A Streetcar Named Desire (1951 film)

A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1951 American romantic drama film adaptation of the 1947 play of the same name by Tennessee Williams, who also wrote the screenplay with Oscar Saul. It was directed by Elia Kazan, who had also directed the original stage production, and starsMarlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden; all but Leigh were chosen from theBroadway cast of the play, while Leigh had starred in the London West End production. It was produced by talent agent and lawyer Charles K. Feldman, and released by Warner Bros. The film had many revisions to remove references to homosexuality, among other things.

A Streetcar Named Desire marked as the first film ever to win three out of four acting categories at Academy Award, including Best Actress for Leigh, Best Supporting Actor for Malden, andBest Supporting Actress for Hunter. Only Brando's performance as Stanley Kowalski did not win the Oscar. The film is also marked as the first film ever to have won both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards.

Plot

As in the play, the film presents Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), a fading but nevertheless attractive Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask delusions of grandeur and alcoholism. Her poise is an illusion she presents to shield others, and most of all herself, from her reality, in an attempt to make herself still attractive to new male suitors. Blanche arrives from her hometown of Auriol, Mississippi (changed from Laurel in the play) at the apartment of her sister, Stella Kowalski (Kim Hunter), in the French Quarter of New Orleans, on Elysian Fields Avenue; the local transportation she takes to arrive there includes astreetcar route named "Desire." The steamy, urban ambiance is a shock to Blanche's nerves.

Explaining that her ancestral southern plantation, Belle Reve in Auriol, Mississippi, has been "lost" due to the "epic debauchery" of her ancestors, Blanche is welcomed with some trepidation by Stella, who fears the reaction of her husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). Blanche says her supervisor gave her time off her job as an English teacher because of her upset nerves. The truth was, she was fired for having an affair with a 17-year-old male student. This turns out not to be the only seduction she had engaged in — and these problems led Blanche to run away from Auriol. A brief marriage scarred by the suicide of her spouse, Allen Grey, has led Blanche to live in a world in which her fantasies and illusions are seamlessly mixed with her reality.

In contrast to both the self-effacing and deferential Stella and the pretentious refinement of Blanche, Stella's husband, Stanley, is a force of nature: primal, rough-hewn, brutish and sensual. He dominates Stella in every way and is physically and emotionally abusive. Stella tolerates his primal behaviour as this is part of what attracted her in the first place; their love and relationship is heavily based on powerful, even animalistic, sexual chemistry - something Blanche says she finds impossible to understand, despite long glances of admiration and lust towards Stanley.

The arrival of Blanche upsets her sister and brother-in-law's system of mutual dependence. Stella's concern for her sister's well-being emboldens Blanche to hold court in the Kowalski apartment, infuriating Stanley and leading to conflict in his relationship with his wife. Stanley's friend and Blanche's would-be suitor, Harold "Mitch" Mitchell (Karl Malden), is trampled as Blanche and Stanley head for a collision course. Stanley discovers Blanche's past through a co-worker who travels to Auriol frequently. He confronts Blanche with the things she has been trying to put behind her, partly out of concern that her character flaws may be damaging to the lives of those in her new home (just as they were in Auriol), and partly due to resentment of her airs of superiority toward him and a distaste for pretense in general. However, his attempts to "unmask" her are predictably cruel and violent.

Their final confrontation — a rape — results in Blanche's nervous breakdown. Stanley has her committed to a mental institution. In the closing moments, Blanche utters her signature line to the kindly doctor and nurse who lead her away: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers", reminding us of one of the flaws that has led her to this point — relying too heavily on the attentions and kindness of men to fulfill and rescue her. The reference to the streetcar called Desire — providing the aura of New Orleans geography — is symbolic. Blanche not only has to travel on a streetcar route named "Desire" to reach Stella's home on "Elysian Fields" but her desire acts as an irrepressible force throughout the play — she can only hang on as her desires lead her. Mitch, (knowing Stanley raped Blanche and had her committed to a mental institution) lashes out and punches Stanley but is held back by the other men, he starts to weep but when the other men stare at Stanley he claims he "never touched her once".

Devastated with her sister's fate, Stella weeps and rejects Stanley's intention to comfort her and pushes him away. Stella runs out to see Blanche off, but is too late, as the car Blanche left in is already gone. As he cries her name once more ("Stella! Hey, Stella!"), Stella clings to her child and vows that she is "never going back" to Stanley again. She goes upstairs once more in order to seek refuge with her neighbor, Eunice, as Stanley continues to call her name.

[edit]Cast

Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

• Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois
• Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski
• Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski
• Karl Malden as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell
• Rudy Bond as Steve Hubbel
• Nick Dennis as Pablo Gonzales
• Peg Hillias as Eunice Hubbel
• Wright King as A Collector
• Richard Garrick as A Doctor

[edit]Adaptation, censorship and re-releases

The play's themes were controversial causing the screenplay for the film to be watered down to comply with the Hollywood Production Code. In the film, Stella renounces Stanley's rape of Blanche, perhaps to the point of leaving the household. In the original play, the ending is more ambiguous, with Stella, distraught at having sent off her sister Blanche, mutely allowing herself to be consoled by Stanley. Williams, in his memoirs, describes the film as "marvelous performances in a great movie, only slightly marred by Hollywood ending"^[1].

In the original play, Blanche's deceased husband, Allan Grey, had committed suicide after he was discovered having a homosexual affair. This material was removed for the film; Blanche says only that she showed scorn towards Allan, driving him to suicide.

Some of these changes were in the screenplay. Others were present but cut after filming was complete in order to conform to the Production Code and to avoid condemnation by the National Legion of Decency. According to the audio commentary track for the DVD version, these cuts were made without the knowledge of the director.

While the film was originally distributed by Warner Brothers, it was mainly a production of Charles K. Feldman's company. Feldman (and eventually his estate) would gain all ancillary rights through 1993. Through the decades, the film was re-released and outsourced through different studios, first by 20th Century Fox for a 1958 re-issue, and in 1970 through United Artists (which for many years owned the pre-1950 WB library). UA would ultimately hold television syndication and home video (through what was then CBS/Fox Video) until 1992 when the Feldman estate sold their share of the film to the Motion Picture and Television Fund. The Fund chose Warner Bros. to co-operate in a restoration of the film to director Kazan's original vision (adding back several minutes of controversial footage that had been previously cut^[2]), and thus Warner Bros. would gain back major rights to this film for the first time since its original 1951 release. While the film is now copyrighted by the MPTF, WB now has all ancillary rights, including home video, theatrical, and television distribution, which explains why all current video releases are by Warner Home Video.

The current DVD release has the following restored scenes:

• Stella says "Stanley's always smashed things. Why, on our wedding night, as soon as we came in here, he snatched off one of my slippers and rushed about the place smashing the light bulbs with it...I was sort of thrilled by it."
• The dialogue makes it clearer that Blanche's husband was a homosexual and that she made him commit suicide with her insults.
• Blanche's line explaining that she wants to kiss the paperboy "softly and sweetly" now has the words "...on your mouth" at the end.
• When Stella takes refuge upstairs after Stanley punches her, her emotions are made clear as she is shown in close up, her face blank with desire.
• Stanley's line "Maybe you wouldn't be so bad to interfere with." and the ensuing rape scene.

[edit]Production

[edit]Casting

Jessica Tandy, who had played Blanche DuBois on Broadway, was bypassed in favour of Vivien Leigh, star of the London production, at the insistence of the producers. This was because her fame from films such as Gone with the Wind provided the star power which they felt the film needed; Brando had not yet achieved the fame necessary to draw audiences.^[3]

[edit]Locations and design

Most of the filming was on studio sets in Hollywood, but a few exteriors were filmed in New Orleans, most notably the opening scenes of Blanche's arrival. The streetcar visible in the film is Perley Thomas #922, still in service in New Orleans.^{[citation needed]}

During studio shooting, Elia Kazan made the set walls movable so that, with each passing scene, the walls could close in on Blanche Dubois (thus mirroring her insanity).^{[citation needed]}

Brando's iconic tight T-shirt had to be made specially, as one could not buy fitted T-shirts at the time; a regular T-shirt was bought, it was washed several times and its back was sewn in order to tighten it for Brando.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Soundtrack

The music score, by Alex North, was a radical departure from the major trend in Hollywood at that time, which was action-based and overly manipulative. Instead of composing in the traditional leitmotif style, North wrote short sets of music that reflected the psychological dynamics of the characters. For his work on the film, North was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music Score, one of two nominations in that category that year. He also was nominated for his music score for the film version of another play, Death of a Salesman, which also was composed with his unique technique. However, he lost to Franz Waxman's score for A Place in the Sun.

[edit]Reception

[edit]Critical response

The film drew very high praise from critics. New York Times critic Bosley Crowther praised the film, stating that "inner torments are seldom projected with such sensitivity and clarity on the screen." Film critic Roger Ebert also expressed praise for the film, calling it a "great ensemble of the movies." The film currently has a very high 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 reviews.

[edit]Accolades

The film won four awards at the 24th Academy Awards. That includes three awards for acting, making A Streetcar Named Desire tied for film with most acting at Oscar nominations, the other was Network in 1976. The awards it won was for Actress in a Leading Role (Leigh), Actor in a Supporting Role (Malden), Actress in a Supporting Role (Hunter), and Art Direction.^[4]

Award	Result	Winner
Best Motion Picture	Nominated	Charles K. Feldman, producer Winner was Arthur Freed (MGM) – An American in Paris
Best Director	Nominated	Elia Kazan Winner was George Stevens – A Place in the Sun
Best Actor	Nominated	Marlon Brando Winner was Humphrey Bogart – The African Queen
Best Actress	Won	Vivien Leigh
Best Writing, Screenplay	Nominated	Tennessee Williams Winner was Harry Brown and Michael Wilson – A Place in the Sun
Best Supporting Actor	Won	Karl Malden
Best Supporting Actress	Won	Kim Hunter
Best Art Direction–Set Decoration, Black-and-White	Won	Richard Day and George Hopkins
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White	Nominated	Harry Stradling Winner was William C. Mellor – A Place in the Sun
Best Costume Design, Black-and-White	Nominated	Lucinda Ballard Winner was Edith Head – A Place in the Sun
Best Music, Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture	Nominated	Alex North Winner was Franz Waxman – A Place in the Sun
Best Sound Recording	Nominated	Nathan Levinson Winner was Douglas Shearer – The Great Caruso

In 1999, A Streetcar Named Desire was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

American Film Institute recognition

• 1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #45
• 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #67
• 2005 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
  • "Stella! Hey, Stella!" #45
  • "I've always depended on the kindness of strangers," #75
• 2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #19
• 2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #47

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