A Streetcar Named Desire

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UK Release Date: 28 February 1952
Certification: 15
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Rudy Bond, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Viven Leigh, Karl Maiden
Rating: 45%
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"

Review:
I've been studying the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams for my higher English and I do prefer it to quite a few of the plays I've read before. And of course I understand the movie's significance and importance. I realise why it won a total of four Oscars. But it I can tell it's a play and I'm not a huge fan of the classic plays in the vain of Greek tragedies. 

And that brings me to my first criticism of A Streetcar Named Desire, it is a remake of a play. And in my opinion that is extremely hard to do because there is absolutely no story at all. The movie is eleven acts placed one after another. 

On the other hand Marlon Brando is phenomenal in his breakout role. His performance as Stanley Kowalski was the first real instance of method acting seen in Hollywood and it works exceptionally. He effortlessly conveys the destructive, unpleasant and vicious nature of Stanley. Despite the movie's weak story I was thoroughly enthralled when he was on screen. But that is also the movie's biggest weakness as I couldn't careless for any of the scenes he wasn't in. 

The rest of the cast aren't awful but are no where near as good as Brando - even if he's somehow the only one who didn't win an Oscar for their performance in this movie. Viven Leigh is solid, if a little over the top, as the mentally deranged Blanche DuBois. Her rapid deterioration into insanity comes off as too crazy in my opinion, she just feels so out of place compared to every other performance. I'm not sure how Kim Hunter and Karl Maiden won academy awards because I didn't feel that their performances were that great. 

In all honesty, I found A Streetcar Named Desire very tricky to rate because I don't particularly enjoy the movie but I feel the cultural impact and Brando's performance is unprecedented. It's one that I believe as I experience more of the vast range cinema has to offer I will grow to appreciate A Streetcar Named Desire's true value.   

Comments

  1. Linda Riches1 April 2022 at 20:51

    That’s always the problem of transferring a play to film I think. I’ve watched a couple of film versions of plays lately (including The Father with Anthony Hopkins) and it’s hard to escape the feeling that it was never intended for film.

    ReplyDelete

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