Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) arrives on the the train in New Orleans. She takes the Streetcar Named Desire to visit her younger sister Stella (Kim Hunter). She's manic and melodramatic. She's been expelled from their hometown teaching job. Stella is expecting her first child with her brutish Polish husband Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). The superior aristocratic Blanche and lower class Stanley don't get along. Poker buddy Mitch (Karl Malden) is interested in Blanche but Stanley poisons the relationship.
It is classic example of Brandon's natural acting skills. The power of his presence is obvious. It was the standard for a new level of acting. Sometimes forgotten is the other brilliant performance from Vivien Leigh. She's essentially an older, more pathetic, more shrill unheroic Scarlett. It's the perfect role for her. Kim Hunter is the glue to hold the relationships together until it can't hold together no more. If not for Humphrey Bogart in 'The African Queen', it would have been a clean sweep of the acting Oscars.
It is classic example of Brandon's natural acting skills. The power of his presence is obvious. It was the standard for a new level of acting. Sometimes forgotten is the other brilliant performance from Vivien Leigh. She's essentially an older, more pathetic, more shrill unheroic Scarlett. It's the perfect role for her. Kim Hunter is the glue to hold the relationships together until it can't hold together no more. If not for Humphrey Bogart in 'The African Queen', it would have been a clean sweep of the acting Oscars.