Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8039 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-01-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Paper Moon.
As a playwright, Tennessee Williams was to the South what William Faulkner was as a fiction writer: a creative genius who revolutionized not only the region's arts scene and literature but that of 20th century America as a whole, bringing a Southern voice to the forefront while addressing universally important themes, and influencing and inspiring generations of later writers.

Pulitzer-Prize-winning "A Streetcar Named Desire" dates from the peak of Williams's creativity, the period between 1944 ("A Glass Menagerie") and 1955 ("Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," his second Pulitzer-winner). After its successful 1947 run on Broadway, "Streetcar" was adapted into a screenplay by Williams himself for this movie produced and directed by Elia Kazan, starring the entire Broadway cast except Jessica Tandy, who was replaced by the star of the play's London production, Vivien Leigh. The piece takes its title from one of the New Orleans streetcar lines that protagonist Blanche DuBois (Leigh) rides on her way to the apartment of her sister Stella (Kim Hunter), foreshadowing her later path, from (ever-unfulfilled) Desire to Cemetery (death, or the loss of reality) and a street called Elysian Fields, like the ancient mythological land of the dead.

Although Blanche is the person most visibly engaging in deception (of herself and others), almost everyone of the characters suffers loss after a brutal reality check: Stella, who hasn't been back home for years, first learns from Blanche that their genteel home Belle Reve (literally: "beautiful dream") is "lost" - although in what manner precisely Blanche doesn't specify, which immediately raises the suspicion of Stella's husband Stanley (Marlon Brando) - only to later hear from Stanley that under the veneer of Blanche's appearance as a delicate Southern lady lies a promiscuous past, and the true circumstances of her ouster from her job and ultimately from their home town were not as Blanche would have Stella believe. Stanley's friend Mitch (Karl Malden), who despite their disparate social backgrounds intends to marry Blanche after they are drawn to each other by their mutual need for "somebody" in their life, is similarly disillusioned by Stanley, and subsequently by Blanche herself when he insists on seeing her in bright light instead of the dim light of dancehalls and of the paper lamp she has insisted on hanging over Stella and Stanley's living room lamp, neither able to face the effects of age and a profligate lifestyle herself nor willing to reveal them to others. And Blanche's own loss of innocence, finally, set in years earlier, when she found her young husband in bed with another man and he committed suicide after she publicly reproached him. "Nobody sees anybody truly but all through the flaws of their own egos. That is the way we all see each other in life," Tennessee Williams says about "A Streetcar Named Desire" in Kazan's 1988 autobiography "A Life;" and in a letter opposing the movie's censoring before its release he described the story as being about "ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society."

The brute, of course, is Stanley, who not only becomes the catalyst of Blanche's fate and the destroyer of Stella's, Mitch's and Blanche's own illusions, but is her antagonist in everything from background to personality: Where she is a fading belle dreaming of days gone by he is all youthful virility, a working-class man living in the here and now; where she is refined he is crude, and where she engages in pretense, he tears down the facade behind which she is hiding. The conversation during which Stanley tells Stella about Blanche's past is pointedly set against Blanche's humming the Arlen/Harburg tune "It's Only a Paper Moon," which sees love transforming life into a fantasy world, which in turn however "wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me." Yet, as portrayed by Marlon Brando, who with this movie stormed into public awareness with his unique and volcanic approach to acting, Stanley is no mere vulgar beast but a complex, often controversial character, despite his brutal streak almost childishly dependant on his wife and frequently hiding his own insecurities under his raw appearance (thus putting up a certain front as well, but unlike Blanche's, a socially acceptable, even common one). Ever the method actor, Brando reportedly stayed in character even during filming breaks; much to the disgust of Vivien Leigh, for whom lines like "[h]e's like an animal. ... Thousands of years have passed him right by and there he is: Stanley Kowalski, survivor of the stone-age, bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle" must consequently have come from the bottom of her heart.

In early 1950s' society, "Streetcar" was considered way too risque - even downright sordid - to be presented to moviegoing audiences without severe censorship, which Williams and Kazan were only partly able to fight. One of the most substantial changes made in the adaptation was that at the end of the movie Stanley is punished for his brutality towards Blanche, whereas in the play's cynical original ending he is the only character experiencing no loss at all; indeed seeing his world restored after Blanche's exit. Since Kazan's suggestion to produce two alternate versions (one to please the censors, one in conformity with Williams's play) was rejected, even the 1993 "Original Director's Version" retains its altered, censorship-induced ending. Therefore, the play will forever constitute the last word on Williams's intentions. But even in its censored version this movie was a deserved quadruple Oscar- and multiple other award-winner (albeit undeservedly not for Brando). It has long-since become a true classic: a cinematic gem of first-rate direction and superlative performances throughout.

And so it was I entered the broken world
To trace the visionary company of love, its voice
An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled)
But not for long to hold each desperate choice.

Hart Crane, "The Broken Tower"
(Preface to the published version of Tennessee Williams's play.)

... then change to one named Cemetary
'You take a Streetcar named Desire, then change to one named Cemetary'. Blanche Dubois' directions to find her sister's home, sum up author Tennessee Williams' view of life, and how it is portrayed in this classic film.

Ellia Kazan's insightful and sensitive direction, coupled with wonderful acting, make this film compelling and electric. Vivian Leigh won the best actress Oscar for her performance. Karl Malden (of 'Streets of San Francisco' fame), and Kim Hunter won Oscars for supporting roles. Marlon Brando was nominated for best actor, but lost out to Humphrey Bogart in 'The African Queen'.

For me it is Brando's performance that stands out. You have to be careful that your TV screen does not get damaged, as he burns a trail across every scene he is in. Putting it crudely, the man oozes sex, passion and turmoil.

A whole disc of extras, tell the history of the play, and how it was transferred to film. I was fascinated to learn about changes that had to be made to the play, and cuts to the finished film that had to be made, so that it could play in 1951. The cuts to the film are restored in this version. It was interesting to learn that the Broadway cast were largely kept for the film. Only Jessica Tandy as Blanche Dubois was dropped, as they needed one bankable movie star amongst what was a cast of unknowns in Hollywood then. Vivian Leigh was drafted in, as she had played the role in London.

It's not a good film to watch if you like them light and easily entertaining, but if you like 'em meaty and thought provoking then this film is a classic must-have.

At the time of writing, the movie is available at a special low price, so what are you waiting for?

Over 50 years old and still supreme
Tennesse Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire derived from a very successful Broadway Play in 1947, where the young man known as Brando made his extraordinary performance, which sent the audiences roaring, stamping on their feet and howling at his genisus of chewing gum street slicker, Stanley Kolawski.

Brando was reunited with director of the play, Elia Kazan for the film adaption in 1951, along with Karl Malden and Kim Hunter minus Jessica Tandy's plain and clear point she was mis-cast and couldn't stand up to the power of Brando, hence replaced by Vivien Leigh, who made her big comeback upon the screen.

Blanche DuBois, arrives in sweaty, jazz-orientated New Orleans to meet (and supposebly) live with her sister, Stella while she gets things sorted out. Blanche appears chidlish to Stella's jealous boyfriend where his taunting and short temperness proves too much for the pair...........

Brando as the chewing gum street slicker was practically effortless. This included narling speech which was very muffed; a horrendous devil-like chuckle; a cunningness quality and a staring posture with little eye contact with a leaning hand on the wall to emphasise a short attention span. Vivien Leigh showed a mentally troubled former school teacher in Blanche DuPois. For example, Leigh constantly used her hands to cover her face to highlight the feeling of disgust and the fear of ugliness as well as a boasting side to impress herself. Kim Hunter plays Stella as a woman who sees the arguments and make-ups with Stanley as commonplate and fails to break away as an independant mind. Karl Malden plays Butch, Stanley's best pal, who seeks the kindness in the fragile Blanche, but grows discontent with her elusive behaviour.

Kazan's theatrical setting provides a slow, riveting violent descent through the three main characters with ever winding consquences right to the very end of the piece. The themes of depression and mental illness as well as povery are seen, especially DuBoit's fear of the gastly sights and smells of the of the city and when she refuses to open up her heart to Butch, when he demands to know why she behaves like this.

The plight of physical violence in some scenes, but often happens off-screen, pushed the taboo and controversial decision to the limelight for the very first time, where the Academy board at the time, removed some of the explict content, but eventually ended up that year disbanding. The explict content was restored in 1991, with an additional four minutes running time which was stripped from the original theatrical version.

This remains one of America's finest films from the 1950s and possibly the best and most frank adaption of a Williams Play made within it's time period unlike later ones which were converted into slushy melodramas.