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.

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (screen play), Oscar Saul (adaptation)

Stars:

Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter

Won 4 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Blanche DuBois, a high school English teacher with an aristocratic background from Auriol, Mississippi, decides to move to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski, in New Orleans after creditors take over the family property, Belle Reve. Blanche has also decided to take a break from teaching as she states the situation has frayed her nerves. Knowing nothing about Stanley or the Kowalskis' lives, Blanche is shocked to find that they live in a cramped and run down ground floor apartment - which she proceeds to beautify by putting shades over the open light bulbs to soften the lighting - and that Stanley is not the gentleman that she is used to in men. As such, Blanche and Stanley have an antagonistic relationship from the start. Blanche finds that Stanley's hyper-masculinity, which often displays itself in physical outbursts, is common, coarse and vulgar, being common which in turn is what attracted Stella to him. Beyond finding Blanche's delicate ...

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Plot Keywords:

off screen rape | mental illness | histrionic personality disorder | middle aged woman | sister sister relationship | 

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Taglines:

THE PULITZER PRIZE PLAY of New Orleans' Latin Quarter...of a Lonely Girl...of Emotions Gone Savage!

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic elements

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vivien Leigh initially felt completely at sea when she joined the tight New York cast in rehearsals. Director Elia Kazan was able to exploit her feelings of alienation and disorientation to enrich her performance.

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Goofs

When Stanley is about to give Blanche the birthday "gift" of a ticket back home Marlon Brando opens the wallet to discover that the envelope with the ticket it missing. There is a sharp edit and then the scene continues with the wallet missing from Stanley's hand and replaced with the envelope containing the ticket.

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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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Alternate Versions

The scene in which Blanche and Stanley first meet was edited a bit to take out some of the sexual tension that both had towards each other when the film was first released in 1951. In 1993, this footage was restored in the "Original Director's Version" of the film. The three minutes of newly-added footage sticks out from the rest of the film because Warner Brothers did not bother to restore these extra film elements along with the rest of the movie, leaving them very scratchy due to deterioration.

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Connections

Referenced in Valerie: A Restaurant Named Desire (1988)

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Soundtracks

Goodnight, Ladies
(1847) (uncredited)
Written by Edwin P. Christy
Played as background music

User Reviews

Sexy, Brutal, and Endlessly Fascinating

There is little to be said about this movie that thousands of critics have not stated already. It is a magnificent piece of cinema, with an intricate script delivered by actors at the peak of their talents. Leigh is unbearably brittle and fragile and she dances precariously on the edge of sanity. Marlon Brando embodies a sense of brooding masculinity that other men can only dream of attaining, while creating an enduring cinema icon and delivering one of the all-time great movie lines. From the raucous jazz score to the sleazy production design bathed in smoldering grey, 'Streetcar' is a class-act from beginning to end; sexy, brutal, and endlessly fascinating.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

1 December 1951 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A Streetcar Named Desire

Filming Locations:

Louisville & Nashville Passenger Station, Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,800,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$49,523

Company Credits

Production Co:

Charles K. Feldman Group, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min 125 min (re-release)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1