Battle of the Blanches

Personally, I believe that Vivien Leigh does a better job of portraying Blanche on screen. The majority of the better portrayal may be due to the directing of the two movies. I feel like Leigh fits the part much more with her clothing, appearance, emotions, and dramatic acting. Her acting pertains more to who Tennessee Williams describes in his quote. It is easy to see that Leigh plays Blanche as she is on the verge of hysteria and that Blanche is very codependent. Also, the fact that Leigh's Blanche has more interaction with Stanley, the 1951 film allows us to perceive Blanche's character from the "looking-glass self" perspective; Blanche seems to care, worry, and even accept what others think of her, and in turn, she becomes that person. All in all, I believe the best way of comparing these two films is to view them on mute. Without sound, Jessica Lange just sits and all we can see is her lips moving. With the sound, it's just as if she were reading straight from the playwright, with no actions. Contrastingly, Vivien Leigh moves all around in the 1951 film. We see the expression of fear and apprehensiveness in her face, and we can tell that she's very frantic as she moves rapidly throwing her arms up and spinning around as she moves about the room. We don't have to hear what she's saying to know that she is indeed Blanche. However, without the sound of the words in he first clip, it is quite confusing to know the character Jessica Lange plays as she simply sits and speaks.