Brando and Leigh fill in all of the dark corners in the New Orleans flat and its ornate courtyard, the claustrophobic, even haunting world of A Streetcar Named Desire.Many reviewers have commented on Leigh's/Blanche's affected speech, as well as Brando's contrasting inarticulateness. It's sometimes almost impossible to figure out what either of them mean to say, even if you can understand them. But I think it helps both characters: Brando's Stanley pretty much doesn't care what he says; like a more seasoned James Dean, he's action-oriented, talking just gets in the way of doing.Blanche, on the other hand, depends on talking as a sort of prop--to build herself up; thus her elaborate explanations and digressions about trivial or imaginary topics. She's all about keeping up appearances, while Stanley could care less how he looks, or even, to a certain extent, how he acts.Though Stanley is a capable person, and grudgingly respected, he's also deeply flawed. Being a wife-beater wasn't then seen as the disgusting and unacceptable behavior that it now is; but it's clearly the most obvious manifestation of his problems. He doesn't seem to feel right unless he's angry.The interesting thing about Stanley is that he can be calm, even cordial. It's as though he becomes a better person when he puts on better clothes. In a way, he's worse than Blanche, because he can control himself; but he simply has more fun being Mr. Hyde then Dr. Jekyll.Instead of fading in and out like Stanley's Jekyll and Hyde poses, Blanche gets steadily worse. In fact, the last part of the movie plays closer to horror, as Blanche's delusions give us flickering lights, ethereal voices, and the mournful lady selling "flowers for the dead." The creepy doctor from the asylum adds a final scare. He's literally come to take her away; she's undergoing a figurative death, the end of her delusional lifestyle.Maybe it's good that Kim Hunter's and Karl Malden's characters are relatively weak compared to Brando and Leigh. Otherwise, either Stella would stand up to Stanley, and Blanche would never leave, or Mitch would marry Stella, and then maybe he would go nuts. No resolution possible in either alternative plot. With all the yelling and acting out, the physical confines of A Streetcar Named Desire are dwarfed by the psychological tumult. Maybe the best film adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play.

Brando's pleading wail "Stella! Hey, Stella!" (#45 of AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list) is just one of the many great lines in this essential Tennessee Williams drama; another is Vivien Leigh's "I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers" (#75 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list).Directed by Elia Kazan, Williams's screenplay earned him the first of his two Oscar nominations for Writing (he received his second for his only other collaboration with the director five years later, Baby Doll (1956)). Kazan, who received his second Best Director nomination, would win his second Oscar on his third (of five) Best Director nomination three years later with his Oscar winning Best Picture On the Waterfront (1954), which also features actor Karl Malden. In fact Malden, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in this film, would receive his only other Oscar nomination for his Supporting role in On the Waterfront (1954). I'm guessing the playwright and the actor have nothing but nice things to say about their director.The love story is between Stanley Kowalski (Brando, who received his first Best Actor nomination) and his wife Stella (Kim Hunter, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar on her only nomination). Stella is pregnant with their first child when her older sister Blanche DuBois (Leigh, who earned her second Best Actress Oscar on her second nomination; the other was for Gone With the Wind (1939)) comes to visit.Blanche is a destitute Southern Belle who finds Stanley to be too crude for her tastes, even as his animalistic sexual energy overwhelms her. Stanley thinks Blanche is a phony, and begins checking up on her story, finding financial malfeasance and more in her recent past. Malden plays a card playing buddy of Brando's that believes Blanche is the idealistic, refined lady of the South she pretends to be, until he learns otherwise.In addition to Leigh, Malden, and Hunter, this Best Picture nominated film's B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration also won an Oscar; its B&W Cinematography and Costume Design also received nominations as did its Dramatic Score and Sound Recording. #45 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list. #67 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories list. It was added to the National Film Registry in 1999. #19 on AFI's Top 25 Film Scores list.

Absolute misandrist garbage! It should've been titled more appropriately thus, "SYMPATHY FOR A HARLOT". The protagonist, Blanche DuBois, is a swindler, a golddigger, a paedophile, a harlot, and a lunatic. She also drives her homosexual(not mentioned in the movie) husband to suicide. Yet all the sympathy in the movie is reserved for her because she's shown as a victim of the patriarchal society. It's the same old cry, "I wasn't bad, it's the men who made me do it." All male characters are shown as brutes/pigs and all women are shown as angels and men's victims. Compare it with the answer to this movie, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

Well so far this is the oldest movie I've ever seen. I kind of feel like I don't have the right to criticize a movie that's over three times older than me, thankfully there's next to nothing to complain about. This is a movie that I feel can only be made once, there's just something about it that can't be captured again. Vivien Leigh has definitely made it onto my "Most Hated Character in Cinematic History" list. Not as high as Tiffany from "Silver Linings Playbook", or Abin Cooper from "Red State", but a good third place. She's just this compulsive liar that takes advantage of people who want to help her and plays the victim when they call her out on it. Unlike the other two previously mentioned characters, she at least gets what's coming to her by being sent to a mental hospital. It's because she actually gets punished that I would consider watching this again.Marlon Brando is like a powder keg in this. Every time he's on screen you get this feeling of paranoia at how he'll react to things. One minute he's nice, the next he's breaking plates, it's a chilling performance. The movie manages to show both the positives and negatives of the characters too. Brando might get drunk and hit his wife in one scene, but you can tell later he didn't mean for it to happen, and his performance matches that. Leigh might be a compulsive, self absorbed liar, but you feel kind of sorry for her as this made up world she's created starts to collapse all around her. It's a very well done drama, surprisingly enjoyable for me. To be honest, I didn't know if I would like this because I thought I wouldn't get the sayings and attitudes of an era long before my time, but it managed to keep me entertained and then some.Also the whole "Stanley (Brando) raped Blanche (Leigh)" scene, I don't believe it. I see it as just another lie that Blanche made up to satisfy her own ego. I feel like Stanley got so fed up with Blanche's lies that he overpowered her so she couldn't embarrass herself anymore. You could also look at the mirror cracking as her world shattering, because she then suffers a complete mental breakdown. But hey, it's up for interpretation I suppose. I don't know why you'd rape somebody for taking advantage of you and your pregnant wife though. I mean I've heard of "hate sex" but that's just a little too far. All jokes aside though, it isn't hard to see why this is still regarded as a classic, and I'm sure it'll stay that way long after I'm gone.