MOVIE REACTION A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) PATRON PICK First Time Watching Reaction/Review
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- This movie was chosen by our Patron Scott AKA Blue62!
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Great reaction!! A couple of trivia points: the Hays code and the Catholic Legion of Decency insisted on a number of changes from the play. In the play Blanche reveals that she walked in on her young husband in bed "with a much older man who had been his friend for years." His suicide came after -- on the dance floor -- Blanche told him that she "saw" and she "knew" and that he "disgusted" her. Even the mention of homosexuality was not allowed in American movies in 1951. (BTW, audiences weren't so easily fooled... my parents knew that Blanche's young husband was supposed to be gay, because of the "coding" of the character in the film as "sensitive," a "poet," and "ineffectual").
In the confrontation scene between Stanley and Blanche, the Hays code forced the producers to remove a line that makes it quite clear what Stanley is about to do... Stanley tells Blanche "You and me have had this date together from the beginning."
The most significant change was the end: in the play Stella stays with Stanley and it ends with Stanley beginning to fondle Stella's breast. How much Stella believes about Blanche's story would be implied by the actress, but either way the implication is that it can't alter Stella's situation; the key line being the upstairs neighbor's advice, "Don't you never believe it. You've gotta keep on goin'. No matter what, you've gotta keep on going." The reason the Hays code insisted on the change was that Stanley had to be punished for the assault on Blanche... so he had to lose Stella's love. Playwright Tennessee Williams HATED making this change, he tried to give sharp eyed audience members the right cue in the fact that Stella doesn't run away... she only runs upstairs to her neighbor's as she has done countless times before... and will inevitably return.
fantastic run down on the film. And the beginning of real cancel culture with the Hay's Code, and Legion of Decency, which most people don't know
Superb analysis, especially on the ending -- Williams could have had Stella board the Cemeteries and Desire streetcars as Blanche had taken them into the Crescent City; however, her rejection of Stanley only goes as far as going upstairs to the Hubbells's. (She did that before and returned to him, more in love than ever.)
Thus, the spirit of the play is there, even if the letter has changed.
In one of his letters, Raymond Chandler nailed the power of the picture: he didn't think the movie was perfect, but stated that it had "a tremendous performance from Marlon Brando and a skillful, if sometimes wearying performance from Vivien Leigh." You watch Brando and almost forget that he's acting: he simply seems to be embodying Stanley Kowalski. Whereas Leigh is consciously and deliberately acting, all too sure that the wrong step, the wrong gesture or the wrong lighting will ruin her effect.
Recommended: the NTL video with Gillian Anderson as Blanche, Ben Foster as Stanley and Vanessa Kirby as Stella. (Corey Johnson is Mitch, but he's not as good as the other three. Karl Malden does cast a long shadow, especially if you've read his memoir, *When Do I Start?*)
By the way, the young sailor who directs Blanche at the start worked with Vivien Leigh on "Gone with the Wind." His name was Mickey Kuhn and he played Scarlett O'Hara's nephew, Beau Wilkes.
Brando is electric here. He had that presence where the entire focus is on him no matter where the camera's placed.
WHOAH!!! I'm droping everything for this one!!!!! As far as I know the first reaction to this movie! Brando's performance is literally a line in the sand in the history of acting, first when he did this on Broadway and then when he did this movie. There's before-Brando and after Brando, and this is the movie that's the dividing line. Thanks in advance!!!!!
'On The Waterfront' is a must-see Elia Kazan film. An all time classic about mob life and the working class. Had one of the best scripts ever written. Brando won his first Academy Award.
Vivien Leigh who played Blanche was one of the most respected actresses of her day (and half of one of its most celebrated couples during her decades long marriage to Laurence Olivier). She won her second Academy Award for this, the first was for her performance as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. She had done the role on the London stage (the original Broadway production starred Jessica Tandy, among other things she played the mother in "The Birds") to much acclaim.
Unfortunately she suffered from a bipolar disorder and the filming took a heavy toll on her psyche, she herself said that the role tipped her over into madness temporarily and her life afterwards was a series of peaks and valleys (including time in a sanitarium and shock treatments) until her early death at 53 from tuberculosis. She preferred the stage so her film output is relatively small but contains some really fine films-aside from this and GWTW there is also "Waterloo Bridge"-her own favorite of her films, "Sidewalks of London" and "Ship of Fools" among others.
She is very powerful, and considering her fragility, brave, in "Ship of Fools"; and utterly charming, silly and beautiful in "Caesar and Cleopatra" (though it's a Shaw play that I have trouble with). She played Blanche on the London stage for a while, and her ex husband Laurence Olivier noted what a toll it took on her. With Olivier, she starred in "That Hamilton Woman", and there is a moment of reaction and action in utter silence at the end of the movie which shows you what a power house of talent she was.
I liked her as Anna Karenina,, a beautiful movie except the guy that played Vronsky, he was terrible. They wanted Laurence Olivier for the part but he was unavaiilable.
You should watch Vivien Leigh in her earlier films. She was absolutely stunning. Her character in Gone With the Wind was basically Blanche before circumstances destroyed her.
God, I love Vivien Leigh acting should watch her in gone with the wind, quite a performance
Another iconic and stellar stage to screen transfer is 1966's WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? It was Mike Nichols' first film, and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. This would make a great reaction video!
OMG…Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf… that’s a FANTASTIC SUGGESTION!!! One of my very favorites! As a teenager the first time I saw it I found it deeply disturbing especially because I grew up in a home with my parent’s often having drunken arguments. However on each subsequent viewing I find it hilarious ❤️
I love"who's afraid of virginia wolfe".
What a dump....hey, whats that from? Can quote that movie for days...klink klink that and Lion in Winter....but I'd shock the children....
@@rcmorl6390 If you don't know...."what a dump" is from Bette Davis, in the 1949 "Beyond the Forest."
The thematic cue is in the name: "desire". When you apply that filter to interpreting the characters and their motivations, you really get a kind of universal comment on our human drives - for better or, mainly, for worse.
The broken mirror signifies Stanley raping Blanche - something that couldn't be shown directly according to the Hays code.
Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams was born in 1911. (He claimed 1914 for a time to qualify for a playwriting contest, but 1911 is correct.)
"Hud" came out in 1963. (Star Paul Newman has two Williams movies to his credit: "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Sweet Bird of Youth.")
Thornton Wilder, the author of *Our Town,* saw *Streetcar* in try-outs and told Williams that it was based on a logical fallacy: a lady like Stella DuBois would never be attracted to a brute like Stanley Kowalski.
Williams accepted the criticism graciously, but later told a friend: "This character has never had a good lay in his life."
Curiously, both Wilder and Williams won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice, and, in both cases, the first play (*Streetcar* and *Our Town*) has a stronger reputation than the second (*Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* and *The Skin of Our Teeth*).
Elia Kazan directed *Streetcar* and *Skin* on the stage. *Streetcar* he did both on stage and on screen.
They knew back then the effects of war on a person psyche. Back during the early 1900s during World War I, for men who were psychologically affected by combat the term was shell shocked. The term may have still been used for World War II veterans but of course now we we call it PTSD.
The term “war is hell“ is true for a reason
Vivien Leigh was only one of the most talented actresses ever. She won an Academy Award for this role AND for her role as Scarlett O'Hara in, Gone With the Wind (1939).
Vivien Leigh was Blanche, she won a well deserved Oscar for this role. I've seen the National Theatre production, were Gillian Anderson played Blanche and she was stunning!!
Vivian Leigh played Blanche. She was also Scarlett Ohara in "gone with the wind". She was a manic depressive which went untreated in those days. She was also wonderful in "anna karenina" which is my favorite version of that book. Except the guy that played Vronsky, he was totally miscast. They wanted her husband Laurence Olivier for the part but he had a prior commitment. If not the movie would've been perfect. She played many tragic\flawed heriones.
"He's not in the mood to be cooperated with" lol very astute of you.
i am not exactly a contemporary being born in 1962, but i have a real familiarity with this film and classics in general. I think your comments have been very on target seeing this for the very first time. Vivien Leigh who played Blanche had become a superstar in 1939 for Gone With The WInd. She made few movies, but it is interesting the she won Oscars for both films for which she was nominated, GWTW in 1939 and for SND in 1951. From what i have read, Marlon Brando was an immediate star on Broadway for playing this role. His magnestism reached way to the back of the theater, an many in the audience related to Stanley because he was such a force to be reconed with. In the film, by using close ups and being able to show the audience emotions at such a level, the shift was to make Blanche the.main character, as Tennessee Williams intended. The play premiered on Broadway in 1947 and ran for a couple of years i i think. All the cast returned to make the film except for Jessica Tandy, who had played Blanche on the stage. The movie producers wanted a big name, and Vivien Leigh stpped in for the film, having portrayed Blance on the stage in London's West End, the English version of Broadway. The film would not have been made without a big familiar name and Vivien Leigh was a huge star. I think all the performances are terrific. Kim Hunter as Stella, Karl Malden as Mitch, and Vivien Leigh won Oscars. Marlon Brando should have won, but Humphrey Bogart won over him for The African Queen....as someone who had a whole career behind him. It was a sentixzsmental award, but Marlon Brando IMHO whould have won. Vivien Leigh suffered frorm poor health and bipolar disorder, called manic depression then. She stated later that playing this role "tipped her over into madness." She was to die in 1967 from her recurrent tuberculosis at the young age of 53. She endured a lot in her short life, especially with mental health issues, and is IMHO one of the premier actors of her or any other day. Thank you for a nice reaction video. I'll subscribe!
I imagine something similar happened in 1962, when Gregory Peck won Best Actor over Peter O'Toole. Peck had paid his dues, while "Lawrence of Arabia" was "Introducing" O'Toole.
Sadly, O'Toole never took home "the lovely beast" (his term) for one of his many fine performances, not even for one of his two turns as King Henry II.
Brando (for "On the Waterfront") would win Best Actor over Bogart (for "The Caine Mutiny") three years later.
Not an easy movie to watch due to the subject matter & even tougher when you know that Vivien Leigh suffered from severe manic depression that mostly derailed her marriage & career from 1951 till her death in 1967 at the age of 53. She is great in this movie but too me she will always be Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind which was one of the first great anti-heroes of cinema.
Marlon Brando in STREETCAR can be compared to Paul Newman in HUD. Both characters in both movies were completely despicable but contemporary audiences ended up loving them because the actors playing them were so likable & charismatic.
Regarding your convo about the T-shirt, I remember going down a rabbit hole about jeans, which was interesting, but I don’t remember what I learned lol. A lot of things we think just naturally changed were actually the result of some specific impetus, a discovery, piece of legislation, creation, etc. Or of course a series of specific acts. It’s sort of disturbing lol, but examining why is a long one…
Great reaction! This is a classic movie with stellar performances from all. I think that several Oscars were won from the performances. To think that Vivien Leigh also starred in "Gone with The Wind" is incredible.
"He's not in a mood to be cooporated with" is brilliant and succinct. Will be using this to describe combative assholes from here on out.
Ha, more than the t-shirt, Marlon popularized "method acting" and leads directly to, say, Daniel Day Lewis staying in character while he makes a movie.....and pretty much the entire cast of the Godfather and the groundbreaking 70s actors./What was toned down from the play was the fact that when she talks about her old love, things like "he had a sensitive nature" meant he was a closeted homosexual and what happened was he had been found out and took his own life. And in the play, it's clear that he beds her against her will. Before the Hays Code ended in 1967, you had to read between the lines with stuff like that in old movies! I think this is one of the best play-to-screen adaptations which can go either way. Vivien Leigh had been the lead in "Gone With The Wind", an amazing, eccentric British actress so seeing her acting style go up against Brando's cutting-edge, naturalistic style of acting is great to see. She IS Blanche. And Brando is as much Stanley Kowalski as he is Don Corleone, he owns that part. PS: I didn't mind the Simpsons references! Lots of us had seen references to this movie before we saw it; I saw it in the 70s when I was a kid and I knew that he was going to yell "Stella", I knew some of the classic lines, I knew the character names.....just like you did! It would be referenced in cartoons, TV shows, Saturday Night Live skits, etc.... So no worries about that, as a subscriber I want your natural reactions and it's good to know what people's frames of references are. Now you can appreciate that episode even more!!! There's an early Seinfeld that has a "Streetcar" reference running throughout it; and there's a great sequence in "Sleeper" where Diane Keaton does a Brando/Stanley Kowalski impression.....which is pretty funny since she'd been in The Godfather the year before! :D Anyways, great reaction!!!!!! THANK YOU! Thanks, Scott! First Cabaret, and now this!
PS: It was a long time ago, it's true, but I can promise you that no one ever liked or sympathized with Stanley or tried to understand him or give him the benefit of the doubt, Blanche or no Blanche, he is a famous villain, synonymous with d"umb animal", he's the local bully, a character known throughout the land, even to this day. That said..... Blanche would be one annoying sister-in-law to live with in a tiny apartment, you are completely correct about that!
These guys are doing some great reactions to some great movies. Try cat on a hot tin roof
Blue jeans are made of cotton, and are woven in a twill style. The top visible threads are dyed blue with indigo dye, one of the world’s oldest dyes known for being able to reach a deep deep blue. The backing threads are usually left white, which is why distressed jeans have the white frayed edges. Jeans were popularised in hard labour jobs, like working in mines. The durable material made for good protection for the body as well as holding up over time. The little metal rivets you see around the jeans aren’t necessary anymore today, but they were originally used to help reinforce seams that were easier to rip.
Seamstress and fashion designer here, loving the movie vids and can’t wait for more:)
The Gold Rush in California began the love affair with jeans. Check out the history of Levi Strauss in San Francisco. Fascinating...
"He's not in the mood to be cooperated with" lol
t is always a trip to see young people using their comtemorary influences to analize a movie done so long ago before they were born .
Greetings from the Midtown.
Fun seeing you guys react to something so different.
Brando doesn't sound and look that different to modern listeners but at the time he was quite sensational. His speech was naturalistic. Sometimes he mumbled or dropped a phrase. Yet, as we do in everyday informal conversation, the meaning could be known from context. He was also physically natural, unafraid to scratch his crotch or pick his nose. This approach drove Tallulah Bankhead, a previous scene partner, quite crazy and she called him, "a total pig of a man without sensitivity or grace of any kind." For playing Stanley Kowalski, Brando received his first Oscar nomination.
The implication seems to be that Stella met Stanley in an unspecified situation, and was swept off her feet by him. She seems to have left in a fit of passionate attachment to him (which has echoes of the sort of desire Blanche falls into). Blanche is left with all the responsibility not only of Belle Reve property (for which she has no training or education) but also of the remnants of a feuding family that is dying off. She reminds Stella that she only came back for the funerals, which are easy compared with what comes before; and in that shattering confession to Mitch, she talks about how the dying relatives kept accusing each other of various things. Already guilt-ridden about her husband, Blanche has had to deal with all of this essentially alone.
It isn't as if Stella wouldn't have known about what was going on, but she seems to have put on blinkers and kept away, with Stanley (who, as you point out, is undergoing his own unrecognized trauma). Perhaps, if Stella and Stanley had been more receptive at one of those funerals and helped Blanche, this whole situation in New Orleans would never have happened. Perhaps Blanche, after all she's been left to handle, isn't completely wrong in hoping to find a refuge with her sister and Stanley. Again, you're completely right in the space she takes up and the air she burns around her. Then again, had there been more sharing of the burdens before hand....
The title is metaphorical. But it takes place in New Orleans, which still to this day has a streetcar, that goes through the city. The last stop is the Desire projects, which was the poorer section
Marlon Brando is so good and I was stuck just watching him AMAZING!
Vivien Leigh!!!!❤❤❤
Marlon Brando’s acting, as well as his t- shirt had massive impact on the style of American acting.
vivien leigh is a brilliant actress
This is the restored cut, restoring scenes that were cut by the censors. Unfortunately, they had to change the ending to the play. Here, Stella leaves him. In the play, she vows to leave him, but then he embraces her and it's clear that she's there for the duration.
If you get a chance, watch Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen's version of this story.
Great reaction! It is very interesting to see your joint reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool classic 👍🔥🦾
More Tennessee Williams! Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is also very good!
Famous play and movie, younger generation knows it from the Simpson's.
Its like the movie Clueless, where Silverstone corrects Rudd's girlfriend about Hamlet. But her reference was the movie with Mel Gibson
One more fact about this film version vs the written play as it was presented on Broadway...it is clear in the play that Blanche's first husband was gay, hence her reaction on the dance floor and his suicide by gun at the edge of the lake.That is the gun we hear, of course, in Blanche's audio flashbacks. Blanche speaks in the play about a man in the car with her and her husband, when they have been drinking. She saw enough to realize her husband was gay, and she showed her disgust at the dance.
It is interesting still that Vivien Leigh, the beautiful and talented British actress, played Southern dames in her two best-known roles (she won Oscars for Best Actress in both Gone With the Wind and Streetcar) and was married for years to arguably the leading Brit actor of the 20th century, Laurence Olivier. She made relatively few films, but made quite an impression in Waterloo Bridge, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (with Warren Beatty), and Ship of Fools. She had severe issues with mental illness and also tuberculosis through much of her career. I am looking forward to your reaction to Chaplin's City Lights, which must be the earliest film you have watched. I am always impressed by your intelligent comments. For some other older black and white titles, you might consider All About Eve, Christmas in July, The Lady Eve, High Noon, Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt. I could go on - keep up the good work.
Many people, especially men, find Blanch "insufferable". Glad you guys found some sympathy for her.
Vivien Leigh was also very good in "The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone" and "Ship of Fools"
Great movie. Now, you have to watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
I preferred the Treat Williams Ann-Margaret version
Fantastic reaction, thanks, guys!
There are plenty of "dark themed" or serious musicals out there guys. You just watched one; CABARET! Dealing with the rise of Nazi Germany, abortion, lost souls looking for connection. Really enjoyed your reaction to Streetcar and your memories of the excellent Simpsons parody of this play & movie.
Good reaction.
Keep the black and white going:
"The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) - an excellent crime caper, starring the bad cop from the Godfather and very a young Marilyn Monroe
Great choice, "Asphalt Jungle" is a great one. Directed by John Huston who directed a crazy amount of classics, starting with Maltese Falcon in 1941 and going right through to Prizzi's Honor in 1985.
Enjoyed your reaction. I hope you watch more old classics !
Good job guys, I've been waiting for someone to react to this movie. It's so complicated, the dialogue is so dense, the acting so amazing, you can watch this a half dozen times and catch something new each time. Anything with Tennessee Williams is going to be interesting.
And I just look at that set, and I feel the heat and the humidity, the smell of the sweaty bodies and the stink of city below.
Brando is often discussed in this movie, but also On the Waterfront, as acting the worst of male chauvinist brute. But, it's the moment of his being vulnerable and weak that makes his performance pop. "Stella!" and he falls to his knees, crying, and presses his face to his pregnant wife's stomach. It's totally believable, just as Kim Hunter's portrayal of an abused wife taking him back. There is something mutually toxic in both of them; we all know, or we've all seen or heard of couples like this, and they drag the world around them into their drama.
Or in On the Waterfront, the "I coulda been somebody, I coulda been a contender" speech, the tough ex boxer and mob muscle lamenting his situation. It's an amazing performance.
Speaking of which, you need to check out On the Waterfront. AFI rates as one of the top 10 all time movies, staring both Brando and Karl Malden again. Also Ava Marie Saint.
Williams is always interesting, yet not always at the level of *Streetcar.* Brando returns to Williams with "The Fugitive Kind" nine years later, and by then he had an Academy Award behind him...as did his leading ladies Anna Magnani (for "The Rose Tattoo," from Williams's 1951 play) and Joanne Woodward (for "The Three Faces of Eve"). There's a future Academy Award winner in it in Maureen Stapleton, too.
But it isn't a great movie. It's very entertaining, to be sure, and the play it comes from (*Orpheus Descending*) holds up well; nevertheless, it's no one at their best, not even director Sidney Lumet. (Who did better two years later with Eugene O'Neill in "Long Day's Journey into Night.")
Incidentally, if Williams was unhappy over the ending he had to provide for "Streetcar," he was even more unhappy with the endings Richard Brooks gave to "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and particularly "Sweet Bird of Youth."
Being from New Orleans i always like this movie Loved your review Check out Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and To Kill A mocking Bird 2 of my favs
Stella will go back…
She goes back in the play. They had to change it for the movie censors. Also, it’s much more apparent on stage that Stanley raped Blanche. In addition, in the play , Blanche makes it clear that her husband was gay - which is why her telling him he disgusted her led to his suicidal and her inability to forgive herself. Basically, Streetcar is a film about the death of poetry in the world. Everything has become so coarse and common (Stanley). Blanche’s poetic speeches exemplify all that’s left of that world - and even that is an illusion.
Stanley Prickowski
Tennessee died around 1980
1983
This is the 2nd Catch-up Packets I've watched and it's as lame as the first one I watched (Cabaret). You boys don't know movies, or flawed human behavior. It's tiresome listening to such condescension for movies & the characters portrayed in them.
These guys are doing some great reactions to some great movies. Try cat on a hot tin roof
These guys are doing some great reactions to some great movies. Try cat on a hot tin roof
These guys are doing some great reactions to some great movies. Try cat on a hot tin roof