A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

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Directed by Elia Kazan.

Starring Rudy Bond, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden.

In the classic play by Tennessee Williams, brought to the screen by Elia Kazan, faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) comes to visit her pregnant sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), in a seedy section of New Orleans. Stella's boorish husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), not only regards Blanche's aristocratic affectations as a royal pain but also thinks she's holding out on inheritance money that rightfully belongs to Stella. On the fringes of sanity, Blanche is trying to forget her checkered past and start life anew. Attracted to Stanley's friend Mitch (Karl Malden), she glosses over the less savory incidents in her past, but she soon discovers that she cannot outrun that past, and the stage is set for her final, brutal confrontation with her brother-in-law. Brando, Hunter, and Malden had all starred in the original Broadway version of Streetcar, although the original Blanche had been Jessica Tandy. Brando lost out to Humphrey Bogart for the 1951 Best Actor Oscar, but Leigh, Hunter, and Malden all won Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Elia Kazan: A Director's JourneyThis was on the DVD with A Streetcar Named Desire. It has a review of all of the movies in Kazan's film career along with commentary from the director himself.I'm not highly attracted to Kazan's strict sense of what is necessary for theatre or film. He likes to boil things down. He wants to be able to describe a character in one sentence and for that character to have a single motivation. Not that this isn't an extremely helpful technique, but the fact that he is stuck to it keeps him limited to certain kinds of stories and characters.A decent documentary if you are interested in the man and his works.Rating: 7/10 " [More]

movie year countdown #56 - 1951 ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

is neutral about it.

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"This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry.A Streetcar Named DesireYeah Marlon Brando is pretty amazing in this. His more naturalistic style of film acting must have been shattering in many ways at this time. However for me, watching this movie felt like seeing all kinds of tired old theatre conventions. Melodrama, yelling, breaking things, female hysteria.Although listening to the commentary on the DVD, even though everyone said this adaptation was about as good of an adaptation from the stage to the screen as you can get, I still feel disappointed hearing about the original play.For one, I am just really annoyed with Vivien Leigh. I don't think it's the character of Blanche that is really just so annoying as the way Vivien plays it. And everyone else in the cast is from the original Broadway cast except for Vivien. They needed her for the star power. The original actress was Jes ... " [More]

I Got Bored. Sorry.
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Marlon Brando makes this movie. His performance almost single-handedly makes this a "liked" film...but the fact that the so-called Legion of Decency had so much pull in those days and altered much of the play's original dialogue is infuriating to me, and Vivien Leigh's performance seems very "effected", although some might argue that that is a character trait. The direction is fine, the cinematography is fine, I personally got bored when Brando wasn't on screen. But when he was - WOW! " [More]

Riveting!!
by apfradella in apfradella Blog

loved it.

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"Phenomenal story, based on the play. actors at the peak of their game. seething Brando,monumental performance-raw, sexual. Vivien leigh, again, perfect for this role and gives a memorable performance of Blanche. A must see for film fans.!! " [More]

Movie year countdown viewing pr ...
by Risselada in Risselada Blog

is neutral about it.

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"Here’s the dilemma. I have a list of well over three thousand movies I want to see saved on IMDB. I have a subscription to Netflix and recently every time I return a DVD it has been an extremely arduous task to make the decision as to which movie I should see next. In an effort to narrow down my choices and make the process of choosing slightly less overwhelming I have devised a system, almost a bit of a game for me. Here’s how it goes.For my first film selection, I have narrowed the options down to only films that were released in the year 2006. Then after I have watched that movie, my next selection would have to be a film released in 2005. Then I would see a film from 2004, then 2003, etc. The process of deciding is still laborious, but actually quite a bit more exciting. (I'm going by IMDB as my source for release years)I have already been making a list and have also already begun watching the films. I decided this might be a good time to start fooling ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

With the same director (Elia Kazan), a screenplay co-adapted by the playwright (Tennessee Williams), and three-quarters of the Broadway production's stars, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) transcended "filmed theater" to become a groundbreaking Hollywood work. Battling the stringent Production Code, Kazan and Williams made concessions concerning the "perverse" sexual elements of Blanche DuBois' past, but they retained the crucial rape of "delicate," old-fashioned Blanche by brutal, "modern" Stanley Kowalski, earning the Code's approval for a film definitively aimed toward adults. Marlon Brando's star-making performance as the "Stella"-howling Stanley burned itself into popular consciousness with its combination of carnality and Method-acting "naturalness," establishing Brando as the premier purveyor of the then-innovative Method acting style and a striking erotic presence. The more traditional Vivien Leigh, replacing Broadway's Jessica Tandy, similarly flourished as Blanche, while the Oscar-winning art direction, Harry Stradling's photography, and Alex North's moody, influential jazz score enhanced the hothouse atmosphere. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars, including Best Picture, and took home awards for Leigh, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter, though Brando lost to Humphrey Bogart in The African Queen. It was re-released in 1993 with four minutes of footage that had originally been censored by the Legion of Decency, including close-ups of Hunter's Stella eyeing Stanley with too much desire. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Tags: drama , raw , stellaaaaaaaaaaaaa , brando , fragile
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