A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 1080p BluRay x265 HEVC AAC-SARTRE

In the classic play by Tennessee Williams, brought to the screen by Elia Kazan, faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) comes to visit her pregnant sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), in a seedy section of New Orleans. Stella's boorish husband, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando), not only regards Blanche's aristocratic affectations as a royal pain but also thinks she's holding out on inheritance money that rightfully belongs to Stella. On the fringes of sanity, Blanche is trying to forget her checkered past and start life anew. Attracted to Stanley's friend Mitch (Karl Malden), she glosses over the less savory incidents in her past, but she soon discovers that she cannot outrun that past, and the stage is set for her final, brutal confrontation with her brother-in-law. Brando, Hunter, and Malden had all starred in the original Broadway version of Streetcar, although the original Blanche had been Jessica Tandy. Brando lost out to Humphrey Bogart for the 1951 Best Actor Oscar, but Leigh, Hunter, and Malden all won Oscars.

Extras

• Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey - A largely superb documentary which aired on PBS a few years ago. Narrated by Eli Wallach, this takes a chronological look at Kazan's career, including a brief overview of his early Broadway career and nascent acting roles, the bulk of this Richard Schickel written and directed piece simply goes from major film and Broadway play to the next, with Kazan offering his own commentary. While this piece touches on Kazan's infamous testimony before HUAC, it really glosses over its impact and negative repercussions for several former Kazan friends and collaborators, and remains this documentary's major failure in an otherwise excellent approach. (SD, 1:15:32)

• A Streetcar on Broadway - Another interesting piece featuring a wealth of Kazan commentary, this time focusing on the original Broadway version of the play. (SD, 22:01)

• A Streetcar in Hollywood - Once again, this featurette has the benefit of Kazan's own reminiscences, as he discusses the way the play had to be changed and adapted for its film version. (SD, 28:10)

• Censorship and Desire - Has Rudy Behlmer talking about how timid the Hollywood powers that be were about even optioning the play for a film version, and then the changes they had to make in order to get the project completed. (SD, 16:21)

• North and the Music of the South - A nice profile of composer Alex North. (SD, 9:14)

• An Actor Named Brando - A brief look at the legendary actor. (SD, 8:53)

• Marlon Brando Screen Test - A fascinating look at the actor. This has some fairly substantial sound issues at the beginning. (SD, 5:06)

• Outtakes (SD, 15:38)

• Audio Outtakes (17:01)

• Trailers - Includes Warner Brothers 1951 (SD, 2:35), 20th Century Fox 1958 Reissue (SD, 2:09) and United Artists 1970 Reissue (SD, 1:50).

• Commentary - Features supplements producer Laurent Bouzereau hosting (edited) comments from co- star Karl Malden and historians Rudy Behlmer and Jeff Young. Young got to know Kazan quite well when Young was an executive Paramount and has some good anecdotes about the director. Behlmer contributes more of an overall historical perspective and Malden is able to give an actor's viewpoint, on both the stage and screen versions. Some of Malden's comments about Brando in his early career are quite surprising, and there are some wonderful anecdotes shared about the original Broadway run, including some great stories about "mother hen", original star Jessica Tandy. This is an extremely worthwhile and informative piece that should appeal equally to scholars and fans alike.

• Extras have CHI, DUT, ENG, FRE, GER, ITA, POR, SPA subtitles