A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (screen play)
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:

Pregnant Sister | Streetcar | Louisiana | Neurotic | Love

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Vivien Leigh	...	Blanche
Marlon Brando	...	Stanley
Kim Hunter	...	Stella
Karl Malden	...	Mitch
Rudy Bond	...	Steve
Nick Dennis	...	Pablo
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 with Eunice (uncredited)
John George	...	(uncredited)
John Gonetos	...	Vendor (uncredited)
Chester Jones	...	Street Vendor (uncredited)
Lyle Latell	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Maxie Thrower	...	Passerby (uncredited)
Charles Wagenheim	...	Passerby (uncredited)
John B. Williams	...	Vendor (uncredited)
Buck Woods	...	Vendor (uncredited)

Directed by
Elia Kazan

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

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		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Bertram Tuttle		(supervising art director) (uncredited)

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	....	first assistant director (uncredited)
John Prettyman	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
John More	....	props (uncredited)
George Sweeney	....	assistant props (uncredited)

Sound Department
C.A. Riggs	....	sound
Nathan Levinson	....	sound (uncredited)
Francis E. Stahl	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Frank Weixel	....	cableman (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Albin	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Paul Butner	....	best boy (uncredited)
Robert Campbell	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Stuart Higgs	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
E. Truman Joiner	....	grip (uncredited)
Fred Mandl	....	second camera (uncredited)
Wally Meinardus	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Harry Whittingham	....	best boy (uncredited)

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

Music Department
Ray Heindorf	....	musical director
Maurice De Packh	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Irene Mayer Selznick	....	presenter: on the stage
Polly Craus	....	script clerk (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Charles K. Feldman Group (as A Charles K. Feldman Group Production) (An Elia Kazan Production)
• Warner Bros

Distributors

• Warner Bros (1951) (USA) (theatrical) (presents)
• Motion Picture Export Association (MPEA) (1952) (Austria) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1952) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (1958) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• United Artists (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• 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)
• 20th Century Fox Television (19??) (USA) (TV) (cable)
• Argentina Video Home (2000) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (2002) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Argentina Video Home (2006) (Argentina) (DVD) (2-disc edition)
• Argentina Video Home (2010) (Argentina) (DVD) (as part of the pack 'Triple Clasicos del Cine')
• CBS/Fox Home Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• International DVD Group (2008) (Argentina) (DVD) (Colección Joyas del Cine)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2012) (Germany) (DVD) (Blu-Ray)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements (1993 director's cut)

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:

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) | 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 | West Germany:12 (video) | West Germany:18 | Brazil:12 | Netherlands:18 (original rating) (1952)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Charles K. Feldman Group

Trivia:

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #47 Greatest Movie of All Time.

Goofs:

Continuity: During conversation about Napoleonic Code between Stella and Stanley, plate Stanley has been eating off disappears off top of trunk which is suddenly open.

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 Princess and the Frog (2009)

Soundtrack:

Somebody Loves Me

If great performances is what you desire, hop on this streetcar.

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.