AllMovie

One of the most famous of the pre-East of Eden TV appearances by the immortal James Dean, this 30-minute adaptation of Sherwood Anderson's short story "I'm a Fool" originally aired live as the November 14, 1954 episode of the CBS anthology General Electric Theater. Narrated by Eddie Albert, this is an extended flashback, wherein a young country boy (Dean), working in a menial job in a middle-sized midwestern town, falls in love with that town's prettiest gal, Lucy (Natalie Wood). Aware that Lucy is already being courted by the wealthier youths in the vicinity, the boy tries to impress the girl by pretending to be something he's not. Only when it is too late does he realize that he would have been far, far better off simply being "himself" (it gives away nothing to reveal that Eddie Albert and James Dean essentially play the same character). Worth noting is the play's impressionistic staging, using fragmentary sets and minimal props, and the remarkable chemistry between James Dean and Natalie Wood, even before they were paired in Rebel without a Cause. On November 18, 1956, nearly a year after Dean's untimely death, a kinescope of "I'm a Fool" was rebroadcast on General Electric Theatre by popular request (at least according to host Ronald Reagan); it is this rerun version that is currently available on home video.