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Great link, thank you. There's still exciting theater out there but the stage doesn't occupy the same place in the cultural scene that it did when Williams wrote Streetcar. Angels in America (the first part) was certainly a powerful experience for me. Funny you should mention Tandy and Pleshette. Hitchcock cast them both in The Birds. Neither woman was at her best, in fact the acting in that picture is uniformly awful except for the crows and the seagulls, but they're bad in different ways; Tandy hams it up in High Theah-tah mode and Pleshette is doing Method stuff. I'm always struck by how funny he is. (Maybe a little too funny.)

Happy to help, atm711. I didn't know Ford had understudied for Tandy, so thanks for that bit of information. It doesn't surprise me to hear she was good. She was a great favorite of William Faulkner's and did his Requiem for a Nun onstage. (She was Charles Henri Ford's sister and knew Faulkner from back in Mississippi, so unlike all the ladies we're discussing here, she was a Southerner.) How did you think the play adapted to ballet? Hi, Quiggin. Tandy's technique was honed in England – I'm not sure she can really be called a Method actor. I agree with you about the contrast in styles between Leigh and Brando, but in this case I think it works for the drama, not against it. It's not surprising that Hunter (who is indeed excellent) would be more in tune with Brando – she and Malden played alongside him in the Broadway production. As richard53dog pointed out, Leigh was a veteran of the London production and thus the odd woman out on the movie set, at least to begin with. Also, it was hard to play with Brando because he rarely did the same thing twice and that required adjustments from both Tandy and Leigh. Leigh probably benefited from it in the end – her M.O. was to arrive with her characterization already firmly set, which was not always helpful - and later on she and Brando are really firing off each other. I also agree that in the first scenes Leigh is more theatrical than is absolutely necessary. Apparently this was during the early days of the production when she was still adjusting to a new director and fellow cast members who'd been doing the play in sync with each other for a long time. If this new production does eventually come to Broadway with changes in the supporting cast, it will be interesting to see what kind of difference, if any, it makes.

I don't think anyone suggested they had done a bad job, actually.

There are several ballet versions of Streetcar. Ballet B.C. did another one not too long ago. I saw the Charlie Rose interview when it aired, it's pretty good. I'm sure Blanchett can write her own ticket as far as Broadway is concerned. One appreciates her loyalty to the Australian players but it does seem a bit odd to import a bunch of Aussies when homegrown American actors could do just as well by Williams, if not better.

Thanks for posting, atm711. I would guess that Tandy's understudy was Ruth Ford, who was married to Zachary Scott. It's a real tribute to Kazan and his actors that even now the 1951 version casts a shadow, far from perfect as it is. Great movie, especially when you compare it to other reverential play-to-film transfers of the time.

Thanks, Quiggin. I read the Ricks review and thought it a trifle overwrought, but then I'm not Keats' biggest fan, although I admire him. I hope BTers who see the film will post their own reviews and comments here!

The performances in the film version DO tend to dominate expectations, don't they? What has fascinated me for many years now is what the original stage production was like. I would guess Brando was a sensation, the magnetism he had combined with what was then a very different style of acting must have packed quite a punch, but what was the original Blanche like? It WASN'T Vivien Leigh, she was the first Blanche on the London stage before filming the role; but for the Broadway premiere it was Jessica Tandy who always seemed to me to have an outer delicacy wrapped around a core of steel. Like Leigh, another Englishwoman, but one who also had success with playing American (Southern and otherwise) women I wonder what it was like to watch her Blanche disintegrate? I was a long time ago but not so long that there aren't still viewers with good memories. Well, here's what Brooks Atkinson thought: From what Elia Kazan said and wrote and from what I've read elsewhere, I gather that Tandy was excellent but she was overpowered by Brando, and the balance of the play was altered thereby. There have been many Stanleys and Blanches that steered away from the Brando-Leigh template, some deliberately no doubt. Uta Hagen and Anthony Quinn played it not long after the original stage production. I, too, would be interested in hearing from anyone who's seen older productions (and Blanchett, too, lest we forget ).

Did anyone ever see this?

Thanks for posting, Patrick. I think in some respects Blanche has become for modern actresses the kind of proving grounds that Hamlet has traditionally been for actors. It gets revived maybe a little too frequently because so many actresses see it as a vehicle, which may be where the trouble lies. Blanche is the protagonist but the play doesn't hang on one star performance. (Although given the economics of today's theatrical environment, this approach may be inevitable.) Ask Marlon Brando. More seriously, I'd say that there's Stella's ambiguous role in her sister's downfall, there's Williams' wonderful language ("It's Della Robbia blue"), and the what-side-are-you-on conflict between Blanche and Stanley - and should you be on one side or the other? I don't know if that's enough to justify all these revivals, though. It may be a first for some in the audience, but this is a play that is not only a classic feature film that holds up very well today and is readily available, but has been broadcast regularly on television in multiple versions and seems to get revived every other month. It's fair to raise the question of overexposure.

Thanks for posting, abatt. The reviews I've seen have been generally excellent, although they too have been all about Cate. It is interesting that these days Streetcar seems to function primarily as a vehicle for a Big Lady Star. On first thought Blanchett struck me as a trifle hearty for Blanche and it makes sense that she would play her in the way you describe. If others see the production I hope they will comment.

Yes, it's all up to Law and Order now.

Slightly , but if you really want to be creeped out, read the original novel (The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham). As I recall, the film stuck pretty close to the book, but as soon as those children showed up in the movie with the silly hair most of the horror dissipated for me. With the book (any book, of course) you can imagine what's most horrible for you; much more effective. Sanders was great though. Not off topic at all, PeggyR. I agree that the blond wigs for the children are off-putting (this is true for both movie versions).

Off topic somewhat - the DVD in question is worth checking out for Bruhn and Toni Lander but it is indeed most frustrating, so don't expect too much. Just as you're focusing on some splendid bit of dancing, here comes another damned dissolve or cut. Fully agree with the above.

Great post, Pamela, thank you.

Thanks for reviving this thread, miliosr. Anthology pictures in general tend to be a mixed bag in my experience. (In 1968 Fonda, Delon, and Stamp were at peaks of gorgeousness so it sounds as if the movie is worth checking out on the eye candy factor alone.) It is true that the definition of horror film has changed considerably. It would certainly be fair to call The Wicker Man a horror movie and yet it's nothing like what we expect of one today. I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but I did get around to seeing the Halloween remake and it's just as you described it. All the backstory seemed to me to be completely superfluous and in a way it detracted from the spook factor - it's much more interesting when we have no idea why Myers does what he does. I also saw the original Village of the Damned with George Sanders recently. Really enjoyed it and the brisk pace was a blessing.

I haven't seen it, myself, but the reviews I've seen have been quite good overall.

The same article also pointed out that the soaps are expensive to mount, which would make moving to another channel dicier still. Thanks for posting, perky. There's nothing undignified in a show's getting picked up by another network, though - on the contrary it would indicate that someone believes in the property and that it might do better in the right spot.

I'm sorry if the reference is not clear, leonid.

I enjoyed your report, Pamela. Please tell us more. I understand Obama blew off a number of the events for obvious reasons, given the Orwellian nature of the proceedings.

Sad. There is a cable channel devoted to the soaps. I wonder if they will eventually migrate there? Thanks for the update, miliosr.

Oh, I agree it's not that big a deal. On the other hand, Kourlas is an experienced dance writer and even in brief texts that are intended to accompany flashy photographs it's okay to take (mild) issue with what she writes, even if it is just short of advertising copy.

Respectfully, Simon, if Ambonnay thinks that “phenomenal” is hyperbole in this context then I see no problem with pointing that out, even if the item is a fluff piece, which it is. I’m inclined to agree with you about Leibovitz. Not my favorite photographer. Millepied and Stearns are attractive men but I doubt that hordes of VOGUE readers, their pulses racing, will scramble for tickets on account of this article or these pictures, although I am amused by Millepied's rakish show of chest hair. It’s a nice story, that’s all, and I wouldn’t make a big fuss about it either way. Ambonnay, I think the hairy armpits are okay for a guy under current cultural norms, although I doubt if any unshaven ballerinas will be posing for Leibovitz any time soon.

Thanks for the link, Paul. I love this solo, too and Shearer's dancing in it, but then I'm a fan.

Thank you, bart.

That was my feeling about Wiseman's ABT movie. I saw it first at home and wasn't sorry. I understand why he might want to follow the dancers at more quotidian activities, look at buildings, etc., but after a certain point this viewer needed a break.