IMDb > A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) More at IMDbPro »

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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) -- 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.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) -- AllTrailers.net - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 10% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Tennessee Williams (original play "A Streetcar Named Desire")
Oscar Saul (adaptation)
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Contact:
View company contact information for A Streetcar Named Desire on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
1 December 1951 (West Germany) more
Genre:
Tagline:
...When she got there she met the brute Stan, and the side of New Orleans she hardly knew existed. more
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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won 4 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 14 nominations more
User Comments:
If great performances is what you desire, hop on this streetcar. more (174 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Runtime:
122 min | USA:125 min (re-release)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
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) | New Zealand:PG | 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)

Fun Stuff

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). more
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. more
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.
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Movie Connections:

FAQ

A Note Regarding Spoilers
Where does the title come from?
How closely does the movie follow the play?
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40 out of 54 people found the following comment useful.
If great performances is what you desire, hop on this streetcar., 18 June 2005
10/10
Author: tom hamilton (fatleprechan@earthlink.net) from Memphis TN U.S.A.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams, 'A Streetcar Named desire' is set in post World War II New Orleans and centers around a young married couple attempting to keep their bond despite a noted class distinction. Stanley Kowalski, played by Marlon Brando in perhaps one of the greatest performances ever to project off the big screen, is a young Polish American living in a cozy apartment with his quasi-newlywed bride. Stella, a magnolia fresh off a Southern plantation, portrayed with equal panache by Kim Hunter. Things seem to be going along pretty well until Stella's older sister shows up on the doorstep. Blanche Dubois, ( Vivian Leigh ) is a figure as obnoxious as she is tragic, and almost from the very start she is despised by her Polish brother-in-law. Kowalski suddenly discovers that his middle class roots, which hadn't seemed like a much of a point of contention with his new wife, are the subject of snide insinuations and clandestine conversations rolling off the tongue of his sister-in-law. Who, it turns out, is not without considerable baggage herself. That's when the once toasty love nest ( Complete with the memory of twinkling Christmas lights ) turns into a war zone. Things are further complicated when Stanley's Army/factory buddy, brilliantly portrayed by Karl Malden, suddenly takes a shine to Miss Dubois, The incredible thing about 'Streetcar' is not just the quality of the acting, but the way the actors approach the complex and beautiful dialog. Brando combines dynamic sexual magnetism with passionate anger, possessive love and cynicism. Vivian Leigh's tragic character perhaps mirroring the insanity she suffered through in her own life, is portrayed with raving vanity one minute and fleeting youth the next. As she often hears and sees flashbacks which the audience does not. William's dialogue manages to do the impossible, that is to blend in poetic imagery with normal conversation, while not sounding sickly sentimental or downright ridiculous. This is as much a credit to the actors themselves, especially Leigh, who really had to do the bulk of the tough solo

scenes in which Blanche begins to lose her mind for good. But Brando is simply too hard to beat. Stanley Kowalski is fully rounded in every sense when this great American actor delivers his lines. Perhaps the only injustice is that Brando did not receive the Oscar for this film, while his costars Hunter, Leigh and Malden all did. Numerous attempts have been made to remake this film, both on the stage and for television. But no one has been able to execute the premise like this wonderful quartet. A fantastic and moving American classic. 10 out of a possible 10 T.H.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Vivien Leigh wasnt good KKyriacoscar
Who did you sympathize with? myavalon
What does Stanley do for a living? GunHillTrain
STELLLLA!!!!! keeb69
What is it exactly that he hates so much? turnip_head
Brando's acting confuses the hell out of me sensa_moi
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