Based on a classical Tennessee Williams play, 'A Streetcar Named Desire' follows Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), an emotionally frail and disturbed woman, who goes to live with her pregnant sister Stella (Kim Hunter). Her continuing presence leads to confrontations with Stella's brute husband Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), as her situation continues to deteriorate.
I have seen this story a few times before, both in plays and in cinema, and while it always struck me as interesting enough it never truly managed to impress me and even seemed a bit too dated. That is, before this one.
This is a drama at its most defining. There is a few light-hearted conversations here and there, but overall the tone set is that of conflict; director Elia Kazan makes a particularly good job at keeping it realistic and avoiding a melodramatic outcome, while creating just the right mood.
The acting is absolutely brilliant. Marlon Brando (in his breakthrough performance, and still one of his best) and Vivien Leigh (as good as, if not better than in 'Gone with the Wind') are perfect in their roles, truly making their characters real and making it impossible not to feel towards them; maybe that is what was missing from the other versions I watched. Likewise, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter are excellent, and won well-deserved Oscars for their work here.
The film greatly suffers from the time's censorship, which include a new (but still good) ending; however, the main problem it brings is the diminished intensity in some scenes, the climatic confrontation in special, which makes it lack the more powerful shocking value the story seemed aiming for. Today's viewers, in special, will probably find the film far too much tame and somewhat dated.
Another thing I disliked was the deliberately slow pace of some scenes, which makes them somewhat boring at some points. But them again, that is a problem I usually have with theater productions, and not a specific criticism to 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. This is still a film that deserves its status as a classic.
I have seen this story a few times before, both in plays and in cinema, and while it always struck me as interesting enough it never truly managed to impress me and even seemed a bit too dated. That is, before this one.
This is a drama at its most defining. There is a few light-hearted conversations here and there, but overall the tone set is that of conflict; director Elia Kazan makes a particularly good job at keeping it realistic and avoiding a melodramatic outcome, while creating just the right mood.
The acting is absolutely brilliant. Marlon Brando (in his breakthrough performance, and still one of his best) and Vivien Leigh (as good as, if not better than in 'Gone with the Wind') are perfect in their roles, truly making their characters real and making it impossible not to feel towards them; maybe that is what was missing from the other versions I watched. Likewise, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter are excellent, and won well-deserved Oscars for their work here.
The film greatly suffers from the time's censorship, which include a new (but still good) ending; however, the main problem it brings is the diminished intensity in some scenes, the climatic confrontation in special, which makes it lack the more powerful shocking value the story seemed aiming for. Today's viewers, in special, will probably find the film far too much tame and somewhat dated.
Another thing I disliked was the deliberately slow pace of some scenes, which makes them somewhat boring at some points. But them again, that is a problem I usually have with theater productions, and not a specific criticism to 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. This is still a film that deserves its status as a classic.