A Few Words About A few words about...™ A Streetcar Named Desire -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

A quick gander at the names of those involved is a dead giveaway that this is something special.

Tennessee Williams drafts a screenplay, based upon his own stage play of the same name.

Filmmaker Elia Kazan molds it into something that is so special, it has never been duplicated.

Add in more names to the brew.

Cinematographer -- Harry Stradling

Composer - Alex North

and a few interesting actors:

Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter

Add it all together and you end up with a project that not only stands the test of time, but has the ability to stand it on its head.

What does it look like?

Black & white, with beautiful shadow detail, and rich blacks. The majority of the film looks superb. Dupes lose a generation. Main title sequence is strangely soft, slightly out of focus, and window-boxed without reason, which leads me to believe that this is not a new image harvest, but rather, something that's been sitting around for a few years.

Great film. Generally beautiful Blu-ray.

Image - 4

Audio - 4

Recommended.

RAH

 

[willyTass]

thanks Robert , one of greatest movies from the 50's.

 

[ahollis]

With reviews, I always depend on the kindness of strangers, so thank you for your thoughts on this. As a Southerner and a local New Orleanian most of the time, this is one of my guilty pleasures to watch several times a year. The Blu will replace the DVD.

 

[Charles Smith]

Ha! Indeed, Mr. Hollis is in his element here. Or maybe we are in his. Either way, it's been a little too long since I've indulged in this classic, so count me in.

 

[Will Krupp]

Originally Posted by ahollis /t/319804/a-few-words-about-a-streetcar-named-desire-in-blu-ray#post_3913530
With reviews, I always depend on the kindness of strangers, so thank you for your thoughts on this. As a Southerner and a local New Orleanian most of the time, this is one of my guilty pleasures to watch several times a year. The Blu will replace the DVD.

Hahah....this movie always makes me want to be an honorary New Orleanian! No guilt in this pleasure for me. One of my absolute favorites of all time. "TARANTULA! It was the Tarantula Arms where I took my victims!" Amazing stuff!

 

[bujaki]

When I moved to New York in 1971, I planned it so as to arrive on a day that the Thalia theater was playing a double bill of Streetcar and Brief Encounter. To this day, I do not regret my decision.
Celia Johnson and Vivien Leigh delivering acting master classes. Unforgettable.
And both films out in blu this year. What treasures might still await us!

 

[marsnkc]

On a trip to New York (which I was disappointed to find wasn't in black and white!) in the mid-eighties, a friend and I went went on a pilgrimage to that Sanctum of Sanctums: the Barrymore Theater. Whether no one noticed me touching the walls as I walked in, or they were paralyzed with fear at the proximity of a lunatic, I'll never know. Nor did anyone call the police when the next day my friend photographed me holding the handle of the stage door.
(An actress who knew Brando at the time said she could never figure out how the 1,096 seat theater managed to hold the many thousands who claim to have been in the audience on Streetcar's first night!)
Leaving the theater one night during Streetcar's momentous run, Jessica Tandy reportedly checked the marquee to make sure that her name indeed came first, then asked her driver to remind her again that she was the star. Vivien Leigh, to my mind, was a genius. Yet she too was completely overshadowed by this extraordinary man . His part was admittedly the showier, but there's no denying Brando's power, from the first second we see him.
Coming from Warner, I fully expected Streetcar to be given the red carpet treatment, but apparently it suffers the same fate as those other masterpieces, Chinatown and To Catch a Thief. Good but not as great as they deserve.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I had the rare privilege tonight of watching this film for the first time in my life.

My DVD sat on my shelf unwatched for years. I got a great deal on the blu this week at B&N's 40% off sale and decided that tonight was the night.

I was expecting to be blown away by the Brando performance...and ended up mesmerized by the incomparable Vivien Leigh.

With my meager 32" screen I would have given the video a 5 and the sound a 4.5. The only thing which disturbed me was how much louder the score was than the dialogue.

But an incredible looking film with remarkable performances and a tale that stands the test of its sixty years (on celluloid).

 

[Garysb]

This film has been shuffled around quite a bit. From Warners to Fox to UA and back to Warners. I wonder what condition the film elements are in ?

 

[Robert Harris]

Originally Posted by Garysb /t/319804/a-few-words-about-a-streetcar-named-desire-in-blu-ray#post_3970336
This film has been shuffled around quite a bit. From Warners to Fox to UA and back to Warners. I wonder what condition the film elements are in ?

???