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The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.
No. American playwright Tennessee Williams [1911-1983] wrote the original play and also adapted it for the screen.
Outside of some location changes that couldn't be done by the play because it all had to take place onstage, there are two major differences btween the play and the movie: (1) In the play, Blanche [Vivien Leigh] goes into more detail about what she discovers about her young husband and why he shot himself, and (2) the end of the play is different as far as how Stella [Kim Hunter] deals with Stanley [Marlon Brando] (probably due to Hollywood's code-at the time-that no bad deed will go unpunished). Also, the last line of the film is completely different from the play.
When Blanche first arrives at the Kowalskis' apartment in New Orleans, she explains: They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields!. "Desire" is the name of the streetcar route that takes Blanche to her sister's apartment. Elysian Fields is the name of the street on which the Kowalskis live, but it is also the name for the land of the dead in Greek mythology. Knowing that, the allegory becomes fairly obvious. Blanche's nymphomania (desire) has gotten her on a route (the streetcar) that will lead to her death (Elysian Fields).
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