A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic, without a doubt. This 1951 adaptation of the play of the same name by the brilliant Tennessee Williams packed a punch that no film before it had to offer at the time, causing censors to gather in an uproar and causing audiences to be mercilessly split over the content of the daring film. Directed by Elia Kazan, who also directed the original stage production, A Streetcar Named Desire features untouchable acting and a beautifully haunting script.
The film stars Vivien Leigh (Gone With the Wind, 21 Days) as Blanche DuBois, one of the most infamous film characters of all time. It also stars the wonderful Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, the brutish husband of Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter). Karl Malden, Nick Dennis and others also make up the cast. The film truly takes a lot of its strength from the impeccable performances, led by the astonishingly electric Vivien Leigh. Leigh’s performance is true textbook stuff, delivering monologues and long speeches with flair and panache and creating such an aura around the character of DuBois that one becomes lost in the film.
Brando is equally as electric, although Kowalski is arguably given a lot less to do than DuBois. Brando’s Stanley Kowalski is a brute and a bully, a true menace of a man that fights and smashes things to solve his problems. Stella Kowalski, as played by Kim Hunter, is a woman who is both afraid of what Stanley may do but also excited by what he may do next. She is caught in the crossfire of abuse and yet is turned on by it at the same time, creating an energy about her that must have certainly been controversial for the time and still raises eyebrows in ours.
The brilliant screenplay of the film received its fair share of revisions, thanks in large part to the Catholic League of Decency. Many of the references to homosexuality, for example, saw their instant removal. The director’s cut of the film was released in 1993 (which is the version I am reviewing) and it left the film as Kazan intended with all of the references and inferences intact. Part of the true importance of Streetcar is its constant grappling with censors and its constant content problems. It really was a trailblazer of a film and a lesser film would likely have floundered under those circumstances.
The film’s score is also of note. A Streetcar Named Desire was one of the first Hollywood films to not feature an overly manipulative score that led the audience into emotions during key scenes. Instead, Streetcar left that job up to the wonderful performances. Alex North’s score was composed of short sheets of music that actually were comprised of different character dynamics of the various performers. North worked with the psychological components of the players instead of with how the film wanted the audience to feel, thus developing real emotion through the score instead of forcing the issue. North’s score would be nominated for an Academy Award.
The depth of the film is what struck me as being incredible. Here we have the character of Blanche DuBois, a character that is devastatingly losing her mind right before our very eyes. Her decline is the driving force behind Streetcar, as is how much “help” she had in her descent to madness from Stanley. Did he push her or did she jump? The film leaves many unanswered questions, which was uncommon for Hollywood films of this magnitude to do at the time. Instead of the traditional happy ending, we are left with a plethora of questions and few answers. We are left wondering about Stella and whether or not her relationship with Stanley was really better before Blanche showed up. Was Blanche’s history really what she claimed or was that a part of her delusion? The film leaves many open-ended ideas for each of its characters, lovingly portraying them as incomplete human beings rather than set pieces for a grandiose production.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a wonderful and painful journey through the lives of three people in steamy New Orleans. Blanche DuBois, Stanley and Stella Kowalski and even poor Mitch Mitchell will forever be etched in our minds as remarkable characters with depth, darkness and just the right amount of light to make them eerily familiar to us. A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic in every sense of the word. Vivien Leigh glows and Marlon Brando smashes that light to bits.
9/10
September 25, 2009 at 8:32 am
[...] Wood and Redford, but nothing ever reaches the fever pitch of other pictures like Baby Doll or Streetcar. Of particular note is Mary Badham, as she puts in a terrific performance as the inevitable result [...]