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A Streetcar Named Desire

1951

Elia Kazan

Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden ...

8.0

31,459

Drama After her husband's suicide, Blanche, helpless and disoriented, takes refuge in New Orleans at the home of her young sister Stella, married to the brutish Stanley Kowalski. While trying to start a new life for herself, Blanche begins to frequent several of Stanley's friends and becomes close to the timid Mitch, who is fascinated by her ambiguous behavior. All too soon, however, bending to the constant pressure she is under in her new ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"Elia Kazan and a simply superlative cast have fashioned a motion picture that throbs with passion and poignancy (...) Inner torments are seldom projected with such sensitivity and clarity on the screen."	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Brando is lethally powerful (...) An intelligent and engaged recreation of the original Broadway experience (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Variety	"The camera has done greater justice to the Williams play, catching the nuances and reflected tragedy with an intimacy that is so vital in a story of this type"	POS
United Kingdom	Stella Papamichael BBC	"With its strong sexual undercurrents, the content of the film was just as radical (...) No doubt Kazan had an eye for talent, not only discovering Brando, but James Dean and Warren Beatty too (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	The Washington Post	"There are elements of Kazan's direction (...) that seem dated now. So does the acting, with the startling exception of Brando, who burns on the screen."	NEU
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"Epic performances in a movie that seethes with atmosphere (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Tom Hutchinson Radio Times	"Brando's bravura performance is matched by that of Vivien Leigh (...) and their scenes together sizzle with sexual tension (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"A must-see (...) Kazan used the sets to create some powerful effects (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United Kingdom	David Jenkins Time Out	"You’ll find it hard not to pound your chest and scream after seeing Kazan’s stirring, if over-polite 1951 reading of Tennessee Williams’s claustrophobic study of passion (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Noel Murray AV Club	"That the movie’s French Quarter looked like a set was part of the genius of Kazan, and Williams (...) It can be at once exaggerated and true"	POS

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