A Streetcar Named Desire [VHS]

I have seen this movie over the decades of my life as I grew from a naive and innocent teenager to a blossoming twenty something, then a mature thirtyish, the wisdom of my forties and now an aging baby boomer. In each part of my life I saw this movie through different eyes. Now I have come back to it once more, with much life experience, heartache and losse and have an even deeper appreciation for this brilliant movie.Elia Kazan manages to make the transition from the stage play that he directed to this scintillating movie version with almost all of the original cast intact. The casting of Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois was the only change, due to the necessity of having a marquee name to get the movie made. Karl Malden and Kim Hunter were Broadway stage actors and unknowns in Hollywood. Marlon Brando had only made one previous film, "The Men", but was also still unknown to movie audiences. Of course, all that would change after the world saw his mesmerizing, fiery, sexually raw, intense portrayal of Stanley Kowalski. In the hands of a lesser actor, Stanley Kowalski could have come off as a two-dimensional, cardboard cartoonish caricature of a neanderthal brute. However, in Brando's hands, he comes across as a multi-layered, complex, ambivalent, mercurial man who can change in a heartbeat from a wife-beating drunken brute to a lost, needy, vulnerable, childlike man who has a surprising tenderness at the most unexpected times. This is the genius of Brando. One never knows quite what to expect from one scene to the next and this adds to the already tense, tightly wound, emotionally charged atmosphere.Vivien Leigh's Blanche Dubois is a faded southern belle, desperately clinging to a lost past, an aristocratic upbringing on the family estate Belle Rive, a life that is dead and gone forever. Blanche has created an artificial world of fantasy and illusion to hide how lonely and desolate her reality has become. She has never gotten over the trauma of falling in love with a young man who betrayed her love. She turned on him cruelly and he killed himself. Blanche is still haunted by this tragedy and has never really been able to get beyond it. She seems to be a woman incapable of coping with life's tragedies and losses, the setbacks and difficulties that one encounters along the way. She must pretend to be that ageless southern belle, but in reality she has stooped so low as to seduce a seventeen year old student, causing her to be fired from her job as an english teacher. After the loss of Belle Rive she took up residence at a second rate hotel and essentially prostitued herself with a long line of strange men, until finally she was asked to leave. She has fallen a long way, but is determined to keep up the fragile facade of her past, holding a tenuous grip on reality.Stanley is Blanche's nemesis, the one who discovers the truth about her past. It's interesting how my view of Stanley and Blanche has changed over the years. I can now understand why Stanley unmasked Blanche and ended her chance of marrying his best friend Mitch. After the scene in which Stanley beats Stella in a drunken tirade and causes her to run to the upstairs neighbor, but finally come back home, the next morning he overhears a conversation between Blanche and Stella. He hears Blanche describe him as "common", a "survivor of the stone age" and say that she has a plan to get them both out of there. Once Stanley realizes that Blanche is a threat to his very survival, to his territory, his family, then there is no question that he will do whatever he must to destroy her. The battle lines are drawn between Stanley and Blanche and Stella and her conflicting loyalties are caught right in the middle. However, as I watch this movie today, I see that it is inevitable that Blanche will lose this epic battle. She is no match for Stanley, who is tough, uncompromising, strong, determined and outraged at this woman who he sees as a two-faced, pretentious hypocrite without a job, money and totally destitute. I also believe that Stanley is aware enough to realize Blanche's precarious mental state. He senses that she is on the edge, a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. All he has to do is help it along.I no longer see Blanche as a victim. I feel empathy for her plight and her slow descent into madness. It's not a pretty site. However, I can also see that her lies, constructed out of her own necessity to keep up this sham existence, have also caused pain and hurt to others. I can understand Stanley telling his friend Mitch the truth, rather than stand by and watch him make a fool of himself. I don't believe that Mitch or anyone else can ever save Blanche from her fate. At one point in the movie, after the birthday party for Blanche in which Mitch has failed to show up because of what Stanley told him, we see Stanley and Stella arguing heatedly. Stella asks what will Blanche do now if Mitch won't marry her. Stanley utters a line which seems to be a precursor of Blanche's fate. He says - "Oh, her future is all mapped out for her". He gives her a ticket back to Oriole and Blanche is devastated and Stella is angered at this callous gesture.When I watched this movie earlier in my life, I actually felt as someone else did here in their review. I wasn't sure if Stanley raped Blanche or not. That scene that passed for a rape back in 1951, seems somewhat ambiguous now. I never read the play and now I wish that I had done so a long time ago. It would have cleared up a good deal of my confusion. I totally understand the constraints in which the creators of this movie were working back in the days of strict censorship. There are controversial and taboo subjects in this story and some of it had to be removed or at least watered down. I have researched the play online and know the actual story as Williams originally wrote it. Stanley does rape Blanche in a final act of domination and control. In doing so, he pushes her over the edge and the last vestiges of her sanity are destroyed.What I have also come to understand, is that Tennessee Williams didn't write a story about good versus evil, right versus wrong. This is not a morality tale. This is reality versus illusion. Stanley represents the modern world in all its raw coarseness, survival of the fittest. Blanche represents a bygone world, a halcyon existence that has faded into the past, a world of frivolity, elegance, gentility and grace. She cannot adapt to this new world and retreats into a world of make-believe. After the scene in which Mitch angrily confronts Blanche and leaves, having found out the truth for himself, we see Blanche alone in the darkened apartment. She has gotten all dressed up with a tiara and ballgown and is conversing with imaginary guests, retreating into a long ago night of partying at Belle Rive. She is once more the southern belle, humming along to imaginary music. Her reverie is interrupted by Stanley arriving home from the hospital. The two of them will spend the night alone there together. The final confrontation will inevitably take place in the ugliest possible way. Their destinies will collide one last time and, when it is over, Blanche will have gone completely out of her mind.The original ending was changed at the insistence of the censors, but I believe that they didn't achieve what they intended. Somehow Kazan filmed the ending in such an ambiguous way with Stella running upstairs to the neighbor vowing that this time she won't ever go back. It isn't convincing, not with what we know of her relationship with Stanley. I always felt that she never really left for good. Now that I know the real ending, it's almost as though I knew what Tennessee Williams had in mind without ever reading the play. The censors just succeeded in muddying everything, clouding it with doubt. That's why the ending never really made sense to me. I think that people will come away with their own ideas about the ending. The triumph is that this movie got made at all. The basic story is still intact, the actors stayed faithful to their characters and Kazan's brilliant direction made it all come together in the end.Truth has a way of coming through even when some are determined to try to cover it up. The censors didn't really change the ending. They didn't take away a powerful story of passion, betrayal, deceit, lust, brutal truth and a climactic battle that ended inevitably. This movie has stood the test of time and is as powerful and unsettling and relevant today as it was sixty years ago. Everyone owes it to themselves to watch true greatness.

"A Streetcar Named Desire" (Warner Bros., 1951) was director Elia Kazan's seventh film.A troubled Southern belle, Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), arrives in New Orleans to live with her sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando). The seemingly genteel and delicate Blanche is shocked by the decrepit state of her sister's French Quarter flat and by the brutish manners of her husband. She quickly latches onto one of Stanley's friends, the comparably well-mannered Mitch (Karl Malden), and sees in him a safe harbor in the storm. Stanley resents Blanche's intrusion and haughty demeanor and soon discovers the secrets of her sordid past, which he reveals to Mitch and Stella. Mitch rejects Blanche and she descends into madness. In a rousing climax to their game of "cat and mouse," Stanley rapes Blanche and she is subsequently dispatched to a sanitarium.Elia Kazan directed Tennessee William's Pulitzer Prize-winning play on Broadway where it had a two-year run and adapted the play to film. Although a few scenes were shot on location in New Orleans, most of "Streetcar" was filmed in studio.Nominated for twelve Academy Awards, "Streetcar" won Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Hunter) and Best Supporting Actor (Malden). Kazan had been nominated for Best Director and Brando for Best Actor. Although he didn't win an Oscar, Brando's performance was a stunning tour de force and revolutionized film acting. Jessica Tandy played the part of Blanche on Broadway but Leigh was brought aboard for the film version due to her draw power. Although Leigh won an Academy Award, her portrayal is a bit over-the-top. Malden is great and Hunter is okay. Alex North's jazzy score is wonderful. The cinematography is good but the viewer tires of seeing Leigh's fading beauty through a cheesecloth. Richard Day and George Hopkins deservedly won the Oscar for art direction.As an interesting aside, William's choice of a Polish American character for the role of the brutish brother-in-law was no accident. The working-class, "dumb Polak," stereotype was quite prevalent throughout America in the 1950's and it would peak in the 1960's and 1970's. Surprisingly, Polish American academia has not addressed the "dumb Polak" phenomenon in a substantial way.This package contains two DVDs; one for the film and the other for special features. Commentary is provided by Rudy Behlmer, Jeff Young, and Karl Malden. Very little of the commentary is devoted to scenes from the film, most is a discussion of the personalities involved with the play and film.Special features include: "Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey," a wonderful 1995 documentary of the filmmaker narrated by Eli Wallach. Also included are five documentary shorts: A Streetcar on Broadway, A Streetcar in Hollywood, Censorship and Desire, North and the Music of the South, and An Actor Named Brando. These documentaries basically rehash the same information provided in the commentary but the clips of Karl Malden and Kim Hunter are priceless. Also included are film and audio outtakes and a Brando screen test. Censored by the film industry at the time of its initial theatrical release, this DVD presents "Streetcar" in its original version."A Streetcar Named Desire" is considered a cinematic milestone and is ranked # 45 on the American Film Institute's 1998 listing of the 100 Greatest American Films. This is a nice DVD package of a very important movie which elevated Kazan to the ranks of America's finest directors.

Wanted to see young Brando in action. Great movie

People believe that this film has held up well because of Marlon Brando and his "sexually charged energy" bringing method mumbling- er, acting- into the Hollywood circle. Thanks to him, every contemporary male actor mumbles their way through their lines, chin at their chest. His style of acting is good in this film, because his character is a serial rapist, and it works in On The Waterfront, because his character is a half-witted boxer, but outside of those two movies, it just gets boring. He is attractive, I will give him that, but he's hardly the greatest actor of the 1950s.Moving along. The performance that stuck with me most was honestly Vivien Leigh's Blanche Dubois. People have dissed Leigh's acting style as pretentious and artificial, especially compared to Brando the god, but her character is a fragile woman, teetering on the edge of sanity, living in her own world. She WOULD act pretentious and artificial. And seeing as Vivien Leigh was not a healthy woman (she suffered from depression and bipolar disorder, as well as bouts of tuberculosis which eventually killed her), it tended to translate to her roles. Sort of like Joan Crawford with her alcoholism and mental issues, there was no way for either actress to hide the hurt on their faces, the defeat, the fact that they were chewed up and spit out and disgusted with themselves, and it showed up in all of their later roles, even when they were trying to play strong characters. To be honest, Joan Crawford would have made a very good Blanche Dubois (she was actually a southern belle, unlike Leigh, who for some reason was cast as a southern belle in two blockbusters- GWTW and this one- and won Oscars for her performances in both), but the studios thought that she wasn't good enough to play roles with substance, so we're stuck with Viv. Not stuck. That was bad wording.Kim Hunter and Karl Malden underplay their roles with great effect. Elia Kazan directs almost seamlessly, but in this film, it's about the actors. It's amazing film, and could have been made a decade ago. Nice to see the clash of 1930s and 1950s acting styles, but for me, the 1930s wins.Of course, a lot from the play is changed, but I was surprised at how much they were allowed to keep in. Read the play after watching this one.

„Endstation Sehnsucht“ gilt als ein Klassiker in der Theaterwelt und wird auch heute noch regelmäßig aufgeführt. Der Klassiker von Tennessee Williams aus dem Jahre 1947 wurde erfolgreich am Broadway gespielt und 1951 schließlich das erste Mal verfilmt, unter der Regie von Elia Kazan. Für die große Verfilmung wurden fast alle Schauspieler vom Broadway-Stück gecastet, darunter auch der junge, hübsche Marlon Brando. Das Werk wurde wie zu erwarten ein Hit und räumte auch bei den Oscars einige Preise ab: 12 (!) Nominierungen und vier Trophäen, darunter drei Oscars für die Schauspieler. Nur Marlon Brando ging leider leer aus. Mittlerweile ist der Film über 70 Jahre alt, Grund genug um zu schauen, wie sich das Ganze gehalten hat.Die hübsche Blanche zieht gezwungenermaßen zu ihrer Schwester Stella und ihrem Mann Stanley. Blanche, die sonst ein kultivierteres und wohlhabenderes Leben genossen hat, muss nun in einer engen Wohnung zurecht kommen und gerät schnell mit dem direkten und launischen Stanely aneinander. Und so dauert es nicht lang, bis sich die Ereignisse überschlagen…Anders als das Stück, gibt es hier ein paar Änderungen, die vor allem damit zu tun haben, dass der Film entschärft werden musste, aufgrund des unsäglichen Hays Code (der sorgte dafür, dass alle amerikanischen Filme zwischen den 30ern und 60ern deutlich konservativer wurden). Besonders interessant wird es am Schluss, denn auch hier wurde das Finale etwas abgeändert, um der Geschichte eine Art bittersüßes Ende zu geben. Mich persönlich hat das nicht wirklich gestört, der Film schafft es auch mit diesen Änderungen eine dreckige und düstere Atmosphäre der menschlichen Abgründe zu schaffen. Besonders die beiden Protagonisten zeigen ihre düsteren Seiten, wobei es vor allem an Stanely liegt, das Publikum und seine Mitmenschen zu schockieren.„Endstation Sehnsucht“ trumpft vor allem mit seinen grandiosen Schauspielern auf. Marlon Brando und Vivien Leigh (zwei absolute Augenweiden) sind grandios! Es ist toll zu sehen, wie animalisch und authentisch ihre Darstellungen damals bereits waren, da viele Schauspieler aus der Zeit für heutige Verhältnisse steif und künstlich wirken. Nur die emotionalen Schock-Momente der weiblichen Darsteller haben mich ab und zu genervt, denn es ist immer wieder dieses typische, ruckartige Losreißen, gefolgt von einem weinenden Weglaufen oder auch ein energisches sich auf's Bett schmeißen…Dennoch überzeugen hier alle Schauspieler auf ganzer Linie. Es ist eben ein Theaterstück, das von einem starken Ensemble lebt und genau das bekommt man auch hier geboten. Und ich als Schauspieler bekomme sofort Lust selbst zu spielen!Optisch sieht der Film klasse aus, die Schwarz-Weiß-Optik passt perfekt zur düsteren, farblosen Geschichte. Zudem gibt es (anders als im Stück) neue Locations, abseits des kleinen Apartments, um dem Ganzen etwas mehr Abwechslung zu geben. Auch die Musik von Alex North ist toll: Dramatische Score-Momente verbinden sich mit ruppigen Noir-Jazz.Fazit: Es sollte kein Wunder sein, dass „Endstation Sehnsucht“ ein beeindruckendes Filmwerk ist, das sich bis heute wunderbar gehalten hat. Wenn es um Tennessee geht, mag ich zwar etwas mehr „Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach“, aber dieser Klassiker hat seinen Status zurecht verdient, vor allem wegen der fantastischen Darsteller!

I bought this after watching the NT's production starring Gillian Anderson at our local cinema. The performances in the film are stunning and it's fun to compare the two works on every level. The Blu-Ray only adds to the enjoyment.

Wow! We really are in the midst of a great period of home movie consumption. With much revered classics looking better than ever before on Bluray discs, it really is a marvellous time for movies in the home. The Bluray in question here is simply fantastic and Streetcar has never looked so glorious! The shaky old DVD copy is quite redundant now for all who love this classic movie. Dark and brooding is the order of the day here and this Bluray transfer is just so. And intentionaly so. For a 60 year old piece of celluloid this looks fabulous.With a barnstorming and bestial performance from Brando, a fragile, mesmerising Vivien Leigh and great turns by Kim Hunter and Karl Malden the film deservedly won 4 Oscars in 1951 and is still a powerful piece today. Interestingly, 3 of the 4 leads won the Oscar in their category for acting with only Brando missing out in the lead actor category. To Humphrey Bogart no less.The sumptuous set designs and art direction also triumphed and its easy to see why.Extra features on the disc are ported from a previous edition of the movie but are extremely noteworthy. A brilliant, pieced together commentary track with the ever informative, if a little dry, Rudy Behlmer, actor Karl Malden and Jeff Young. A fascinating documentary on director Elia Kazan which is over an hour long, a couple of featurettes on the play from which the film came and its journey from stage to screen and some other interesting tidbits examining some background on the movie.Easy to recommend this is a beautiful release of a magnificent movie!

Un vrai chef d'oeuvre dans tous les sens du terme.Un Marlon Brando au sommet de son art, d'une virilité assassine.Vivien Leigh y incarne l'un de ses meilleurs rôles à l'écran.Mention spécial à Kim Hunter qui joue la femme de Stanley elle est incroyable.Un film à voir absolument pour tout cinéphile qui se respect.