A Streetcar Named Desire (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando, Rudy Bond, Vivien LeighBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 122 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-05-02
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 38932
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Black & White; Closed-captioned; Dubbed; DVD; Original recording remastered; Special Edition; Subtit
Movie Reviews of A Streetcar Named Desire (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: A Seething, Steamy Tragedy... a Film to Treasure
Summary: 5 Stars
So much has been said about "A Streetcar Named Desire" that any more praise might seem like a case of gilding the lily, or painting the peacock. But the film remains, and will remain, one of cinema's crowning achievements. I would place it in a Top Ten List of movies.
It's a given that Vivien Leigh (Best Actress winner here) and Marlon Brando (lost to Bogie for "The African Queen") gave outstanding performances, two of the greatest pieces of acting Hollywood ever saw. Leigh's Blanche makes me almost forget there even was a Scarlett O'Hara. Watching the phony, dependent, boozing Blanche DuBois cling so tightly to this facade she's made and then become unmasked is great to behold. What a showcase for Leigh. Brando is absolutely amazing in this role; he screams and thrashes and sneers and makes a ruckus... and then as Stanley he can turn on a dime and be a vulnerable, wounded little boy. This is such a fascinating part, so dimensional and multifaceted. And I'm sure that this performance changed the way actors viewed and created their craft.
Another thing comes to mind: Stanley Kowalski in this film is one of the sexiest characters ever to grace the screen. He may be a slob and a brute, but this man is the ideal: the raw, seething, beautiful bad boy.
Naturally, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden are super (both received supporting Oscar statues). These are acting professionals, clearly.
Every time I view the film I fall in love (and pity) with Blanche and Stanley all over again... even though she's a delusional house of cards and he's a bumptious wife beater. They seem real. We've known or met people like them. And they are the focus of the conflict in this story. And conflict is what it's all about. These two opposing forces come together and cause an inferno. This is a tragedy, nearly Shakespearian. There was actually an opera made that was based on this play, in 1995. If any play/film begs for an opera I suppose this would be it. It's so fiery, and also so melancholy.
I don't know specifically what Tennessee Williams was trying to say; however I can speculate, and I believe that he might have meant that gentle people have a tough time of it in this world-- it's a rough and tumble place, often unappealing, ugly, vulgar and loud. That's just one theory, and it may not even be valid. But of course many people have studied the play and come up with different theories on its meanings and its symbolism... from the use of light to the names of the streetcars we hear in the opening scene. Bottom line, there's much meaning here about people and the world.
Elia Kazan's direction is wonderful; I enjoy his work (East of Eden, On the Waterfront, Gentleman's Agreement, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Baby Doll, A Face in the Crowd, etc.) His films are often very earthy, and they tackle issues and subjects other directors would scamper away from timidly. This is his masterpiece, for my money.
The whole atmosphere of "Streetcar" is excellently rendered. Stella and Stanley's home is delightfully decrepit in its way; everything seems in a state of disrepair. This is a winner of set design and artistic touches; the place could be a haunted house if there were no characters present. There's a claustrophobia in the film that adds to the tension (this story is as tense as it gets)... the tiny apartment is guaranteed to generate some visceral goings on. Elia Kazan had a set created that had moveable walls so that as the film progressed, the walls slowly seem to close in on Blanche. The movie just oozes and drips with tension and suspense, Southern gothic stuff. A feeling of impending doom seems to bubble beneath the surface.
The sets and the props and even the sound effects-- train sounds and such-- are terrific. Every little detail adds to the film's brilliance and its tumultuous mood. And then there's the sultry score by Alex North, which basically screams sex (and/or violence). Not only is the music loud and bawdy at times but it also has a tinge of the tragic in it. Just the opening credits alone are enormously charged simply from the music itself. But also it should be mentioned that the more quiet and subtle parts of the music are also very effective.
Watching the movie again, I am also taken with the lighting. Whether we notice it or not, it has a large effect on the drama. Careful and meticulous choices were made, if I'm not mistaken, and it shows. It affects us, it manipulates our emotions, and it adds to the scathing drama.
What a pleasure it is to watch "A Streetcar Named Desire", whether it's the third time or the thirtieth. Even though it's such a sad tale (especially the fate of Blanche), it's an extraordinary film. It got an impressive twelve Oscar nominations (won the three acting awards, plus B&W Art Direction/Set Design).
Somehow it never gets old, never fades (like certain Southern ladies do). Watching "Streetcar", you get caught up in the brutal and gripping melodrama. It's a moving, wonderful movie experience unlike any other.
Summary of A Streetcar Named Desire (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Follows the emotional disintegration of a Southern woman whose last chance for happiness is destroyed by her vindictive brother-in-law.Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG
Release Date: 2-MAY-2006
Media Type: DVD
Looking for a benchmark in movie acting? Breakthrough performances don't come much more electrifying than Marlon Brando's animalistic turn as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Sweaty, brutish, mumbling, yet with the balanced grace of a prizefighter, Brando storms through the role--a role he had originated in the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's celebrated play. Stanley and his wife, Stella (as in Brando's oft-mimicked line, "Hey, Stellaaaaaa!"), are the earthy couple in New Orleans's French Quarter whose lives are upended by the arrival of Stella's sister, Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh). Blanche, a disturbed, lyrical, faded Southern belle, is immediately drawn into a battle of wills with Stanley, beautifully captured in the differing styles of the two actors. This extraordinarily fine adaptation won acting Oscars for Leigh, Kim Hunter (as Stella), and Karl Malden (as Blanche's clueless suitor), but not for Brando. Although it had already been considerably cleaned up from the daringly adult stage play, director Elia Kazan was forced to trim a few of the franker scenes he had shot. In 1993, Streetcar was rereleased in a "director's cut" that restored these moments, deepening a film that had already secured its place as an essential American work. --Robert Horton
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