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.
