I studied the play by Tennessee Williams at A-level though I think it was a poor choice of material as this feels so hard for most teenagers to connect to. Some years later I feel I understand it much better and also appreciate the film version much more.
Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) having lost the family home to creditors and having been sacked from her teaching job after her behaviour following her husband's suicide. Stella's husband Stanley (Marlon Brando) is convinced Blanche is hiding an inheritance and an increased frictions grows between them.
It's a complicated play where the line between hero and villain is very thin. All of the characters here are deeply flawed and do terrible things to different degrees but as a viewer it is abundantly clear what has caused these things. Blanche is deeply vain and can't cope with the mistakes she has made in life. Stanley is a man desperate for control, often resorting for violence to get it. I think he resents living in a small, dilapidated apartment and working hard and then is really annoyed that Blanche had money and threw it all away. From the second Blanche arrives the pair are on a collision course.
The film is essentially a filmed version of the play with director Eliza Kazan bringing Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and the majority of the cast from the stage version he directed and Vivian Leigh had previously played Blanche in a different production. Other than the start and the end of the film it's almost entirely set in the apartment with some neat tricks with lighting and gradually making the apartment smaller. It does however feel very stagey and there's little attempt to make this feel cinematic.
Instead, Kazan relies on the performances and what incredibly performances they are. This film is famous for Marlon Brando who is undeniably attractive here but playing a complete arsehole. He does just enough to convince you that Stella has seen something in him and is happy enough to remain in a relationship with him. The young Brando was also great at portraying vulnerability and you sense that in this portrayal of Stanley. Vivian Leigh is also superb as Blanche, making her more likeable than can sometime be the case, and becoming gradually more unhinged as the film progresses.
My one other problem with this adaptation is the ending. There are a few things that are cut due to censorship at the time but I don't think those affect the film much. There's a significant change to the closing moments of the play however with Stella declaring she is going to leave Stanley when in the play it ends with her embracing him which is a much more tragic end.
A great version of the play with some utterly astounding performances.
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