and brilliant whites, with no apparent compression issues save for trace amounts of posterization on some of the more "dupey"-looking shots. (Color shifting during the film's frequent optical transitions can still be seen, but certainly not to a distracting degree.) All told, it offers a nice step up from the earlier Blu-ray edition, but perhaps not one that screams "immediate upgrade" for those with more modest setups.

East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I was never a massive fan of Warner Bros.' 5.1 remix (presumably created from original multi-track elements) that debuted on DVD and continued through the 2013 Blu-ray, and I'm equally kind of torn on the Dolby Atmos track that takes its place here. There's decent use of spare panning and discrete effects but it rarely sounds all that convincing; more showy than appropriate, if that makes sense. Dialogue remains mostly crisp and perhaps is the only improved facet of this attempted wider soundstage, enjoying a slightly warmer and more dynamic presence than the one-track original. Everything else about this remix is simply fine to good at best, and some of its more overtly-mixed surround elements are a step backwards in my opinion. Yet if you liked the 5.1 remix I imagine you'll disagree, and perhaps find this default Atmos mix a slightly more refined and thus acceptable variant of what came before.

Of course, any reservations about East of Eden's remixed audio are null and void if you take the purist route, as this 4K release thankfully reinstates a long-absent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that presumably represents East of Eden's theatrical audio formatting. It doesn't appear to be a downmix, for those wondering; it's a relatively straight-laced two-channel presentation with a good, front-forward presence and clear panning, just obviously without the surround bells and whistles which, in my opinion, it doesn't really need. Dialogue remains clean and crisp, but without a few traces of echo that occasionally lived up conversations in larger locations, while the original score also comes through clearly without fighting for attention. This is my preferred pick of the two but, as always, the choice is appreciated.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH) are offered during the main feature only.

East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase and, like Giant, does not include a slipcover or a Blu-ray copy of the film. As such, all but one of the legacy Blu-ray bonus features is missing, which is extremely disappointing.

• Audio Commentary - This DVD-era track by critic Richard Schickel is so-so at best, offering insights about the film's production, impact, cast, and legacy. Most of the information, however, was already detailed in some of those legacy supplements, so only newcomers will likely learn more than a few trivial tidbits. In any case, it's sorely lacking as a stand-alone tribute to the film, which makes that missing Blu-ray sting all the more.

East of Eden 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

East of Eden was home to several landmarks: it was director Elia Kazan's first time working in color and CinemaScope, his last adaptation of a John Steinbeck novel, and of course marked the major debut of several future stars, including James Dean. It's a near-perfect staple of late-Golden Age Hollywood and holds up today, thanks to its timeless themes and excellent performances. Warner Bros.' new 4K edition offers solid A/V marks and resurrects the original 2.0 mono mix (a first on disc, I believe), but cheaps out by not including a Blu-ray copy of the film and the legacy bonus features that come with it. East of Eden is nonetheless recommended to fans... but hang onto those old discs too.