Rent A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Southern Drama. - A Streetcar Named Desire review by Steve

Tennessee Williams' American theatre classic was transferred to Hollywood by its stage producer Elia Kazan with reluctance as he felt he had achieved as much as he could with the play on Broadway. It was controversial material for New York, but in Hollywood it was scandalous. But the play survives remarkably intact.

 This was the first Hollywood film to feature a jazz soundtrack. Some of it was suppressed for being too sexy (it is pretty hot!). Language and insinuation formed battle lines. While the play is about changes in the American South and the corrupting nature of human violence, it is just as true to say the play was about Williams' own heart. He felt violated by the furore.

 Kazan took three of his main players with him to Warners: Karl Malden, Kim Hunter (superb), and Marlon Brando. Brando was a sensation. We'll never know what a shock his performance must have been. Nothing like it had been seen on the screen before. It's crazy Brando didn't win the Oscar.

The other three stars did (and Kazan) including Vivien Leigh as the ethereal, vulnerable Blanche. Leigh and Brando's scenes together are sensational. They made two of the great dramatic roles their own. Blanche's fight for survival is heartbreaking. She becomes an exotic, outré figure of southern gothic, destroyed by what the changing world has become.