The story I enjoyed the most this year was A Streetcar Named Desire, directed in 1951 by Elia Kazan and based on Tennessee Williams' 1947 play. I was impressed with the way Marlon Brando played his role, which involved interacting with the two women in his life, and which eventually ended up in damaging his home life and family life.
My favorite movie of all time is The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1972, starring an older Marlon Brando. Therefore, seeing Marlon Brando as a younger actor was very enjoyable for me. During the panel discussion one of the girls mentioned that she could not understand what he was saying and that she did not like the movie because of it. That is Brando, that is just how he talks, and I think it makes him the actor that he was, especially in this role.
When Blanche (Vivien Leigh) shows up at her sister, Stella's (Kim Hunter) house, everything seems perfect. Stella seems happy and content with her hunk of a husband. However, Stanley does not treat Stella with the respect she deserves, especially since she is pregnant with his child. He works hard but plays harder; he likes to get drunk and act out any anger or frustrations he encounters on his wife.
Blanche kind of tears this household apart by forcing Stanley to intensify his violent behavior to Stella. I think that Blanche does have an instant attraction to Stanley, but she still thinks lowly of him. Blanche speaks her thoughts of Stanley to Stella and upsets her sister. Eventually, Stanley cannot put up with Blanche any longer and exposes her sordid, promiscuous past to Stella and Mitch (Karl Malden), who had been planning to marry Blanche. As a result, Stanley's rape of Blanche drives her over the edge and Stella to leave him in the movie, but not in the play.
Blanche had a complicated past relationship with a sixteen-year-old, and she looks at everything through her past experience with him. She is blinded to a lot of things because of this. She winds up going crazy, and she is taken away. This was by far my favorite movie of the semester!