East of Eden appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.55:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Overall, I felt pleased with the presentation.
Sharpness usually looked solid, as the flick usually presented a nicely distinctive and detailed picture. Some of the photographic techniques occasionally resulted in soft shots, but those remained in the minority; most of the movie seemed accurate and well-defined.
No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Digital noise reduction didn’t appear to mar the transfer, and the flick came with no print flaws.
Eden came with a fairly natural palette that looked well-represented and full. HDR gave the tones extra oomph and range.
Blacks came across as nicely deep and rich, while low-light shots demonstrated good clarity and definition, even with some murky day for night shots. HDR brought added power and emphasis to contrast and whites. Across the board, the movie looked pretty nice.
Dowconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack of East of Eden seemed more than satisfactory given its age, and the soundfield offered a surprisingly broad experience. A great deal of localized speech occurred, and the score presented nice stereo delineation.
Effects weren’t a major factor in the proceedings, but they also popped up in the appropriate spots. The whole thing could be somewhat “speaker specific” at times, but given the fact that the vast majority of movies from the era only featured monaural audio, I didn’t take this as a negative.
Surround usage remained minor. Music demonstrated some light reinforcement, and occasional effects material popped up as well.
Nothing too exciting occurred, but the rears fleshed out things decently. Again, the track was definitely stronger than usual for a flick from 1955.
Audio quality showed its age but seemed fine overall. The score often sounded moderately robust, though highs lacked great clarity.
Speech was decent. Some weak dubbing made lines a bit flat and dull at times. Nonetheless, the dialogue usually sounded appropriate.
Effects demonstrated fair reproduction given their vintage. They didn’t boast great clarity, but they came with reasonable accuracy and heft. Nothing here dazzled, but the audio remained more than adequate for its era.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the original Blu-ray from 2013? Audio seemed largely similar, though the Atmos remix might’ve been a bit better integrated.
As for visuals, the 4K boasted stronger colors and blacks, with minor improvements in terms of delineation. HDR became the biggest step up here, and that made the 4K the superior product.
In terms of extras, we find an audio commentary with film critic Richard Schickel. Because of his record, I greet Schickel commentaries with trepidation; he’s created an awful lot of mediocre tracks.
A sense of déjà vu greeted me as I listened to another Schickel discussion that only occasionally became involving. Schickel gets into notes about the cast, crew and their backgrounds, Kazan’s methods, Dean’s acting style, using the Cinemascope frame, and his interpretation, analysis and criticism of the film.
Those latter elements strongly dominated the piece. Schickel tossed out occasional notes about the production and its participants, but he usually stayed with his critique.
As with Schickel’s prior commentaries, he occasionally tossed out insightful tidbits, but not with great frequency. Instead, Schickel often just mentioned obvious elements or narrated the movie.
A few of his remarks were thought provoking, but not many of them. Quite a lot of dead air mar the discussion and it becomes pretty tedious.
Note that although the Blu-ray included a bunch of additional extras. All go absent here, and oddly, Warner didn’t include a Blu-ray with the package.
East of Eden would remain interesting simply for its historical value. Happily, despite its flaws, it offers a frequently compelling tale with a mix of positives highlighted by some strong performances. The 4K UHD delivers very good picture and audio along with a lackluster audio commentary. I doubt Eden ever looked better than it does on this fine 4K UHD.
To rate this film visit the original review of EAST OF EDEN