The Films of Elia Kazan

Three Masterworks.

“A Streetcar Named Desire,” A+

It is the most excellent play-to-movie adaptation of all time, with two of the most outstanding performances in the history of cinema courtesy of Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando.

Splendor in the Grass, A+

A perfect staging of a great original screenplay by William Inge boasts a magnificent performance from Natalie Wood.

On the Waterfront, A

Based on an original script by Budd Schulberg, “Waterfront” marked Kazan’s third and last collaboration with Brando. Despite being an apologia for its director and screenwriter’s dealings with the HUAC, it still holds up as a classic today.

Can You Separate the Artist from the Art?

More than any artist in the history of Hollywood, because of his naming names at the HUAC, what you think of Elia Kazan’s body of work depends on whether you can separate the artist from the art. The lives and livelihoods destroyed because of his testimony (including his own Best Supporting Actress Kim Hunter) weigh on the conscience of many film lovers who, on principle, will not watch his films.

I am very much against this course of action. Some despicable people created some of the world’s most significant art pieces. I always list Kazan as one of my all-time favorites. Only in “On the Waterfront” does Kazan, the master director, and Kazan, the HUAC stoolie, come together. The film’s storyline parallels Kazan’s (and Schulberg’s, another informer at HUAC), with Brando’s Terry Malloy turning informer being presented as the correct moral choice.

The Honorary Oscar.

Kazan got an honorary Oscar on March 22, 1999. The outgoing Academy President Karl Malden pressed for this even though Kazan had already won two Oscars for “Waterfront” and “Gentleman’s Agreement”. Would I have given him a standing ovation like most of the audience, or would I have remained seated like Spielberg, Nolte, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan? I don’t know!

Kazan vs Lumet.

Unlike Sidney Lumet, Kazan’s body of work is much tighter: nineteen films compared to Lumet’s 43. They are almost all worth watching with only 2 – as opposed to 24 – outright duds: MGM’s 1947 Tracy/Hepburn’s “The Sea of Grass” and 1972’s “The Visitors.”

Kazan at 20th Century Fox.

Kazan was under contract with 20th Century Fox in the Forties, where his output was mixed. He was saddled, on the one hand, with Zanuck’s corny “Gentleman’s Agreement” and “Pinky” (Peck’s character was not Jewish, and Jeanne Crain played the mixed-race Pinky). However, his Fox days also gave us the excellent “Boomerang” and “Panic in the Streets.” After 1952’s corny “Viva Zapata,” he was his boss and had an incredible decade-long run of great movies.

“The Last Tycoon”.

His last movie was in 1976, an adaptation by Harold Pinter of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel “The Last Tycoon.” It was not an outright failure, as some of the reviews of the time would have it. Yes, Ingrid Boulting’s debut was one of the greatest bombs in history. Still, Robert De Niro and a very charming Theresa Russell (also making her debut) make the movie worth watching.

https://thebrownees.net/1951-a-streetcar-named-desire-50s-60s/

Classic Film Noir At Twentieth Century Fox – TheBrownees