A Streetcar Named Desire: Pulitzer Prize for Drama

A regular concern for Tim and Matt is the art of translating the stage into film, which so often goes awry. We’ve talked other instances of this in previous episodes, but Tim builds the whole ship out of Pulitzer Prize adaptations this time. Transforming the intimacy of the playhouse into the spectacle of the cinema is no easy feat, and a dying one at that. A Streetcar Named Desire remains the gold standard, by critical consensus anyway, yet remains an uncomfortable movie. Tim brings back Norman Jewison and Sidney Lumet for other examples of making the stage work on the screen with A Soldier’s Story and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, respectively.