--- title: "A Streetcar Named Desire" year: 1951 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/a-streetcar-named-desire" fi1m_score: 88 critics_score: 79 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-20T02:20:43.816619+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T02:20:58.120101+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Directed by Elia Kazan · 2h 02m · MPA PG · Drama, Thriller **Fi1m score: 88** · Critics 79 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* She cannot stand a naked light bulb, and her sister has married one > Kazan’s film of Tennessee Williams’s play is still a shock: Brando and Leigh in two rooms, one bare bulb, and Harry Stradling’s walls closing in. The censor’s softenings show, and Leigh starts higher than she needs to, but we came out shaken. ## Synopsis New Orleans, the French Quarter. Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh), a schoolteacher from Mississippi, arrives by train and streetcar at a two-room flat on Elysian Fields to stay with her younger sister Stella (Kim Hunter). The family plantation, Belle Reve, has been lost, and Blanche says she has taken leave from her school for her nerves. Stella’s husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), who bowls and plays poker with his friends, wants to know where the money from the plantation went and does not believe a word Blanche says. Blanche drinks his whisky when nobody is looking, covers the bare bulb with a paper lantern, and catches the eye of Stanley’s friend Harold Mitchell (Karl Malden), a bachelor who lives with his sick mother. Between the two rooms there is a curtain, and not much else. ## Review Elia Kazan directed Tennessee Williams’s play on Broadway in 1947 with Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, and when he came to film it he kept Brando, kept the two rooms and the curtain between them, and replaced his stage Blanche with Vivien Leigh, who had played the part in London. Williams and Oscar Saul’s screenplay opens the story out for a few minutes, a railway station, a bowling alley, a wet street, and then shuts the door. Nearly everything after that happens in a flat you could cross in four strides. It is a fine film and still a frightening one, and its faults are mostly the faults of 1951. Blanche DuBois arrives from Mississippi to stay with her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stella’s husband, with the family plantation gone and a story about nerves and a leave of absence from her school. Stanley does not believe her. That is the plot, and it is enough, because the film is about two people who cannot be in a room together and a third who has to choose between them. Brando has been imitated so often it is a surprise to see how careful he is. Stanley scratches, eats with his fingers, talks through a mouthful, and takes his shirt off because it is wet rather than because a camera is watching. He is funny, which the imitators forget. The poker night is where the film turns. Blanche has the radio on, Stanley has twice said to turn it off, and he gets up and puts it through the window. We flinched as if it had gone past our own heads. What frightened us was not the throw but the pause before it, Brando deciding, in front of his friends, that he can. Kim Hunter’s walk back down the iron staircase afterwards, slow, in a dressing gown, is the plainest thing in the film about why Stella stays. Leigh divides people, and we understand why. She starts at a pitch that leaves her nowhere to go: the hands never still, the little laugh, the eyes checking every corner. For half an hour we wanted her to sit down. Then she sits down, on the poker night, and asks Mitch to put a paper lantern over the bare bulb because she cannot stand a naked light, and the performance comes into focus. Blanche is acting, all the time, for everyone, and Leigh is showing us a woman whose act is wearing through. Once we saw that, the mannerisms were the point. We still think Kazan could have reined her in for the first two reels. Harry Stradling shoots the flat in hard black and white, and he lights the two leads on opposite principles. Leigh is seen through lanterns, shutters and the folds of a scarf, half in shadow by her own arrangement; Brando gets flat glare, sweat and all. The set was built so the walls could be moved inward as the film went on, and by the last reel the rooms look smaller than they did at the start. David Weisbart holds on faces longer than editors of the period usually did, and we think he is right to, in a script where every line has a second one underneath it. Alex North’s score is a trumpet from the bar across the alley and a polka that only Blanche seems to hear, and the film is careful not to explain the polka until it has to. The compromises show. Several things the play says outright the film mutters or drops, some of Blanche’s past among them, and the ending has been altered from the stage in a way we will not describe. A few minutes cut before release were put back in 1993, and that is the version to see, but there are still moments where the camera looks away and you can feel a studio hand on Kazan’s shoulder. Karl Malden’s Mitch, the big shy man with a sick mother and a cigarette case he wants you to read, is played so gently that his later scenes hurt more than we expected. At 122 minutes it is a play’s length and it moves like a play, one long scene giving way to the next, and it is none the worse for that. It is a 12 certificate. Watch it with the sound up. The blues from next door is telling you what this flat is for. *Fi1m score 88, published 20 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (12) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (90/100, inferred): Turan hails the restored film as a landmark of American cinema and ensemble acting, praising how the recovered footage adds a more openly sensual tone and allows full appreciation of Brando, Leigh, Hunter, and Malden's performances. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-26-ca-39041-story.html) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (90/100, inferred): Ebert praises the 1993 restoration for revealing the full daring of Kazan's original cut and highlights Brando's raw, influential performance as Stanley as the standout element that shaped modern screen acting. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-streetcar-named-desire-1993) - **The AV Club**, Noel Murray (90/100, inferred): The critic notes that despite censorship of its racier elements, the film still seethes with lust and retains much of Williams’ florid dialogue. Brando’s revelatory performance and the balance of naturalism with expressionism allow the movie to feel both exaggerated and true, offering what Blanche calls magic as well as realism. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/a-streetcar-named-desire-1798172425) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (90/100, inferred): The review calls the film an absorbing adult drama of frustration and tragedy, commending the excellent production values, Kazan's direction, and the compelling performances by Leigh, Brando, Hunter, and Malden. [Read](https://variety.com/1951/film/reviews/a-streetcar-named-desire-3-1200417045/) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (85/100, inferred): Kazan adapted Williams' play for the screen with some changes to the ending, but kept the rape scene. Brando and Leigh deliver epic, atmospheric performances in a seedy New Orleans setting. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/streetcar-named-desire-review/) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the toxic chemistry between Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando compelling but notes Leigh's mannered performance goes too far into paranoia too quickly. Kazan controls the tense final scenes effectively in this re-release of the 1951 classic. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/06/a-streetcar-named-desire-review-vivien-leigh-marlon-brando-elia-kazan) - **The New Yorker**, John McCarten (70/100, inferred): McCarten commends the faithful screen adaptation of Williams' play and the strong ensemble acting, especially Brando and Leigh, while complaining that the stage-bound setting and closeups make it less powerful than the original theatrical version. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1951/09/29/1951-09-29-101-tny-cards-000040551) - **The New York Times** (70/100, inferred): The piece discusses the restoration of censored footage from the 1951 film, noting how the added elements intensify Blanche's sexual history and the rape scene while underscoring the original controversy over its content. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/16/movies/for-a-less-restrained-era-a-restored-streetcar.html) - **The Times**, Ed Potton (★★★★☆): The film marks a changing of the guard with Brando's star-making performance as Stanley, while Kazan's close-ups capture the play's intensity despite some screen adaptations and censorship. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/a-streetcar-named-desire-1951-review-era-defining-brilliance-9w5v0nbtb) - **Time Out**, David Jenkins (3 out of 5 stars): The critic finds Kazan’s adaptation stirring but over-polite in its handling of the source material’s intensity. Brando’s hyper-realist performance as Stanley stands out amid an uneven cast and direction that simmers rather than boils. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/a-streetcar-named-desire-1) - **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (90/100, inferred): The critic finds that Marlon Brando's intense, method-acting performance as Stanley Kowalski overwhelms and elevates the film despite Vivien Leigh's strong work as Blanche DuBois. Brando's raw, naturalistic style, captured under Elia Kazan's direction, marks a turning point in American screen acting. [Read](https://collider.com/a-streetcar-named-desire-blu-ray/) - **Eye for Film**, Jennie Kermode (90/100, inferred): The critic praises how the film sustains tension between Blanche and Stanley through Tennessee Williams' writing and the lead performances, with Kazan gradually shrinking the set to heighten pressure. It is hailed as one of the finest pieces of cinema for its bold exploration of clashing worlds and human nature. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/a-streetcar-named-desire-film-review-by-jennie-kermode) ## Details - **Director:** Elia Kazan - **Director:** Elia Kazan - **Screenplay:** Oscar Saul, Tennessee Williams - **Cinematography:** Harry Stradling - **Editor:** David Weisbart - **Music:** Alex North - **Producer:** Charles K. Feldman - **Cast:** Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois; Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski; Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski; Karl Malden as Harold Mitchell; Rudy Bond as Steve; Nick Dennis as Pablo Gonzales; Peg Hillias as Eunice; Wright King as A Collector - **Runtime:** 2h 02m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 19 September 1951 - **Genres:** Drama, Thriller - **Budget:** $2 million - **Box office:** $8 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3CXLHLFvyM ## Where to watch in the US - HBO Max: streaming - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $9.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IT, LT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1952: Best Actor (nominated); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (nominated); Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score (nominated); Best Picture (nominated); Best Sound (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated); Best Actress (won); Best Art Direction, Black and White (won); Best Supporting Actor (won); Best Supporting Actress (won) - Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival 1951: Grand Jury Prize of the Venice Film Festival (won) ## If you liked this - *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof* (1958): More Williams, softened again by the censor, with Newman and Taylor sweating through it regardless - *On the Waterfront* (1954), Fi1m 89: Kazan and Brando three years on, out of the flat and onto the docks — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/on-the-waterfront.md) - *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), Fi1m 93: Another woman keeping the lights low; Wilder is crueller about it than Kazan — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sunset-boulevard.md) - *All About My Mother* (1999): Almodóvar’s women pass a stage production of this very play between them - *Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?* (1966), Fi1m 86: One long night, one small house, far too much to drink, and no exit — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/whos-afraid-of-virginia-woolf.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/a-streetcar-named-desire