Elia Kazan

 Elia Kazan

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

On the Waterfront (1954)

RANKED:

4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

At the end of WWII, many were facing economic struggle and personal tragedy. Many films at the time were putting their fingers on the pulse of this sentiment and were encouraging people to seek hope in the face of these challenges. Elia Kazan's directorial debut was no different. Based on the 1943 Betty Smith novel of the same name, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a coming-of-age story about a bright, young girl growing up with her poor family in Brooklyn. Through the many twists and turns of her life, she is forced to grow up relatively quickly. The film acknowledges the hardships of life, but is also instilled with love and hope.

3. Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Despite the Germans and this anti-Semitic rhetoric losing the war in 1945, there was still plenty of leftover antisemitism left in the globe. In Elia Kazan's 1947 Best Picture winner "Gentleman's Agreement," this notion gets explored, along with all the passive ways we let casual bigotry and racism enter our everyday vernacular. In the film, Gregory Peck plays a journalist who goes undercover as a Jewish man to uncover the depths of antisemitism in everyday life to surprising results. Many with the studio asked producer Darrl F. Zanuck not to make the film, out of all the controversy it would cause. On the contrary, the film was a surprise box office hit. It was also a hit critically and even won 3 gold statues from the Academy Awards, Best Picture included. 

2. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Elia Kazan was a renowned stage director who was transitioning into screen direction to much success. He adapted on of his stage productions to the screen with his 1951 film "A Streetcar Named Desire." All of the original stage performers reprised their role for the screen version, save Vivien Leigh who replaced Jessica Tandy in the lead role. Penned by the famous Tennessee Williams, the story focuses on a Mississippi teacher who moves in with her sister and her sister's husband in a dilapidated New Orleans French quarter tenement apartment. Kazan films the story with an American gothic quality, closely resembling a German expressionist film. The claustrophobic and deteriorating environment creates a bleak and gritty psychological turmoil that eventually bubbles over and explodes. The main element the film contributes to cinematic history is the game-changing screen performance of its actors. Vivien Leigh's classical training demonstrates the traditional acting approach at its climatic zenith, while Marlon Brando's 'method' acting ushered in a new, exiting, and naturalistic approach to the screen performance and would change screen acting forever.  

1. On the Waterfront (1954)

It is clear that 1954's "On the Waterfront" is Elia Kazan's response to those who criticized his decision to inform on Communists in the film industry to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Through Marlon Brando's iconic character of Terry Malloy, Kazan demonstrates his belief that he was standing up for the little man against the growing corruption of the film industry. However, history has demonstrated Kazan's fallacy of his beliefs, as Kazan is now properly on the wrong side of history. However, his iconic "On the Waterfront," regardless of its real-life context, stands as a towering achievement of the 1950s. Through all of the analysis of political corruption, belief in union solidarity, and spotlight on racketeering, the true heart of the story lies with Terry's moral decision. Does he succumb to the corruption that keeps him employed, or does he stand up for the union laborers against it and risk his own life? If you strip the film of its real-life context, you can actually see this theme working against Kazan and 1950s Cold-War era McCarthyism, demonstrating the need for everyday Americans not to give in to governmental oppression and corruption.