A Streetcar Named Desire

This is a rare event! One of those films in which it cannot get any better only different. The script by Tennessee Williams is bold and insightful. Eila Kazan directs with incredible respect for the script with an absolutley stellar cast. While Brando was the sexy bo-hunk that grabbed the attention, Leigh as Blanche DuBois is transparent and ethereal and the opposite styles of acting (the Americans in the Method & Leigh a veteran of the British Stage) work miraculously well and serve the theme of Willliams' play. Watch on as big a screen as possible, the balck and white cinematography is ravishing and the soundtrack is first rate like all other aspects of this perfect film. On my top ten and in the top 3 for certain.

I will give a disclaimer...I have always thought that Marlon Brando is the single most overated actor in history. I don't get him nor do I get all the hoopla about him. Just don't. This movie is perhaps the most pompous and over hyped piece of average movie making that I have ever seen. I actually have watched it a couple of times over again just to make sure I really thought it was ho hum and sure enough...it is. There is nothing that makes we want to see it again. The worse thing is that I saw it over again a couple of times and those are hours I will never get back. DANG IT!

Vivien Leigh was fabulous!!! I'd seen her in Gone with the Wind before, but that was it. I watched this for the first time on a plane and was amazed. Even though the sister is kind of weak and I hate Marlon Brando's character, Vivian Leigh is absolutely fabulous. I think she deserves the best actress of the best actresses award for this performance.

I can watch this movie over and over again as if I'm watching it for the first time!!! Love the chemistry between Stanley and Blanche. Especially how Blanche describes Stanley to Stella.

STELLA! 'Nuff said.

Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for his play, written in 1947. The film was made in 1951. But the Legion of Decency was not ready for it. They had Kazan cut the film before it could be seen. Now the fully restored film has a PG rating. Unusually, the studio allowed Williams to write the screenplay, as most of his play's were adapted for the screen by Gore Vidal. But with the Legion of Decency was looking over the production, Williams had to leave some content cryptic: homosexuality, promiscuity, rape...the one thing in the script that Kazan or Williams were forced to cut from the film. But ask the average viewer if they caught the reference to homosexuality they will admit no. Blanche (Leigh) speaks cryptically about her late husband: a sensitive boy with an older friend; walking into a room with two people in it; whispering 'I know! You disgust me!'; and his suicide that followed. Williams used the general ignorance of the audience to slip in subversive content. When Blanche asks Mitch (Malden) on a date if he speaks French, and he says no, Blanche responds: Voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir? (No, that lyric is a quote from the play inserted into Lady Marmalade). The audience for the most part did not speak French either and Williams inserted "Do you want to go to bed with me tonight? successfully. Critics of this play/ film, and all Williams' plays/films if the reason he writes womens' parts so well because he was a homosexual: "Are all Williams' women gay men?". I believe that it helped him to understand female characters, but Blanche is not Williams. He was an accomplished writer who could imagine the kaleidoscope Oscar character types in Streetcar, from the affectations of Blanche to the brutish Stanley. The theme of the play/film is the consequences of Blanche's promiscuity and the judgment of individuals' and society of the time. But there is a parallel theme of Blanche's shattered dreams, illusions, and trust that the harsh brutality of life drives her to madness. But the play is not limited to the catharsis of Blanche but the pressures and conflicts of everyone else involved in Blanche's visit. The streetcar named Desire brought her to this place where she is not wanted and did not intend to be. The famous final scene line: " Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers!", was meant to be humorous. But only the author got it and was the only person to laugh on opening night. But, even though it was meant to be humor, it sums up Blanche's character. An unusual note on casting is worth mentioning. Kazan used the original Broadway cast except for the casting of Leigh as Blanche: the original Blanche was Jessica Tandy. I was privileged to see the play with Tandy in her original roll. Despite her age she was a better Blanche than Leigh. But Tandy was not a film star while Leigh had finished Gone With The Wind: I believe they thought she could be the Southern Belle again for Streetcar. This is the point where the film falls short: Leigh's performance. But the film was nominated for 12Academy Awards including best picture and won 4. If you cannot see Streetcar on the stage, this film remains a landmark film (which is why no remakes have been made for the theatre...although I love Ann Margaret's made for television version). Tennessee Williams can be thought of either as a pioneer or born too soon. But he will always be a great playwrite. And Streetcar is among his best.

I watched this movie recently in a film class, and despised it. I tried to enjoy it; my teacher told me that it was one of his favorites, but I have no idea why. The plot is almost nonexistent, and the acting is only mediocre; Brando's performance, in my opinion, was way overrated. The other actors were irritating at best, and the character development was sudden and unexplained. Overall, not a movie I enjoyed in the least, nor would I recommend it to anyone else.

I truly love this movie!! Brando is so sexy!

Brando is Brando. Of course he was great in this movie. But I was stunned by Vivien Leigh's performance. She had a tough character to play, and she outshined pretty much everyone.

Though Leigh, Hunter, and Malden are all great, it's undeniably Brando who steals the movie. The power of his performance is over-dominating. It adds so much to the drama. The casting here is perfect, the dialogue (though adapted from a play) is fresh, and every performance is convincing. In short, my 10th favorite film of all time.