A Street Car Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire
1951 - B/W – 122 minutes
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden

Stanley and his wife, Stella (Marlon Brando & Kim Hunter), are the earthy couple in New Orleans's French Quarter whose lives are upended by the arrival of Stella's sister, Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh). Blanche, a disturbed, lyrical, faded Southern belle, is immediately drawn into a battle of wills with Stanley, beautifully captured in the differing styles of the two actors. This extraordinarily fine adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, won acting Oscars for Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.

Elia Kazan and the United States Information Service (USIS), Chennai are becoming closely associated for me. As a member of the Library at the USIS Centre, I get invited to the Saturday morning matinee shows there when they screen DVDs of old movie classics in the Basement Auditorium. I saw Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich there as also Kazan’s classic “On The Water Front.”

Today I saw another great Elia Kazan movie, “A Street Car Named Desire” starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and Karl Marden. The movie is an adaptation of the famous play by Tennessee Williams.

Marlon Brando plays a negative role as Stanley, an uneducated mechanic married to a sophisticated southern Belle, Stella (Kim Hunter). His brutal and blunt behavior is offset by Brando’s greek god looks, which take the performance to a different height.

I liked the staircase scene where Stella is coming down from Eunice’s house upstairs and Stan is at the foot of the circular staircase looking up at her. Tight shots and shifting perspectives make the scene memorable.

Hunter’s performance is great when she depicts the pain and uncertainty of living in the French Quarter with a brutal husband she loves truly. She portrays the emotional trauma of being torn between love for her disturbed sister and loyalty to the animalist husband she adores with the minimum of histrionics. She rarely over emotes till the very last scene when she shows repugnance at Stan for the rape of her sister and for being the cause of her slipping off into total insanity.

Karl Marden is also underplayed. I loved his performance in “On the Waterfront.”

Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois is the fourth in this quartet of great acting. Capturing the essence of Williams’ Blanche: Ephemeral, false, imaginary, not of this world, sensual…you name it…she is all this and more.