202. A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Director: Elia Kazan

Starring: Vivien Leigh

Marlon Brando

Kim Hunter

Karl Malden

IMDb Rating: 8

My Rating: 8

"Hey Stella! Hey Stellaaa!"

While searching for a new place to call home, Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) goes to visit her pregnant sister Stella (Kim Hunter) in New Orleans. While there, she meets Stella's often crude husband Stanley (Marlon Brando), who immediately takes a dislike to Blanche. Stanley often mistreats and abuses Stella, although she is often quick to forgive. This disappoints Blanche, as she feels that her sister deserves more. Stanley's dislike to Blanche begins to grow more harsh, and he soon starts to question the truth behind why Stella and his wife's family plantation has been taken away. He eventually finds that she had been exiled from her hometown for seducing a seventeen year old boy. This shocking revelation soon challenges the relationship between Stella and Stanley, as well as the sanity of Blanche.

Returning from A Streetcar Named Desire's original Broadway run is Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, while Vivien Leigh starred in the play's first run on London's West End. The ensemble of these four actors proved to be one of the greatest in film at it's time. This accounts as the world's first exposure to the brilliant Brando, who is perfectly despicable as Stanley. The portrayal of a great villain makes it impossible not to love them and Brando gives us just that. Leigh gives easily the films greatest performance though. At first she often comes off rather annoying, but as the truth behind her past starts to unravel, Leigh proves to be nothing short of incredible. Her final scenes are easily some of the finest work of her career. It's not often that acting talent, as in the film, joins together to create such an undeniable overnight classic.

A Streetcar Named Desire is often referred to as one of the theater's greatest works, but I can see how some people would actually be turned off by this film. The first half of the film is filled with constant analogies and metaphors that can often become distracting from the overall story. I understand to some, that this is the appeal of a writer like Tennessee Williams. I actually found myself having to go back and watch a few scenes a second time. There is also the language barrier of 1940's New Orleans, which is riddled with accents and slang. Some might see this as a negative aspect of the film, and some could argue that it sets the tone. That being said, I encourage viewers to ignore the troubles (that is if you have any) like I encountered in the first part of the film. Luckily by the second half of the film, the writing becomes a little more straight forward and wraps up to be the classic it is billed to be.

It's hard to say anything negative about a film like A Streetcar Named Desire, which is so highly viewed as a classic. The acting is excellent from start to finish. The story and progression of the characters is also just as powerful. There is also the obvious metaphor of the cultural clash of two classes of people during a time of great transition in America. The only criticism I have is that the film can come across rather dated partly due to some of the language. Although, the film works just fine if viewed as a time piece of New Orleans during the 1940's. Overall, I would definitely recommend seeing this film.