A Streetcar Named Desire (Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando)
What? Yet another five-star movie on this website? I guess I've been fortunate enough recently to watch some fine movies that I could easily recommend to others and yet can't wait to see again myself. A Streetcar Named Desire is certainly no exception to this trend.
When the credits close on Elia Kazan's 1951 classic, all of the actor's names are the same size, except for Vivien Leigh (whose name is written in a slightly bigger size) and Marlon Brando (whose name is written in a much bigger size than Leigh's). I will definitely agree that Brando's turn as the brutish Stanley Kowalski is not only key to the success of the production, but has had an immeasurable influence for generations of actors to come. His performance is often cited, however, at the expense of Leigh and Karl Malden, who I was equally drawn to in a recent viewing.
Vivien Leigh had long been known for her portrayal as the dynamic Scarlett O'Hara from 1939's Gone With the Wind, but surely Streetcar posed a more fascinating acting challenge and remains the greater performance. She plays Blanche DuBois, a lonely woman who shows up in the bustling city of New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) and brother-in-law Stanley (Brando). It's a part that requires layers of mystery and an almost artificial confidence, which is where Leigh absolutely shines. Take a scene early in the film, for example. A poker game between Stanley and his unruly friends is going on, and the prim and proper Mitch (Malden) stumbles through a conversation with Blanche. Here, with their eyes and body language, Leigh absolutely owns Malden and he lets himself be conquered. It's not just a matter of the character Blanche dominating the character Mitch, these are two actors who are initiating an acting freefall so that the scene can truly come to life. It's interesting to note that of the four major performers, three (Leigh, Malden and Hunter) won acting Oscars and Brando was the only one unawarded.
As director, Kazan faced the challenge of bringing Tennessee Williams's acclaimed play to the screen without suffering from too much box office-damaging controversy. The original 1947 text (adapted for the film by Williams himself) is about sexual tension, mental illness, nymphomania, physical abuse, and, perhaps most disturbingly, rape. One need only recall that this was the year An American in Paris won for Best Picture to understand the context of releasing the risky material for Hollywood consumption. Still, the film was a success (it garnered twelve Academy Award nominations) and challenging the Censorship Board proved to be the right move (although Kazan was forced to cut several scenes in order to appease them prior to release).
From spoofs on the Simpsons to countless theatre productions across the world, A Streetcar Named Desire has become one of the quotable of pieces. "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" and Stanley's pathetic scream for "STELLA!" may be the most well-known of quotations, but in their context they still provide two of the most affecting portions of the movie. Harry Stradling's adept black-and-white cinematography lends a grungy and despairing look to the picture.
This is high-caliber drama at its best. It's natural, tragic, disturbing, and depressing, but is never less than captivating. As Blanche DuBois's situation continues to unravel, her character details fill in more and more for the viewer. It is not until she leaves the Kowalski home that we finally have a complete idea of who Stanley, Stella, Mitch, and Blanche truly are as characters (indeed, as people), and any scene that can uniformly tie these personas up with a minimal amount of dialogue is definitely a winner.
