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 | Romance

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 | Louisiana | Neurotic | Love | Streetcar

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 12 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		(based upon the original play by: "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)
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. Pictures

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (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)
• CBS/Fox Home Video (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)

Also Known As:

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:

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) | 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)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Charles K. Feldman Group

Trivia:

Despite giving the definitive portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, Marlon Brando said he privately detested the character. However, it should be added that Brando was an eccentric character who loved misleading people and playing pranks.

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.

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 "October Road: Spelling It Out (#2.7)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Goodnight, Ladies

Antebellum Delusions

Blanche DuBois reminds me of Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. (1950). Both characters succumb to their alter egos, and descend into their own worlds of fantasy and half-truths.

In "A Streetcar Named Desire", Blanche travels from her antebellum roots in Mississippi to New Orleans, to see her sister Stella. But, upon arriving in the Big Easy, Blanche must confront Stella's husband Stanley, a greasy, poker-playing neanderthal lout who knows a thing or two about reality. It's the clash between Blanche's stately delusions and Stanley's gritty realism that soups up the drama in this Tennessee Williams play, converted to film classic by director Elia Kazan.

The drama is absorbing. But the performances of Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, as Stanley and Blanche, are what make the film the cinematic powerhouse that it is. Excellent B&W lighting and jazzy background music amplify the seedy, sleazy atmosphere, which adds depth and texture to the story and the acting. And, of course, the claustrophobic, steamy French Quarter makes a perfect setting.

As one would expect for a film derived from a play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" is very talky. Generally, I don't care for films burdened with a ten thousand page script. But this talk-fest is an exception. Overwhelming what I would otherwise consider a weakness, the acting of Brando and Leigh alone are enough to justify a two hour investment, and render an enjoyable and memorable cinematic experience.