Details

Release year: 1951

Storyline

Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.

Top credits

Directors

Elia Kazan

Writers

Cast

Vivien Leigh — Blanche
Marlon Brando — Stanley
Kim Hunter — Stella
Karl Malden — Mitch

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Awards

4 wins & 8 nominations

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Did you know

• As the film progresses, the set of the Kowalski apartment actually gets smaller to heighten the suggestion of Blanche's increasing claustrophobia.

• The Catholic Legion of Decency threatened to sink the box office prospects for the film with a Condemned rating. Elia Kazan made a last ditch effort to get his un-cut version seen by the public. He asked Warner Bros. to try releasing the film in both his director's version and the edited version, with each clearly marked so audience members could choose for themselves. Warners said no, and Kazan then campaigned for his director's cut to be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Again, Warners refused, since the Legion mandated that only their approved version could be released, and the studio didn't want to risk earning a Condemned rating which would hurt the film at the box office. As a result, Kazan's version would not be seen until Warners restored the film in 1993.

• There were clashes on the set between Vivien Leigh and her fellow cast members. Besides being the only major cast member not to have come from the Broadway production, Leigh was a classically trained actress, whereas most of the other actors studied under the "Stanislavski Method". Even so, Leigh was determined to make a good picture and create a great performance. She reportedly could not wait to get to the set every day, and was often the last lead actor to leave at day's end.