SYNOPSIS: Four Oscar–winning actors—Marlon Brando, Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward, and Maureen Stapleton—sink their teeth into this enthralling film, which brings together the legendary talents of director Sidney Lumet and writer Tennessee Williams. A smoldering, snakeskin-jacketed Brando is Val Xavier, a drifter trying to go straight. He finds work and solace in a southern small-town variety store run by the married, sexually frustrated Lady Torrance (Magnani), who proves as much a temptation for Val as local wild child Carol Cutrere (Woodward). Lumet captures the intense, fearless performances and Williams’s hot-blooded storytelling and social critique with his customary restraint, resulting in a drama of uncommon sophistication and craft.
| Valentine “Snakeskin” Xavier | Marlon Brando |
| Lady Torrance | Anna Magnani |
| Carol Cutrere | Joanne Woodward |
| Jabe Torrance | Victor Jory |
| Vee Talbot | Maureen Stapleton |
| Sheriff Jordan Talbot | R. G. Armstrong |
| David Cutrere | John Baragrey |
| Uncle Pleasant | Emory Richardson |
| Director | Sidney Lumet |
| Producer | Richard Shepherd and Martin Jurow |
| Cinematography | Boris Kaufman |
| Screenplay | Tennessee Williams and Meade Roberts |
| Based on the play Orpheus Descending by | Tennessee Williams |
| Music | Kenyon Hopkins |
| Art direction | Richard Sylbert |
| Editing | Carl Lerner |
| Associate producer | George Justin |
| Assistant director | Charles H. Maguire |
| Sound | James Gleason |
| Costume designer | Frank L. Thompson |
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DVD SET
By April 26, 2010
In the late 1940s, driven by the opening-night ovations for A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams embarked on more than a decade of immense success. During this period, he wrote at a furious . . . Read more »
By April 27, 2010
From left: Marlon Brando, Maureen Stapleton, Tennessee Williams, and producer Richard Shepherd, on the set of The Fugitive Kind. It was Jules Stein, head and founder of MCA, who plucked . . . Read more »
May 14, 2010
“This hot-blooded, overtly poetic adaptation of Tennessee Williams is a stylish, emotional production from director Sidney Lumet,” writes Jamie S. Rich at DVD Talk of the new Criterion release of . . . Read more »
