James Dean's acting style managed to frustrate a lot of fellow actors and actresses. He often mumbled his lines in rehearsal and had a tendency to ad lib, leading the main player in this U.S. Steel Hour presentation, Paul Lukas, to call him an 'inconsiderate whippersnapper', according to Mary Astor's autobiography.
Dean's character here isn't a young whippersnapper so much as a confused young man hung up on a married woman. So much so that he's willing to take the fall for her over the theft of twelve thousand francs from his father Charles Lagarde (Lukas). A detective called in by Fernand's (Dean) father to investigate the missing funds actually implicates the young man due to circumstantial evidence pointing in his direction. When Charles decides to send Fernand off to one of his plantations for two years to work off the debt, the young woman Marie (Diana Lynn) confesses the theft, guilty over the fact that someone innocent would be punished for her indiscretion.
As much as I like James Dean, he seemed to be out of his element here and displayed a rather awkward delivery, almost to the point of seeming unsure of himself. It could be he was directed in this manner, but he appeared distinctly different from some of the young hood, ex-con roles he often portrayed in these television anthology presentations. Here he was somewhat shy and introspective, not very characteristic of someone you'd label a young whippersnapper.
Dean's character here isn't a young whippersnapper so much as a confused young man hung up on a married woman. So much so that he's willing to take the fall for her over the theft of twelve thousand francs from his father Charles Lagarde (Lukas). A detective called in by Fernand's (Dean) father to investigate the missing funds actually implicates the young man due to circumstantial evidence pointing in his direction. When Charles decides to send Fernand off to one of his plantations for two years to work off the debt, the young woman Marie (Diana Lynn) confesses the theft, guilty over the fact that someone innocent would be punished for her indiscretion.
As much as I like James Dean, he seemed to be out of his element here and displayed a rather awkward delivery, almost to the point of seeming unsure of himself. It could be he was directed in this manner, but he appeared distinctly different from some of the young hood, ex-con roles he often portrayed in these television anthology presentations. Here he was somewhat shy and introspective, not very characteristic of someone you'd label a young whippersnapper.