Word: kowalskis
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...that his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski, 100% Polish-American, is entirely a mixture of brat and brute, as some reviewers have presented, doing scant justice to the range and subtlety of his acting. At his most manic, he still displays changes of pace as dazzling as an electric shower. At his very best, the show of force shades off into genuine strength and Kowalski becomes exactly life sized, a well-intentioned and sympathetic character...
...modern stage, it was too much to expect that the author might try to create an essentially different work of art in the new medium. Instead the dialogue and plot follow the play almost exactly, and nearly all action is within the confines of the stage set, Kowalski's flat in the French Quarter of New Orleans...
...point at which Legion of Decency excisions left a significant gap is in the next-to-last scene, in which Kowalski's line "You might not be too bad to interfere with," was vetoed for some indiscernible reason. Since this line was intended to suggest the first awakening of dishonorable intentions toward Blanche, Stanley's subsequent apelike pursuit now comes as a surprise. Legion attacks on the obvious "carnal" element in Stanley's relationship to his wife were not too successful; short of cutting her out of the picture, they could not wipe that smirk off her face...
...rape episode by the censors, Director Kazan had to agree to change the play's ending to punish Kowalski, though the "punishment"-his wife's refusal to have anything more to do with him-seems not only mild but temporary. Elsewhere the movie's changes are more subtle. The play took no sides between Blanche and Kowalski; the film softens her into a more sympathetic figure, turns him into more of a loudmouthed heel. The new script also muffles the undertone of sex that accompanied the hostility between the two characters in the play...
...Leigh seems overshadowed by the skilled actors around her. Among her handicaps: a somewhat watered-down characterization, and most of the movie's talkiest passages. The brilliantly lifelike playing of Actor Maiden and Actress Hunter is even better than it was on the stage. As the hulking, animalistic Kowalski, Marlon Brando fills his scenes with a virile power that gives Streetcar its highest voltage...