| Overall Grade: |
A+ |
|
| Story: |
A+ |
|
|
| Acting: |
A+ |
|
|
| Direction: |
A+ |
|
|
| Visuals: |
A+ |
|
|
I've always depended on the kindness of strangers
by Blanche (movies profile)
Nov 28, 2008
3
of
3 people found this review helpful
Finding this movie to review on Yahoo took a little doing since the people listed as the actors aren't the actors at all.
And I - for some reason- was convinced the movie had been made in 1953.
I saw the 1996 version with Alec Baldwin about three years ago, and the story was so bleek and depressing I dreaded seeing this version.
Nevertheless I knew had to since this was THE version:
The one co-written by Tenessee Williams, the one directed by Elia Kazan, the one its brilliant cast won all the awards for, and the one I heard about before I even knew of Tenessee Williams, OR Elia Kazan, OR Marlon Brando.
The movie starring Alec Baldwin, fell down on its casting (which was poor. John Goodman as Mitch is simply not believable. And Jessica Lange is too strong and mature to play Blanche), and it's ending which is depressing.
The movie ends with Blanche saying "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
Stella calls after her but gets no response, and has she craddles her new baby in her arms we get the feeling that she is stuck there; living with a bullying husband, and will never get away.
The one starring Vivien Leigh, ends very differently. Though, one the face of it, it appears to be exactly the same, the last line (spoken by Stella as she taking her baby upstairs to her friend's apartment) changes the whole out-look.
As Stanley Kowalski's bullying voice is heard booming over the neighborhood houses, Stella says with finality: "I'm never going back again. Not this time."
Never has a line (spoken by a woman whose finally seen her man for what he is) so utterly transformed a story.
This right here shows Tenessee Williams' genius, and justifies the recognition he got.
He truly is America's greatest playwright (though during his time he would often be crucified for being an alcoholic and a homosexual which -amazingly- he never left deflate him).
Marlon Brando (usually so gentle and soft spoken) is amazing as Stanley. As is Karl Malden as Mitch.
(I have complete respect for John Goodman but he just isn't the Mamma's boy).
This is without a doubt Vivien Leigh's best role since the petulant, flighty character of Blanche totally suits her childish personality.
The story goes like this:
Blanche Dubois (an unstable school teacher from Auriole) is taking what she says is a "sabbatical" in order to restore her nerves which are wrecked after loosing Belle Reve (the family estate).
She is spending her holiday in New Orleans with Stella her newly married younger sister who's violent husband Stanley takes an imidiate dislike to Blanche (especially after he realizes he won't be getting any money from the sale of Belle Reve).
Blanche thinks of Stanley as a "common brute" and makes the unfortunate mistake of telling Stella this just as Stanley is coming home from work.
Stanley over-hears this and from that moment on devotes himself to making Blanche's life a living hell.
He sabotages her relatonship with her newly-found suitor Mitch, who's planning to marry her until Stanley tells him her disgraceful past in Auriole where she was fired for putting the moves on with a seventeen year old boy.
To make matters worse, Stanley gives Blanche a ticket back to Auriole as a birthday present, and Mitch says (after she's begged him to marry her) that Blanche isn't "clean enough" to take home to his mother.
Late that same night, the now very pregnant Stella goes into labor, and Blanche is left alone with Stanley who attacks her.
This leads Blanche to a break down, forcing Stella to commit her, and the truth about Stanley is finally revealed, as a remorseful Mitch demands of his former friend:
"What did you do to HER?!"
In New Orleans there are two Streetcars, Desire and Cemetaries.
To steel a quote from a critic:
"Without a doubt this is the Streetcar of all time." |
My Public Profile 
