A Streetcar Named Desire

With themes such as (homo)sexuality, rape and mental disorders, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire was considered far too controversial to make into film. This didn't scare off film producer Charles K. Feldman though. He produced this intense classic with Elia Kazan as director, a screenplay by Williams himself, and Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter and the then still relatively unknown Marlon Brando in the lead roles. It won four Oscars, even though many scenes were censored and cut after filming.

After a sexual fling with a 17-year-old student, high school teacher Blanche Dubois (Leigh) is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and is forced to move from Auriol, Mississippi to her sister Stella (Hunter) in New Orleans. Stella is married to Stanley (Brando), a hot-blooded male with a huge sexual appetite. When Stella goes into labour and has to be taken to hospital, Blanche and Stanley are suddenly on their own; their antagonistic relationship reaches a boiling point.