Marlon Brando is masterful in this Tennessee Williams story about fragile Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) who comes to New Orleans to stay with her younger sister, Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stella’s brutish husband Stanley Kowalski (Brando) in their cramped, sweltering apartment.
Blanche’s world of make-believe is shattered by Stanley and his revelations about her. Under his resentful bullying, Blanche’s last hopes are brutally destroyed and she retreats into a psychotic state.
The story often creaks, as Williams attempts to contrast the new cultural values with the decaying values of the Old South, but the acting is among the best in American cinema history.
All the performances are near-perfect, and Vivien Leigh as Blanche is absolutely brilliant. She won an Oscar for the portrayal, as did Kim Hunter who played Stella, and Karl Malden who played Blanche’s suitor. Brando was beaten to the Oscar by Humphrey Bogart for African Queen(1951).
The on-location New Orleans photography of Harry Stradling blends vividly with the mood created by the actors.
A 1984 TV movie version starring Ann-Margret and Treat Williams was surprisingly good.
Blanche DuBois
Vivien Leigh Stanley Kowalski
Marlon Brando Stella Kowalski
Kim Hunter Mitch
Karl Malden Steve Hubbell
Rudy Bond Pablo Gonzales
Nick Dennis Eunice Hubbell
Peg Hillias Doctor
Richard Garrick Matron
Ann Dere
Director
Elia Kazan
Video
Related Posts
Sunstruck (1972) Young Welsh schoolteacher and choral director Stanley Evans (Harry Secombe) decides to emigrate to Australia where the New South Wales…
Sleeping Beauty (1959) Based on Charles Perrault's enduring fairy tale, this was Disney's most expensive cartoon to date, costing $6 million and taking…
Stardust (1974) This sequel to That'll Be The Day (1974) - now set in the 1960s - opens appropriately enough in a fairground, providing…
Shadow of the Past (1950) This murder mystery melodrama has handsome ex-RAF officer John Harding (Terence Morgan) come to stay at the flat of his…
Someone at the Door (1950) Attractive young Sally Martin (Yvonne Owen) inherits the family mansion and lives in it with her younger brother, Ronnie (Michael…
Son of Dracula (1973) Billed as "The First Rock and Roll Dracula Movie", Son of Dracula was a project close to the heart of former Beatles…
Spiceworld (1997) The Spice Girls are a global pop star phenomenon and everyone wants to be a part of their world, but…
Sixth Sense, The (1999) 8-year-old Cole (Haley Joel Osment) confesses to his shrink: "I see dead people". But what do the lost souls of…
