Real vs. Reel

Movie adaptations especially in flamboyant Hollywood of plays or novels are often very different as the director in question employs poetic license. He is trying to fill a cinema scope larger than life canvas and wants to entertain the audience and of course please them and in doing so make a big profit. It is a business venture and not simply a creative gesture. Playwrights and novelists especially of that era did not make as much money as movie producers and more often than not write for creative expression and satisfaction and write to express their views or opinions and not just a buck. They please themselves and are self indulgent and not audience focused (though this is a sweeping generalization).

Scripts that are written from a play or novel are often changed and the movie adaptation of A Street Car Named Desire are no exception. I wonder what Tennesse Williams thoughts on the movie would be and if he would feel is vision has been brought to life. Incidentally I felt Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh were amazing in bringing to life these two complex, multi layered characters and the chemistry between them was electric.

One of the glaring changes from play to film were that Blanche first goes to the bowling alley instead of as in the play waiting at home for Stella to return. I am not sure why the director made this decision as I felt the original version was more apt and made more impact. After all Blanche sitting alone in the darkened shadows with close ups of her expressions as shadows fall on her face and her furtive visit to the closet for alcohol reveals her insecurity, nervousness, and instability of mind to the audience at large. Also the first meeting of Blanche with Stanley and Stella was at a public place, which simply allowed for the primitive, macho character of Stanley to be revealed which could have been done at home. However, on a cinema screen perhaps this scene without dialogue may have appeared to be slow and boring to the audience.

Another major difference in the play and film is where in the film Stella leaves Stanley with the support of Eunice. Whereas in the play the scene ends with Blanche being taken away with the guards and doctor/nurses of the sanitarium where she is committed. I felt this was a radical decision by the director to allow Stella to have the courage, fortitude and independence to make such a decision especially with a baby and no means of support. This does not match the theme of the play and seems incongruent, where both women are suppressed females simply putting up with their men despite bad treatment and desperately seek the security and support of a man despite this. In the movie Stella does not appear to be as much in love with Stanley as the play implied.

A play is written for a small set area of limited space and props whereas the film has the freedom of a larger scale canvas and plays upon this advantage to the hilt. Sound and lighting also differ and the camera takes us through the mind of the director or his eyes as he pans out wide angles, close ups and top shots. In the play by reading we are the director or in the actual play we are free to roam where our eyes choose within the confines of the set.