One of the “Desire” cars was recalled from retirement by then Mayor Morrison and New Orleans Public Service for the shooting of the opening scene at the L&N station at the foot of Canal street. This is referential to the Desire Streetcar line, which ceased operation before the film was released. The famous opening scene of the film shows Blanche arriving at Stella’s French Quarter apartment aboard a trolley car displaying the name “Desire,” on the front. Ultimately Stanley is rebuffed by his wife and friends, left alone to witness the result of his cruelty. Throughout the script, Stanley taunts Blanche, eventually revealing a secret that sends her into a complete breakdown. Blanche lives in a “dream world of long-gone gentility,” and is dismayed by her sister’s way of life, including her marriage to brutish Stanley (Marlon Brando). Streetcar begins with Blanche (Vivien Leigh) arriving at her sister Stella’s (Kim Hunter) run-down apartment in the French Quarter. Regardless of the filming location, even today, the sultry depiction of New Orleans’ French Quarter provides a draw to tourists interested in seeing where Stanley (played by Marlon Brando) famously bellowed “Hey Stella!” to his wife from the base of the curving wrought iron stairs of their rundown apartment. In the early 1950s however, film crews were much less mobile and the industry was highly concentrated in Southern California. The creation of Streetcar and its ongoing impact on the image of New Orleans is particularly interesting in our modern era of “runaway production,” in which many states offer tax incentives to lure production to locations outside of Hollywood. Peter Street while writing A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams lived in the French Quarter throughout much of his adult life, he lived in this apartment at 632 1/2 St. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous film depictions of the City of New Orleans, despite the fact that the much of the production took place in Burbank, California film studios. By Heidi Schmalbach & Kathryn O'Dwyer, editor TextĪ Streetcar Named Desire is the title of a 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams, adapted in 1951 for the big screen by director Elia Kazan.
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