In the absorbing "Kazan Par Kazan" by Michel Ciment some kind of equivalent of the Truffault/Hitchcock epic interview,the director says: "Something was wrong in the settings of "A tree ..." :had we filmed in East Side NYC ,it would have been closer to reality:the rooms were too clean,but there was worse: the hairdos and the dresses seemed to come from a magazine .The only thing that was believable was Peggy Ann Garner's face because her father was fighting on the other side of the ocean and her mother had problems.She knew what sufferings and uncertainty meant."in another part of the book,Kazan insists on the fact that Julie Harris's face was the soul of "East of Eden".
Often hailed as "the movie by Kazan which predates his heyday in the fifties ","A tree" ,although inevitably too long and handicapped by production problems ,somewhat lives up to its reputation: It displays Kazan's social concerns,his sympathy for unconventional figures,dropouts: the father is a close relative of Blanche Du Bois ("Streetcar named Desire" ) ,Caleb ("East of Eden) or Ginny ("Splendor in the grass").The importance of education (the girl who wants a better school and the graduation ceremony) was important for Kazan who was the first in his family to go to college.
This is a work Kazan's fans (and others) should not miss.
Often hailed as "the movie by Kazan which predates his heyday in the fifties ","A tree" ,although inevitably too long and handicapped by production problems ,somewhat lives up to its reputation: It displays Kazan's social concerns,his sympathy for unconventional figures,dropouts: the father is a close relative of Blanche Du Bois ("Streetcar named Desire" ) ,Caleb ("East of Eden) or Ginny ("Splendor in the grass").The importance of education (the girl who wants a better school and the graduation ceremony) was important for Kazan who was the first in his family to go to college.
This is a work Kazan's fans (and others) should not miss.