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The James Dean Story (1957)
Directed by Robert Altman and George W. George
Distributed by Warner Bros.
81 minutes
Though similarly distributed and publicized under the imprimatur of Warner Bros, The James Dean Story is rarely remembered alongside the iconic actor's other texts - East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, and Giant - that constitute his brief Hollywood career. This is, to some extent, a reflection of the promotional strategy employed by Warner Bros, to distinguish Story as more than an ordinary Hollywood production. Studio publicity frames the film as unique in the comprehensive reach of its research, while the opening credits declare that what follows is "[a] different kind of motion picture." In this sense, Story stands out as more a "Dean" film than its three predecessors. It aspires to collapse the "reel" figure for the sake of the "real" account and clamors to encapsulate the young man's cultural resonance through a comprehensive study of his life.
The James Dean Story begins at the end, September 30, 1955. A point-of-view shot situates the viewer on the grill of a car speeding along a desolate road amidst an arid wasteland. The infamous date appears and is quickly displaced by an oncoming truck that suddenly veers into the viewer's path. "James Dean died today," narrator Martin Gabel states coolly over the imminent collision frozen in time. "He had lived with a great hunger." Set against photographs of the actor, the film explicitly characterizes its approach to Dean as reportage rather than representation:
The presence of the leading character in this film has been made possible by the use of existing motion picture material, tape recordings of his voice and by means of a new technique - dynamic exploration of the still photograph... there are not...