A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

 Blanche favors the light.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a rare film, no don't make movies like this anymore. It's based on a Tennessee Williams play of the same name, I have always enjoyed the screen adapations to his intense plays. Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Vivien Leigh, and Karl Malden are smoldering together. All four actors are extremely talented and Leigh's performance as aging southern belle, Blanche Du Bois is so heartbreaking and real. I highly recommend this timeless black & white classic! April 25, 2008

 Good Film! Terrible DVD!
This is a very good, touching and terrifying at times film about how people use, intimidate and ill-treat each other even among families. A poor, long-suffering lady is close to a mental breakdown and comes to seek out her sister for help but in the end this only leads to a totally opposite outcome. Both Leigh and Brando put in excellent performances here and so does Karl Malden who together with Brando would go on to even better things with "On the Waterfront."

The problem is with the DVD which hasn't been restored at all making for very, very poor picture and sound quality. With the advent of Blu-Ray, here's hoping they would take this opportunity to totally remaster this film and to add good bonus features which are totally missing here. Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or DTS THX sound options would be a real treat.

This is a good film but I recommend you wait for a much better restored version to surface and not to waste your hard earned money on this very, very poor DVD version. April 25, 2008

 A line is straight, or a street. But the heart of a human being?
This is one of the greatest scores ever written for a film. North was able to make the jazz sound improvised, while working in the character leitmotifs at the same time. Track 10, Revelation, is a revelation, when Blanche tells Mitch about her sordid past while trying to desperately find someone to replace her dead, young husband.

The stereo sound on this disc is jaw-dropping. Digital recordings, especially of orchestral music, are usually too transparent, too soft, and the sound just dissipates into thin air. But this has the richness and warmth of an analogue to digital recording. It will fill your living room or your car.

Goldsmith takes some of the cues faster or slower than they are in the original soundtrack recording (which, by the way, also sounds GREAT, even in 1951 mono), but this means one can wallow in North's rich orchestration and soak up the steamy New Orleans atmosphere.

Too bad this disc is out of print. Find it, if you can, even if it means depending upon the kindness of strangers. February 1, 2008

 Lousy Commentary
Most of the commentary had nothing to do with the scenes in the movie. It was basically anecdotes from the play that had already been told on the bonus CD that accompanies the package. I felt that Brando was the only one of the 4 cast members that deserved the Oscar yet he is the only one that didn't receive one. Ironically, although we always hear about Brando mumbling, it was Vivian Leigh who was mumbling in which you couldn't understanding everything she said. The movie is somewhat dated but worth a watch. November 16, 2007

 "A Streetcar Named Desire": A MUST For Any Collection Worth Its Cinematic Salt...
The music at the beginning of "A Streetcar Named Desire" sends jolts through me that stir my emotions like a violent wind whipping flames through my soul every time I watch this DVD. That may sound dramatic, but it is truly how I feel when I hear the music of "A Streetcar Named Desire." To me, it is not merely the music of a film's score or music that is representative of a single film, but it is the music and the representation of an entire era - an era in which unmatched cinematic history was created. It is the awareness of the stage production that came before the film and the lives lived by those involved in creating the unrivaled work of art that "Streetcar" was and still is. We shall never again see the likes of Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Elia Kazan, Tennessee Williams, and others who brought "Streetcar" to life.

Marlon Brando is breathtaking, both physically and artistically, in this film. He plays the role of Stanley Kowalski, the brutish brother-in-law of Blanche DuBois, performed, shiningly, by Vivien Leigh. Stanley, the brute, is a character whose value system is quite contrary to that of Marlon Brando who portrays him in this film. Marlon reportedly once said that Stanley Kowalski exhibited "everything I loathe in men."

Early on in the film, Stanley meets his wife's sister, Blanche, and takes an immediate disliking to her. Then, throughout the remainder of the film, he works to systematically break her already fragile spirit, driving her further toward insanity - a state of mind she has teetered on for some time already. Stanley is not a man completely devoid of human feelings, however. Despite his egocentric tendencies, his crassness, and his crude behavior, he loves and cares about his wife, Stella, and is loving, tender, and needful where she is concerned.

In one scene, after Stella and Stanley have fought, Stella goes to stay with their upstairs neighbor and Stanley, revived from a drunken state with a cold shower forced upon him by his poker pals, stands haplessly (his clothes dripping wet)at the bottom of the stairs, tearfully, his face wrought with pain and his hands grasping the sides of his face, calling for his wife, "Stellaaaaaa!" It is a cry heard around the world and a scene replayed over and over again by fans, reviewers, and talk show hosts for a long time afterward. Stella succumbs to her feelings for Stanley and his need for her in that moment. She makes her way, slowly, to the bottom of the stairs where Stanley has, tearfully, fallen to his knees. She falls into his arms and covers his face with passionate kisses as he lifts her up and carries her into the house. "Don't ever leave me," he says.

Soon after his reconciliation with Stella, Stanley is back to his usual ways and his torment of Blanche is ongoing and relentless, culminating in a scene later in the film in which Stanley physically, emotionally, and sexually assaults Blanche while Stella is away at the hospital, preparing to give birth to her and Stanley's baby. Blanche is driven over the edge by the act. Stella returns from the hospital after giving birth to find her sister in an even more fragile state than before and makes the decision to commit Blanche to a mental institution. Stella's heart breaks for her sister as her sister is taken away and she lashes out at her husband, Stanley, whom she faults for her sister's circumstance. Despite this, Stella's final words in the film ring unconvincing when she tells Stanley never to touch her again and when she vows to never go back home to him again.

"A Streetcar Named Desire," written by the incomparable Tennessee Williams under the unparalleled directorial expertise of Elia Kazan, is among the greatest of the greats in films and filmmaking. Each time I have seen it, it has left me with a longing -a wishing to have been there to see the stage production and to have had a part in the creation of this film masterpiece, to have known the players, and to have watched them work in putting together this, one of the best pictures ever made.

For those considering purchasing this two-disk DVD set, it not only contains the film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire," but it also contains outtakes and commentaries, including a touching tribute to Marlon Brando by the wonderfully talented Karl Malden. Marlon Brando's screen test for "Rebel Without A Cause" is also on one of the disks as well as other inclusions that I was pleased to find. November 1, 2007

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