Word: stella
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Blanche DuBois is a school teacher who comes to spend the summer with her sister Stella in New Orleans. She is shocked at the meanness of Stella's home, and the vulgarity of Stella's Polish husband. She calls herself a gentlewoman, and passes as one. Slowly, however, her pretence is discovered. In the glare of a naked electric light bulb, Blanche DuBois is forced to admit that she does not tell the truth, "but what ought to be the truth...
Anthony Quinn, as Stella's animal-like husband, has a less complex part to play. He mirrors this nature faultlessly in a lumbering gait and heavy voice. His elemental character is complemented by the similar temperament of his wife. Played with calm and comprehending dignity by Mary Walsh, she becomes a genuine human being who can do nothing to help one whom she loves...
...this setting The Cannibal's story is told by Zizendorf, a neo-Nazi who plans to free Germany from Leevey, its American overlord. Zizendorf lives in a boarding house run by Madame Stella Snow, who symbolizes the eternal Germany of ruthless energy and strength. Among the other boarders are a hungry duke, a relic of the Kaiser-ruled past; a drunken census taker who personifies perennial German officialdom ready to serve any master; Herr Stintz, the typical "little man" whose futility is expressed in nocturnal tuba-playing, and Jutta, Zizendorf's cowlike mistress, who wants only the warmth...
...standard breeds of characters. First she introduces Mr. Midshipman Anthony Louis Mary O'Connell of the British navy around 1800, a lad with "delicate lips and flaring nostrils . . . of a startled horse." Anthony deserts ship after being spread-eagled in the rigging for two hours. Ashore he meets Stella Sprigg, a girl whose "swift graceful movements were those of ... a faun or gazelle . . ." They fall in love, but Anthony, flaring his nostrils, rejoins the navy to redeem his honor. Until Jack comes home again, Stella and the story are left for the most part to vegetate in Devonshire...
...Terrific is the only word . . ." wrote the Times-Star's Louis John Johnen. "Way above what we have come to consider par," mildly agreed the Enquirer's John P. Rhodes. Soprano Stella Roman and Tenor Kurt Baum won cheers all round for their singing (he especially for the aria, Come un bel dl di Maggio)*and Stella got a few extra cheers for her natural, convincing stage manner...