Search - The James Dean Era on DVD

If you haven't anything more to offer, why don't you simply

Snorre Smari Mathiesen | Norway | 08/30/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"(BEWARE: THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE VIDTAPE-VERSION OF THIS RELEASE FROM 2005)

Being a huge fan of James Dean, I was very excited when I bought this DVD from a private seller for only a few bucks. However, the excitement quickly faded after I'd put the disc in the player and was ready to see SOMETHING FOR AN EMPTY BRIEFCASE, a rare TV-movie starring Jimmie which I hadn't seen before. Unless I received wrong disc (which I doubt, as it read THE JAMES DEAN ERA) this release is another sad chapter in the history of false advertisement. On the cover, this DVD claims to include the following rarites:

- Three James Dean TV-movies, SOMETHING FOR AN EMPTY BRIEFCASE, THE UNLIGHTED ROAD and I'M A FOOL
- Original commercials with James Dean
- Rare outtakes
- Trailers from the films GIANT, EAST OF EDEN AND REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
- Film posters
- Photo gallery
- Car racing footage
- Special James Dean recordings: "Playing bongos '54," "Dean's Lament" and "Jungle Rythm"

Sounds rather fantastic to any admirer of the great actor, heh? Instead, what I got was the documentary FOREVER JAMES DEAN, the trailers from the three films and advertisements for other DVD's, i.e. some Johnny Cash-stuff. FOREVER JAMES DEAN is a very insightful and interesting documentary, including several interviews with friends and colleagues of the actor; sadly, this documentary is already available on the EAST OF EDEN-DVD from Warner Brothers, as is all the trailers, so this did nothing to diminish my bitterness. I've searched through the DVD several times and can't find anything else.

I was critized a lot for my review of the DVD JAMES DEAN: BORN COOL, which I didn't think lived quite up to its reputation. However, whether you loved BORN COOL or not, trust me this time. Avoid this item and buy the version from Eclectic DVD Dist instead; it doesn't include all the goodies that this release was supposed to, but at least it doesn't claim to offer more than it actually does."