Hey, Stella! ("A Streetcar Named Desire") Quiz

Answer: Yes, he wrote the screenplay and convinced Kazan to direct.

Tennessee Williams was intimately involved with the film. He wrote the screenplay that was then adapted by Oscar Saul. Kazan also did not want to direct the movie since he had directed the play and told Williams, "It would be like marrying the same woman twice." But Williams convinced him that the movie needed his grit and determination if it was going to remain faithful to the play. Williams was afraid the studio would try to water down the play and give it a happy ending.

At the time the movie was made, they had to contend with the Production Code office which enforced morality. The makers did not want the film to be condemned so Williams toned the language down and downplayed some of the more controversial aspects of the play.

Answer: Elysian Fields Avenue

The Kowalskis lived on Elysian Fields Avenue. Although not spelled out as clearly in the movie as it was in the play, symbolism played an important role. In many ways the movie was about Blanche's journey through life with the streetcar named Desire being symbolic of her life before coming to New Orleans and the trouble desire got her into.

In the movie this troubled past is not explored as graphically as it was in the play, it is only alluded to. The Cemeteries streetcar was symbolic of her lost job and the Elysian Fields were symbolic of her life after this 'death'.

The Elysian Fields can also be seen as a bit of irony in that they were a place of reward for the virtuous dead as they awaited return to life, a paradise. The irony can be seen in the fact that Blanche was anything but virtuous and the area was anything but a paradise.

In fact it became Blanche's hell.

Answer: The French Quarter

The events took place in New Orleans' French Quarter. The French Quarter was a bustling, happening place even back in the 1940s and 1950s. To many it would have been paradise as is alluded to in the name of the street Elysian Fields Avenue. Interestingly, in Greek and Roman mythology the Elysian Fields and Hades are both part of the Underworld, meaning heaven and hell co-existed in the same place.

The French Quarter could be said to embody this concept completely, in that it was heaven to some and hell to others.

Answer: Stanley and Blanche

Williams set it up so that Blanche, as the cultured sophisticated Southern Belle, butted heads with the raw, uncouth, even animalistic, Stanley. Two worlds collided and both would not survive the violence of the encounter. Kazan used the small apartment almost as a character to increase the tension between the two.

He even made it so the walls were movable and he could close them in as the shooting progressed.

Answer: Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh won her first Oscar as Best Actress for playing Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" in 1939. She won her second for playing Blanche. In both movies the male lead was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor opposite Leigh but in both cases she won and they did not. Blanche was a troubled soul, driven by a desire to be loved and yet going about it in a very self-destructive way. She was as driven by her baser desires as Stanley was, Stanley but hid it all behind the facade of refinement. But her actions betrayed what she tried to present to the world as her true self.

Leigh had played Blanche in the London production of the play and had been brought in to play Blanche in the movie because of her star power. Leigh was given top billing because of this. The studio was afraid the unknown Jessica Tandy who had originated the role on Broadway was too much of a risk.

Answer: Mitch

Karl Malden won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Mitch. Mitch was Stanley's poker playing buddy and he took a liking to Blanche. Blanche seized on this and on Stella's desire to see her happy in her battle of wills with Stanley. Mitch became a casualty of the ensuing battle between the two.

In the end, Mitch punched Stanley because he knew what Stanley did to Blanche but then was restrained by the other men. He broke down and cried as Blanche was led away.

Answer: Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando was an unknown when he landed the role of Stanley on Broadway. John Garfield, an Oscar nominated actor, turned down the role because he realized the role of Blanche was the pivotal role and he did not want to be overshadowed. This opened the door for Kazan to bring Brando on board.

Many considered his portrayal of Stanley to be one of the most seminal performances in cinematic history but he was up against Humphrey Bogart in "The African Queen" for the Oscar and Bogart ended up winning. Stanley was the embodiment of the modern world and its unrelenting assault on the more genteel aspects of humanity.

He was unforgiving in his pursuit of what he wanted and of his domination of the world around him.

Answer: Eunice

Eunice lived upstairs from Stanley and Stella and was Stella's refuge from Stanley. Eunice was played by Peg Hillias who originated the role on Broadway. Eunice's apartment was a refuge for Stella and Blanche when Stanley flew into a drunken rage and was where Stella went when she left Stanley at the end of the movie.

Answer: Kim Hunter

Kim Hunter was a star on the rise after winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for playing Stella, a role she first played on Broadway. Next she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in "Deadline USA". Then she was blacklisted and her world came crashing down. She went on to play Dr. Kira in three "Planet of the Apes" movies in the 60s but she was unrecognizable because of the heavy makeup required.

Stella was a woman drawn to the unpredictable and turbulent Stanley precisely because this is who he was. She was stuck in the middle between two headstrong individuals, each trying to control her and outdo the other. The movie left it unclear whether or not she and Stanley would get together after what Stanley did to her sister but she had moved upstairs and away from him.

Answer: Blanche

As Blanche was led off to the mental institution, she said this line to the doctor taking her away. The play was very explicit about what happened to Blanche but the film was not because of interference of outside forces. In the play, Stanley raped Blanche and this was originally filmed to be included.

Other controversial aspects of the play had been toned down but this one was insisted upon by Williams and Kazan. But before it was released, the scene was cut out along with 11 others to satisfy the Catholic Legion of Decency. Kazan was furious that the studio did this. Subsequent releases have had these scenes restored.

In the original theatrical release the incident was alluded to but never shown or spelled out.