Tennessee Williams based his screenplay on Oscar Saul's adaptation of Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in a grimy New Orleans project. The story of the fragile sentimentalism of a former prostitute who visits her sister only to be taunted mercilessly by her childish brother-in-law. Academy Award Nominations: 12, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Screeplay. Academy Awards: 4, including Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter), and Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden). The director's cut contains three minutes of previously censored footage.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1999.
DVD Features:
Region 1
2 - Disc Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono 1.0 English, French
Disc 1: Movie
Audio:
Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono - English, French
Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - Karl Malden - Star; Rudy Behlmer - Film Historian; Jeff Young - Film Historian
Trailer - Eliza Kazan Movie Trailer Gallery
Disc 2: Special Features
Additional Footage - Marlon Brando Screen Test
Documentary - 1. A STREETCAR ON BROADWAY
2. A STREETCAR IN HOLLYWOOD
3. CENSORSHIP & DESIRE
4. NORTH AND THE MUSIC OF THE SOUTH
5. AN ACTOR NAMED BRANDO
Feature Length Profile Eliza Kazan: A DIRECTOR'S JOURNEY
Outtakes - 1. Audio Outtakes
2. Movie Outtakes
Distributor Notes: Streetcar Named Desire, A: Special Edition
A Streeetcar Named Desire: The Original Director's Version is the Elia Kazan/Tennessee Williams film moviegoers would have seen had not Legion of Decency censorship occurred at the last minute. It features three minutes of previously unseen footage underscoring, among other things, the sexual tension between Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) and Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), and Stella Kowalski's (Kim Hunter) passion for husband Stanley. Catch all of the classic - nominated for 12 Academy AwardsO including Best Picture and winner of 4* - that introduced a new era of filmmaking. Step aboard this Streetcar.
Source: Warner Home Video
Stars
Vivien Leigh: Oscar winning actress, GONE WITHT THE WIND, A STREETCAR NAME
Marlon Brando: Oscar winning american actor/director, THE GODFATHER (1972)
Kim Hunter: Oscar-winning American actress, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Karl Malden: American Actor, ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), A STREETCAR NAMED
Rudy Bond: Character Actor
Nick Dennis: Supporting Actor\50s-70s
Wright King: Actor/"Wanted: Dead"
Richard Garrick: Actor
Director
Elia Kazan: Director/screenwriter, ON THE WATERFRONT
Producer
Charles K. Feldman: Producer, Talent Agent, early '40s-mid '60s, SEVEN YEAR ITCH
Screenwriter
Tennessee Williams: American Playwright, STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Oscar Saul: Screenwriter
Composer
Alex North: Composer
Editor
David Weisbart: American Producer/Editor
Director of Photography
Harry Stradling: Director Of Photography
Production Designer
Richard Day:
Music Director
Ray Heindorf: Conductor/Composer
Review 1:
"...STREETCAR is one of the great ensemble pieces in the movies..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.44 11/12/1993
Review 2:
"Together, Brando and Kazan created a new kind of leading man..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.29 07/16/2004
Review 3:
"...Leigh, Hunter, Karl Malden and the fabulous art-set decorations all won Oscars here, though Brando's performance remains the No. 1 selling point..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 07/08/1994
Review 4:
"...Brando's electric 1951 performance fueled a whole new generation of actors....[Restored material] significantly adds to the Sturm und Drung..." - Recommended
Source: Premiere
p. 92 07/01/1994
Review 5:
"...Even 52 after its initial release, this sultry melodrama about aging Southern belle Blanche DuBois still packs a wallop..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.C29 04/27/2003
Review 6:
5 stars out of 5 -- "Simply a masterful adap of Tennessee Williams' sultry, searing play and an affirmation of Marlon Brando's acting genius..."
Source: Total Film
p.131 06/01/2006
Review 7:
4 stars out of 5 -- "[The film] retains is hothouse fascination."
Source: Empire
p.79 12/01/2008