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A top-notch adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic play, the first screen version of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is a wrenching and intense character study that brings out the best of nearly every individual involved. Williams' source material is arguably his greatest play (rivaled primarily by A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE) and it is expertly adapted to screen by screenwriter/director Richard Brooks. Although the racier elements of Williams' dialogue is either toned down or eliminated, Brooks remains remarkably faithful to structure of Williams' story and its characters. Brooks wisely regulates his screenplay to the basics of the play, which allows plenty of time for him to reach into his lead character's minds.

The film is remarkably gripping and intense for such a leisurely-paced, dialogue-heavy film. As a director, Brooks manages to wring every bit of tension out of the source material without attempting to expand the narrative, which surely would have placed the film in danger of losing focus. Although the MGM production values are typically lavish, Brooks maintains a marvelously claustrophobic aura throughout the entire film that somehow manages to remain faithful to its theatrical origins without actually feeling static or stagy. In fact, although the film reaches such pseudo-operatic heights in its drama, it's somewhat shocking that proceedings remain as relatively grounded as they do.

The film is blessed with a top-notch cast, lead by the breathtakingly beautiful Paul Newman in a complex and thoroughly convincing portrayal of wounded masculinity. In a deeply internalized portrayal, Newman clearly conveys volumes of information with one glance of his steel-blue eyes. Taylor is unarguably at her sultriest as the frustrated Maggie, a definitive Williams' heroine, and her old-school Hollywood glamour contrasts perfectly with Newman's refined method acting. The supporting cast is flawless, lead by an outstanding, scene-stealing portrayal Burt Ives and featuring terrific turns by Jack Carson, Judith Anderson, and Madeleine Sherwood completing the impossibly tight ensemble.

Although Tennessee Williams himself panned the film for censoring the more salacious elements of his original play, the film received largely positive reviews from most major critics and was later nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Audiences also responded, as the film grossed more that five times it's budget. It is crucial for a film adaptation of source material from any media to stand on its own, and the 1958 film version of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF is an absolute classic by any measure.

Long-fabled as one of the most bizarre films to come out Hollywood during the years of the Production Code's strict enforcement, SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER is a riveting psychological drama that remains absolutely gut-wrenching even after nearly fifty years since it's original release. Screenwriter Gore Vidal takes Tennessee Williams' one-act play and runs with it, fleshing out the central characters and expanding the story's central arc. Vidal had the seemingly impossibly task of taking a tale involving homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and even cannibalism and presenting it all in a manner that would be acceptable to the rigid Production Code, yet still coherent to the average film audience. Not only did Vidal succeed victoriously, but the slightly ambiguous nature of the film's climax and denouncement actually makes the twice as unsettling and disturbing.

With relatively few characters to populate the story the performances are absolutely crucial, and the tight-knit cast delivers the goods in spades. Long after many of her acting contemporaries of the thirties and forties had been forgotten, Katharine Hepburn continued to reign supreme on the silver screen and her sublime performance as the manipulative and cunning Mrs. Venable ranks among Hepburn's best work of the decade. The wounded vulnerability of a post-car accident Montgomery Clift serves him well in a difficult role as the middle man between the film's leading ladies, and the still-handsome actor provides a humane, completely genuine performance that supplies viewers with level-headed window into the off-kilter story. Albert Dekker, Mercedes McCambridge and Gary Raymond also excel in minor roles.

The film's biggest surprise, however, is the exceptional portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor in the film's central performance. Although usually somewhat of an uneven actress, Taylor completely nails a dauntingly difficult role in a complex, multilayered performance that deservedly won her a Golden Globe Award as well as her third consecutive Oscar nomination. During the film's climatic revelation, Taylor lets out a series of bone-chilling screams that I could never imagine coming out of any other actress. Not only does it remain Taylor's finest performance (which is a considerable achievement when one considers that WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF is also on her resume), but it is also a performance that simply could not be bettered.

Although perhaps he could never surpass 1949's A LETTER TO THREE WIVES or 1950's ALL ABOUT EVE in the eyes of most viewers, SUMMER contains some of the finest work of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz' legendary career. Brilliantly combining southern Gothicism with straight-faced psychodrama and even grandiose horror, Mankiewicz stitches the various seemingly disparate threads together in a harrowing, yet perversely satisfying whole. Even the lengthy, sometimes criticized flashback sequence is an absolute tour de force of film-making that leaves viewers emotionally exhausted as one experiences the on screen turmoil more than simply watching it. An often unheralded classic, the film remains of the most sorely underrated films of its era.