April 11, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 29 Film classic now available in re-mastered version grocery shop to prime minister of Great Britain. As with many screen biographies, the movie touches on career high points and, in the interest of maintaining a reasonable running time, either encapsulates or sidesteps the rest. The story unfolds from the present day as Thatcher recalls episodes from her past (with Alexandra Roach as the young Margaret) and her often tempestuous tenure as prime minister. Viewers see Thatcher’s rise to prominence in Parliament, even as she is ridiculed as both a woman and a newcomer who dares to challenge seasoned members of that body. She seeks the recommendations of image shapers, who suggest ways to command the respect of her peers and their serious attention. These include a new hairstyle, a deeper speaking voice, and the abandonment of hats. Streep’s performance is extraordinary and won her a third Oscar. Traditional makeup, hairstyling, prosthetics, and contact lenses contribute to an uncanny likeness between star and the stateswoman. However, the film is old-fashioned in its depiction of Thatcher as stalwart world leader. Viewers see her triumphs and her modest beginnings, yet one does not gain much insight into the woman. Blu-ray extras include a making-of documentary and featurettes about Thatcher’s husband Denis, the film’s costume design, Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan’s production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ by Dennis Seuling “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Warner Home Video) is the film that catapulted Marlon Brando to movie stardom. Though he had appeared the year before as a disabled veteran coping with a return to civilian life in “The Men,” it was this adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play that cemented the Actors’ Studio alumnus as one of the most influential screen performers of the 1950s. Elia Kazan, who also directed the Broadway play, went for raw emotion that is far more theatrical than cinematic. What holds the viewer is the first-rate performances: Brando as the brutish Stanley Kowalski; Vivien Leigh as his fragile sister-in-law, Blanche, who is more at home in her memories of better times than in a crowded New Orleans apartment with her sister and brother-in-law; Kim Hunter as Stanley’s long-suffering, ever-patient wife, Stella; and Karl Malden as Stanley’s pal Mitch. Brando, Hunter, and Malden starred in the Broadway play. Leigh, who played Blanche in the London production, won a Best Actress Oscar. Hunter and Malden also won Oscars for their supporting performances, but Brando lost the Best Actor prize to Humphrey Bogart, who won for “The African Queen.” In all, Kazan’s production received an unprecedented 12 Academy Award nominations. The movie portrays a culture clash between Blanche DuBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley, a blue-collar, earthy member of the immigrant class, with Stella trying to mediate between them. Blanche is an aging Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue, culture, and art mask her nymphomania and alcoholism. With Blanche in need of shelter and protection, Stella takes her in despite fearing that Blanche’s arrival will upset the balance between her and Stanley, a primal, roughhewn, sensual man who dominates Stella in every way. The new digitally re-mastered Blu-ray edition contains the original, restored version of the movie, which was never seen because of Legion of Decency censorship. Special features include commentary by Malden, outtakes, Brando’s screen test, a full-length documentary about Kazan, five featurettes, and a 40-page book containing photos, film facts, and production details. “The Iron Lady” (Anchor Bay) is the story of the political rise and fall of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep) from her modest early years as a clerk in her parents’ Thatcher’s battle in the House of Commons, and transforming Streep into Thatcher. The movie is also available on DVD. “Conversation Piece” (Raro Video) is director Luchino Visconti’s 1974 examination of the solitary life of a retired American professor (Burt Lancaster) who lives alone in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. When he is confronted by a vulgar Italian marchesa (Silvana Magnano) and her companions -- her lover (Helmut Berger), her daughter (Claudia Marsani), and her daughter’s boyfriend (Stefano Patrizi) -- he is forced to rent them an apartment on the upper floor of his palazzo. Before long, his quiet routine is turned upside down and the introverted professor becomes entangled in his tenants’ machinations. In the midst of this chaos, their lives and his take an unexpected but inevitable turn. The film’s limited settings give it a stage-bound look, though Visconti employs flashbacks to provide insight into the character of the unnamed professor. The script deals with what it actually means to live, and the crowd of people who invade the professor’s solitude serve as marked contrast to his quiet, introspective life. Lancaster turns in a rich portrait of a complex individual, a performance far removed from the popular swashbuckler roles of his early career or his big-budget Hollywood pictures of the (continued on Crossword page)