Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Acting
Brando and Magnani's volcanic screen chemistry
Cinematography
Boris Kaufman's moody small-town shadows
Direction
Lumet's claustrophobic pressure-cooker staging
Director
Sidney Lumet
Marlon Brando
Valentine 'Snakeskin' Xavier
Anna Magnani
Lady Torrance
Joanne Woodward
Carol Cutrere
Victor Jory
Jabe Torrance
Maureen Stapleton
Vee Talbot
R.G. Armstrong
Sheriff Jordan Talbott
Emory Richardson
Uncle Pleasant, the Conjure Man
Madame Spivy
Ruby Lightfoot
Sally Gracie
Dolly Hamma
Lucille Benson
Beulah Binnings
John Baragrey
David Cutrere
Joe Brown Jr.
'Pee Wee' Binnings
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Brando learned guitar for the role and actually performed his own playing, though the singing was dubbed.
Adapted from Tennessee Williams' 'Orpheus Descending'—the snakeskin jacket explicitly evokes the Orpheus myth of the artist who descends to hell and fails to save his Eurydice.
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