Best Films - 1951
by Andre Soares
Despite being toned down for the film version, A Streetcar Named Desire remains one of the most powerful psychological dramas ever made. Much of the credit for its success goes to stars Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando, director Elia Kazan, cinematographer Harry Stradling, and composer Alex North. Oh yes, one can’t forget to give credit to the creator of all those unbalanced and tragic characters, playwright Tennessee Williams, who also penned the screenplay.
FILM
A Streetcar Named Desire
Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival
The African Queen
L’Auberge rouge / The Red Inn
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Man in the White Suit
Miracolo a Milano / Miracle in Milan
People Will Talk
Show Boat
Susana / The Devil and the Flesh
DIRECTOR
Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Luis Buñuel (Susana)
Vittorio De Sica (Miracolo a Milano / Miracle in Milan)
John Huston (The African Queen)
Alexander Mackendrick (The Man in the White Suit)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (People Will Talk)
George Sidney (Show Boat)
George Stevens (A Place in the Sun)
Billy Wilder (Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival)
Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
ACTOR
Alec Guinness (The Man in the White Suit)
Richard Basehart (Fourteen Hours)
Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen)
Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun)
Cary Grant (People Will Talk)
Howard Keel (Show Boat)
Fredric March (Death of a Salesman)
Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Robert Walker (Strangers on a Train)
ACTRESS
Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Jeanne Crain (People Will Talk)
Ava Gardner (Pandora and the Flying Dutchman)
Kathryn Grayson (Show Boat)
Jane Greer (The Company She Keeps)
Katharine Hepburn (The African Queen)
Deborah Kerr (Thunder in the East)
Anna Magnani (Bellissima)
Elizabeth Taylor (A Place in the Sun)
Jane Wyman (The Blue Veil)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Finlay Currie (People Will Talk)
Charles Boyer (Thunder in the East)
Julien Carette (L’Auberge rouge / The Red Inn)
Leo Genn (Quo Vadis)
Kevin McCarthy (Death of a Salesman)
Robert Morley (The African Queen)
Cecil Parker (The Man in the White Suit)
Ernest Thesiger (The Man in the White Suit)
Peter Ustinov (Quo Vadis)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ava Gardner (Show Boat)
Brunella Bovo (Miracolo a Milano / Miracle in Milan)
Lee Grant (Detective Story)
Joan Greenwood (The Man in the White Suit)
Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Elina Labourdette (Édouard et Caroline / Edward and Caroline)
Eleanor Parker (Detective Story)
Françoise Rosay (L’Auberge rouge / The Red Inn)
Jan Sterling (Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival)
Betty Stockfeld (Édouard et Caroline / Edward and Caroline)
SCREENPLAY
Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire)
James Agee (The African Queen)
Jean Aurenche & Pierre Bost (L’Auberge rouge / The Red Inn)
Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Francesco Rosi, Luchino Visconti & Cesare Zavattini (Bellissima)
Roger Macdougall, John Dighton & Alexander Mackendrick (The Man in the White Suit)
John Lee Mahin (Show Boat)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (People Will Talk)
Edmund H. North (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels & Walter Newman (Ace in the Hole / The Big Carnival)
Cesare Zavattini, Vittorio De Sica, Suso Cecchi D’Amico, Mario Chiari, Adolfo Franci (Miracolo a Milano / Miracle in Milan)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Harry Stradling (A Streetcar Named Desire)
Robert Burks (Strangers on a Train)
Jack Cardiff (The African Queen)
Roger Corbeau (Le Journal d’un curé de campagne / Diary of a Country Priest)
Alfred Gilks & John Alton (An American in Paris)
Claude Renoir (The River)
Charles Rosher (Show Boat)
Joseph Ruttenberg (The Great Caruso)
Robert Surtees & William V. Skall (Quo Vadis)
Leo Tover (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
ORIGINAL SCORE
Alessandro Cicognini (Miracolo a Milano / Miracle in Milan)
Jean-Jacques Grunenwald (Le Journal d’un curé de campagne / Diary of a Country Priest)
Raúl Lavista (Susana / The Devil and the Flesh)
Alex North (A Streetcar Named Desire)
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