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67 years ago...
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Director: Elia Kazan
Country: United States
Length: 125 minutes
Type: Drama
'A Streetcar Named Desire' was only Marlon Brando's 2nd job in the movies but an instant star-making role. As gruff factory worker Stanley Kowalski he's a muscle-bound hulk of a man, violent and tempestuous with a dangerous sexuality, a method-acting revelation next to most other 1950s stars. Vivien Leigh's transformation from one "southern belle", the determined and unbreakable Scarlett O'Hara who she played in 'Gone With the Wind', to another, the fragile and pitiable Blanche DuBois is so complete that I genuinely had a hard time believing it was the same actress. Harry Stradling's Cinematography makes expert use of light and dark, wherever the actors go they always seem to have shadows moving across their faces and bodies. Director Elia Kazan evokes the claustrophobic heat and humidity, the smell of sweat and rain and the noisy bustle of nights in New Orlean's French Quarter. On the downside, this never feels like anything other than a stage-play, the characters are rarely taken outside of one set and talk in long speeches.
Another Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece next.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Director: Elia Kazan
Country: United States
Length: 125 minutes
Type: Drama
'A Streetcar Named Desire' was only Marlon Brando's 2nd job in the movies but an instant star-making role. As gruff factory worker Stanley Kowalski he's a muscle-bound hulk of a man, violent and tempestuous with a dangerous sexuality, a method-acting revelation next to most other 1950s stars. Vivien Leigh's transformation from one "southern belle", the determined and unbreakable Scarlett O'Hara who she played in 'Gone With the Wind', to another, the fragile and pitiable Blanche DuBois is so complete that I genuinely had a hard time believing it was the same actress. Harry Stradling's Cinematography makes expert use of light and dark, wherever the actors go they always seem to have shadows moving across their faces and bodies. Director Elia Kazan evokes the claustrophobic heat and humidity, the smell of sweat and rain and the noisy bustle of nights in New Orlean's French Quarter. On the downside, this never feels like anything other than a stage-play, the characters are rarely taken outside of one set and talk in long speeches.
Another Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece next.