James Dean participated in three movies
in his career and died in that same year,
1955, at the age of 24. He was directed
by Nicholas Ray, Elia Kazan, and George
Stevens. Probably nobody in the history
of American film has been showered with
more diverse support in so short a time;
and certainly nobody else so instantly
or enduringly outstripped so much fame,
becoming more universally recognized
than all three films put together. What
shirt today is not born, knowing, it
will never dress James Dean?
Now we have another historical study
of American cinema, to approach this
Alexandrian career with as much well-
sourced research as the years and the
author's visible diligence can allow,
and I'm happy to recommend it for com-
ing to grips with Dean's enigmatic as-
pects with obvious care, legitimate ar-
gument, and enlightening appreciation.
One never minds being informed about a
body of work from the craftsman's point
of view, the merit of which is better
to recognize its singularity. The crit-
ic is David Thomson, familiar for his
interviews with Criterion in their re-
masterings of films for dvd. The style
is conversational, the temper is calm,
the manner is dignified, the thinking
is continuously impressive, and the
curtain of fame is congenially lifted.
We read of many artists engaged in the
suggestion of desire, and of how their
personalities may have been tested in
a variety of ways. What one learns of
Dean is that if all the fame which had
fed his fame were suddenly to be extin-
gushed, the screen would reignite it.
One never minds discovering what one's
always seen.
David Thomson
Knopf, 2019©
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