A Streetcar Named Desire: SE question (2 Viewers)

[Heathen]

I was wondering if anyone can 100% confirm if this new release is the theatrical or director's cut? The research that I have been finding seems to point to the theatrical release.

Can anyone please confirm otherwise?

If it is the theatrical release, I guess the next question is why? They released the director's cut originally. It would've been nice to have it as an SE...

 

[Bob Cashill]

It's the DC.

 

[oscar_merkx]

what is the difference ?

 

[Heathen]

If I may inquire... how do you know?

 

[Joe Caps]

These were scenes cut at the time of release and discovered in the early nineties, mostly very short bits.

some examples - when Blanche talks to the paper boy, she says to him " let me kiss you beautifully and sweetly". In the uncensored version she also says "on the mouth"

In the famous scene when Stella runs upstairs to a neighbors and Stanley shouts STELLLLAAA.
IN the censored version, she walks down the stairs to romantic love theme music. In the uncensored version, she walks down to Jazzy music and the shots of stella and Stanley are different.

 

[Bob Cashill]

I have a review copy of the disc. The DVD Journal review confirms it.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

I have both. The weird thing is the running time is listed as 3 minutes shorter on the new SE, but the back cover explicitly talks about it being the DC.

Not sure why there's a discrepancy.

 

[Heathen]

thanks.... do you have a link?

 

[Bob Cashill]

From the review...

Warner Home Video's DVD release of A Streetcar Named Desire: Special Edition replaces the previously released bare-bones edition with a two-disc set. As with the original disc, the "Original Director's Version" is included, featuring material that did not make it past the Hays Office for the film's theatrical release. The full-frame transfer (1.33:1 OAR) is solid, featuring a pristine black-and-white source-print and Dolby Digital 1.0 audio. Film historians Rudy Behlmer Jeff Young, along with star Karl Malden, can be heard on the Disc One commentary, while Disc Two offers a wealth of additional features, including the documentary Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey (75 min.), the featurettes "A Streetcar on Broadway" (21 min.), "A Streetcar in Hollywood" (28 min.), "Censorship and Desire" (16 min.), "North and the Music of the South" (9 min.), "An Actor Named Brando" (8 min.), and "Marlon Brando Screen Test" (5 min.), as well as outtakes (15 min.) and audio outtakes (17 min.). A Streetcar Named Desire: Special Edition is on the street tomorrow.

 

[Heathen]

I don't mean to sound like a pessimist, but that verbaige doesn't indicate with a resounding authority that it is the Director's Cut. That could've easily been taken and research based upon nothing more than the text on the back... I am looking for verfied proof before I purchase and open, such as a review that says "We have verified that it is indeed the director's cut as described on the back, and not the 152 minute theatrical cut". Has anyone actually given this disc a spin to verify it's length? If so, could you please report your findings?

 

[Joe Caps]

Check listings because he original theatricul cut is NOT 152 minutes - that running time is way too long.

 

[Bob Cashill]

My review copy is stamped "Director's Cut." There is ample PR with it attesting that it is the DC. It runs 125m, three minutes more than the theatrical. And, yes, I checked this. [I also searched for reviews on DVD-Basen, a good resource.]

From DVD Savant:

"Warners' 2-disc Special Edition of A Streetcar Named Desire replaces a no-extras disc from 1997, one of the first DVDs released. The crisp B&W transfer is much improved. There's almost no grain and the brassy Alex North score just seems to get better with the passing years.

Disc extras producer Laurent Bouzereau hosts a commentary with critic Rudy Behlmer and Jeff Young, joined by actor Karl Malden. I'm really growing to appreciate Mr. Behlmer's DVD work, as he's an excellent communicator with good information and well-reasoned opinions. The second disc has a stack of mini-docus that divide the subject up into five topics: The play on Broadway, the filming, the censorship issue, Alex North's score and Marlon Brando. Richard Shickel and Rudy Behlmer explain the tricky censorship history of the film, backed up with actual documents. The 'unfilmable' play was adapted and compromised to get by the Breen Office of the Production Code. Then, at the eleventh hour, the Catholic Legion of Decency stepped in and to make its voice heard, even though the studio had dealt with the Breen Office were supposed to pre-empt such maneuvers. To avoid receiving a "Condemned" rating Jack Warner made more concessions. The 1951 Streetcar was changed without Kazan's knowledge. The featurette shows exactly what the changes were and how they attempted to curb the play's purported immorality. The extra alterations ended up being the kinds of petty details that censors impose to prove their power."

In the early 1990s, the same Warners special projects producer who rescued many of the studios' lost 1950s stereophonic tracks found the missing negative sections of Streetcar and carefully rebuilt Kazan's original director's cut, just in time for the debut of the DVD format. "

I'm not sure what else I can add to this discussion, except that while we're all enjoying our DC Homer will be Waiting on the fence, wondering to buy or not to buy. This stranger has just about run out of kindness...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Everybody needs to remain calm about the issue of the running time without getting an attitude. Thank you.





Crawdaddy

 

[Bob Cashill]

My bad. I was trying to be funny-exasperated, but I couldn't find a smilie and just came off as, well, exasperated. But I swear that STREETCAR is the DC and that if anyone is less than 100% satisfied with this they can come looking for me. You'll find me hiding behind my wife.

 

[DeeF]

I'll happily chime in. The new DVD contains the Director's Cut of the movie, as did the previous DVD. On the 2nd disk of the new set, is a new documentary called Censorship and Desire, designed to highlight the actual edits made to the movie before it was released -- edits now restored.

The movie itself lasts 2 hours, 4 minutes and 44 seconds, essentially 125 minutes, so the 122 minutes listed on the back cover is incorrect.

 

[Heathen]

Thank you very much for the confirmation. Bob, I do appreciate your input, but I hope that you can see that since the review didn't make specific mention of running time vs reported running time that I feel that it wasn't quite definitive (since it was basically a gloss-over from the text on the back), and unfortunately, you can't take a DVD back anywhere if it has been opened and you find out after the fact...

Thanks again to everyone...

 

[willyTass]

Kryst almighty, not a word on the transfer quality??

Will

 

[Alejandro]

I'm awaiting my copy of the DVD (god bless Amazon) but I wonder what the outtakes are. If the missing "censored" scenes were put back into the movie, what are those 15 min. of outtakes? Anyone who owns it already can tell?

 

[Jason_V]

I'm looking forward to seeing this again. The last time was a *couple* years ago in high school english class (I think). I'm especially ready to dig into the Censorship featurette...

 

[DeeF]

The outtakes are exactly what you might think -- different takes of scenes from the movie.

There's no actual rape scene, if that's what you were hoping for!