A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (original play "A Streetcar Named Desire")
Oscar Saul (adaptation)
(more)

Release Date:

1 December 1951 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

...When she got there she met the brute Stan, and the side of New Orleans she hardly knew existed.

Plot:

Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.

Plot Keywords:

Neurotic | Pregnant Sister | Pregnant | Streetcar | Giving Birth

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Vivien Leigh	...	Blanche DuBois
Marlon Brando	...	Stanley Kowalski
Kim Hunter	...	Stella Kowalski
Karl Malden	...	Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell
Rudy Bond	...	Steve
Nick Dennis	...	Pablo Gonzales
Peg Hillias	...	Eunice
Wright King	...	A Collector
Richard Garrick	...	A Doctor
Ann Dere	...	The Matron
Edna Thomas	...	The Mexican Woman
Mickey Kuhn	...	A Sailor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mel Archer	...	Foreman (uncredited)
Dahn Ben Amotz	...	Bit part (uncredited)
Marietta Canty	...	Giggling woman wth Eunice (uncredited)
John George	...	(uncredited)
Chester Jones	...	Street vendor (uncredited)
Lyle Latell	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Maxie Thrower	...	Passerby (uncredited)
Charles Wagenheim	...	Passerby (uncredited)

Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits
Tennessee Williams		(original play "A Streetcar Named Desire")
Oscar Saul		(adaptation)
Tennessee Williams		(screenplay)

Produced by
Charles K. Feldman	....	producer

Original Music by
Alex North

Cinematography by
Harry Stradling Sr.		(director of photography) (as Harry Stradling)

Film Editing by
David Weisbart

Art Direction by
Richard Day

Set Decoration by
George James Hopkins

Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup artist
Ray Forman	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Otis Malcolm	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Pat O'Grady	....	body makeup artist (uncredited)
Hazel Rogers	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Don Alvarado	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.A. Riggs	....	sound
Nathan Levinson	....	sound (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Lucinda Ballard	....	wardrobe
Lillian House	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Robert O'Dell	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Marguerite Royce	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Ray Heindorf	....	musical director

Other crew
Irene Mayer Selznick	....	presenter: stage play

Production Companies

• Charles K. Feldman Group
• Warner Bros. Pictures (as Warner Bros. Pictures)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1958) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1972) (USA) (TV) (network premiere)
• Warner Home Video (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Vídeo (2000) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• CBS/Fox (video)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (cable tv)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

122 min | USA:125 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:GP (1970 re-release) | USA:Approved (certificate #14871) (original rating) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | France:Unrated | South Korea:12 | UK:12A (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:PG (1993 director's cut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PG (Manitoba)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Charles K. Feldman Group

Trivia:

As of 2003 it is one of only two films in history to win three Academy awards for acting. The other is Network (1976).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Stan comes back from taking Stella to the hospital, he is looking for a bottle opener. He finds it on the mantlepiece shakes up a bottle of beer and opens it. The beer foams up and spills on his trousers. But if you watch at the moment when he swings himself up to sit on the table -- before he opens the bottle -- you can see that the front of his trousers are already wet. Apparently they re-shot it without him changing into dry trousers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
A Sailor: Can I help you, ma'am?
Blanche DuBois: Why, they told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemetery and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Venture Bros.: The Incredible Mr. Brisby (#1.4)" (2004)

"Classical" vs. "Method"

Now that this filmization of "Streetcar" is over a half century old, it can be looked at in a more objective manner than that of the early fifties. The "classical/traditional" acting style of Vivien Leigh, which was placed in stark contrast to the rest of the production personnel, continues to hold its own brilliantly.

It's probably hard today for some to imagine the strong opposition Leigh's casting faced back in 1950, when this prim actress from England was chosen (mostly by studio chief Jack Warner) over "method" Broadway actress Jessica Tandy.

A goodly number of cast and production people from the hit play directed by Elia Kazan were engaged by the director for the film version, and they were not at all enthusiastic about risking a "clash" of acting styles in the leading, pivotal role of Blanche. Kazan himself was reportedly very pro-Tandy, and quite disappointed in the studio's decision.

Yet, Warner and his staff felt Tandy wasn't that well known to the general movie going public--especially in contrast to Leigh, whose marquee name was by then almost magical. In recent interviews, Kazan admitted that working with Vivien was "a real challenge."

In looking at the film today, however, it's Leigh who emerges as a genuine "star" of this production. True, her facial expressions, vocal inflections and body gestures may be the result of careful, deliberate planning, but so what? It's also the aspect that commands attention and draws the viewer to her portion of the screen throughout this film.

Her southern accent, so well learned and retained from her work as Scarlett in "GWTW," is convincing and very beautiful to hear. It also fits Blanche perfectly, as does Leigh's stylized "choreography," which was undoubtedly retained from her long-running London stage performance.

Not all the combined, formidable talents of "method" giants as Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando or Kazan can diminish the hypnotic work of Leigh here. It may not have excited "Gadge" Kazan, but it remains a highlight performance in film history (and impressed the Academy enough to bestow an "Oscar" to Vivien.)

It also didn't hurt to have Alex North's pungent score, which remains this composer's finest hour.