Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey

Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (1995)

*** (out of 4)

Richard Schickel's documentary about the life and career of Elia Kazan features the director on camera discussing all of his movies (or at least most of them) and Eli Wallach doing the narration. Kazan starts off talking about some of his early dreams of becoming a director and how he started acting just to get into the business. From here we learn about his success on Broadway and films, which we hear stories about the making of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, VIVA ZAPATA, ON THE WATERFRONT, EAST OF EDEN, BABY DOLL, A FACE IN THE CROWD, THE WILD RIVER, SPLENDER IN THE GRASS and America, America. The director's final three films aren't mentioned, which is a shame but he does talk about why he got out of the business. For the most part this is a pretty interesting documentary. Like most of Schickel's work, he allows the director to tell the stories and this at least gives us some memorable stories. These include Kazan's feelings on GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT and lets just say that he doesn't care for the movie too much. Other stories discussed include Marlon Brando's nature and acting style, the best way to audition actors, working with James Dean, what Anthony Quinn brought to VIVA ZAPATA and his wonderfully funny thoughts on the priest who tried to get BABY DOLL banned. Overall this is an entertaining look at Kazan's career, mostly because you get to hear stories from the man himself. This, along with the recently made film by Martin Scorsese, are a good introduction to the controversial director.

Despite only making something like 19 full-length films, Elia Kazan had such hits as "Gentleman's Agreement", "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (his first full-length film), "On the Waterfront", "America, America", "Pinky" and "East of Eden"! Here in "A Director's Journey", we are able to hear the director in his own words discuss his craft, his passions and his experiences. In addition, Eli Wallach narrates--explaining about Kazan's life and his productions. Interestingly, it begins with Kazan as the actor. While not a top talent, he made a nice niche for himself acting--and only a bit later did he direct. His first full-length film was perhaps his best--the curiously underrated "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". In addition to acting and directing films, we learn in the documentary that he directed on Broadway as well--such as directing Lee J. Cobb in "Death of a Salesman". Overall, extremely informative and a nice chance to look into this great director's mind. My advice is ignore all the recent hype about Kazan's behaviors during the 1950s Red Scare (which, in a way, are ironically a lot like a witch hunt in the 21st century)--he was a darn good director and you shouldn't ignore this guy's amazing body of work. Well worth seeing--particularly if you are a cinema freak like me.

I really loved this documentary on Elia Kazan, put together in 1995 by Richard Shickel. Instead of the usual interviews with people talking about the subject, Kazan and his films speak for him.

We gain tremendous insight into the way he worked, what attracted him to the film topics he tackled and the actors he directed. He speaks frankly about all of them, and surprisingly doesn't take credit for some remarkable performances.

He also doesn't take credit for his own screenplays. Of playwright William Inge, he says, "I wrote the screenplay from a novel he wrote. Then he worked on it and made it better." There are also some wonderful photos and clips from Kazan's early work as an actor.

The shadow over his life, of course, is his testimony to the committee that wanted to unearth communists in the '50s, and this is brought up in Eli Wallach's narration. What he did was wrong, but he didn't testify so he could keep working (although Jules Dassin, one of the Red Hunt's victims, disagrees.)

Kazan did it, apparently, because he hated Communism. He had been a member of the Communist party and quit.

A lifelong liberal, he probably made his own situation even worse by passionately defending what he'd done and also, by telling his friends the night before he testified that he wouldn't "roll over" on any of them, and then doing so.

For those of us who grew up during the "red scare," there was a belief in the country that communism was the embodiment of evil. Kazan seemed to believe it as well.

When discussing "A Face in the Crowd," Kazan speaks of the power of the media and that a person can be sold by their charm and easy smile. "Listen," he cautions the viewer. "Listen to what the person is really saying. Think."

I believe his work in "On the Waterfront," "Wild River," "East of Eden," "America America," "A Streetcar Named Desire," etc., all speak volumes for Elia Kazan.

Elia Kazan talks about the movies he made and what they mean to him. Film clips are shown of early Kazan as a film actor, mainly in clips from Warner Bros. melodramas of the hard-hitting kind about social conflicts featuring the kind of brooding, intense, explosive acting that he grew up on as a member of the Group Theater in NYC.

But he confesses that he always had his eye on Hollywood even though his roots began in the theater. He finally got his wish when assigned to direct A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, a touching drama of family life in the tenements of Brooklyn from the novel by Betty Smith. He's especially fond of the young Peggy Ann Garner and credits her chemistry opposite screen dad James Dunn for making the film a great success.

He loved the screen version of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE but admits that he thought the theater version was even better. Clips from BOOMERANG, VIVA ZAPATA, ON THE WATERFRONT (famous expose of mob controlled docks), EAST OF EDEN, BABY DOLL, A FACE IN THE CROWD (too much footage from this one to illustrate the manic ambition behind Andy Griffith's folksy charm), WILD RIVER (he's ecstatic over Jo Van Fleet's dedication to her age make-up), SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (great fondness for writer William Inge and his story about the force of repression). He tells how he loves the final scene of SPLENDOR with Natalie Wood returning to the home of her former sweetheart who has married a local farm girl and appears to be content. I agree on that one--it is a touching conclusion to a very moving story of unrequited love.

And then, finally, clips from his favorite film (but he hastens to add, not his best), America, America because it's a story of his uncle's family roots.

Informative but lingers too long on some films I'd rather not contemplate that much about--especially A FACE IN THE CROWD which goes on endlessly in a number of annoying clips.

For Kazan fans--otherwise, not that engrossing.

Richard Schickel, a film critic, embarks in this voyage of discovery in this documentary that was presented recently on cable. Having read Elia Kazan's voluminous autobiography, we thought we knew it all, but the director includes a lot of information about the director, making the viewer to know the man better. The narration by Eli Wallach is first rate. Mr. Wallach knew the man well, having worked with him in several projects.

Mr. Kazan is infamous for his pointing fingers at friends and people that suffered a lot because of the machinations of Sen. McCarthy during the "witch hunt" of the fifties. Mr. Kazan's life changed right after that time, but he didn't stop working.

Mr. Kazan was a man that was at home both, in the theater and in the movies. He dominated the American stage like no other director, or had his track record challenged by any other man in the succeeding years. His legacy speaks volumes about what he was able to accomplish and we are witness by looking at the film work he left.

Thanks to Mr. Schickel for his take on the man.