Elia Kazan Retrospective at Melbourne Cinémathèque

When you think of A Streetcar Named Desire, you probably think of Marlon Brando. When you think of East of Eden, you probably think of James Dean. It’s somehow fitting that the most famous films of director Elia Kazan are associated with his actors.

Kazan was an actor himself before turning to directing, nicknamed ‘The Actor’s Director’. Performers in his films were nominated for 21 Academy Awards – and Kazan is one of those responsible for bringing Method acting to American stages and cinemas. If you meet an actor determined to stay in character even while eating lunch in the cafeteria? Kazan’s probably to blame.

His films combined this psychological realism with the boiling social issues of the day – corruption, racial prejudice, anti-semitism – and were successful both with critics and audiences. He made James Dean a household name with the Cain and Abel drama East of Eden, the only film with Dean as a leading man released while he was still alive. He also provided Brando with his iconic role as tortured Stanley Kowalski in Streetcar.

(He knew it, too. Even while directing Brando in the stage version, Kazan worried: “Was the play becoming the Marlon Brando Show?” But then he wondered: “What would I say to Brando? Be less good?”)

Kazan faced controversy in 1952, however, when he testified as a friendly witness before House Committee on Un-American Activities during the communist witch hunts. Many of his colleagues never forgave him. When a frail 89-year-old Kazan collected his honorary Oscar in 1999, you could see how Hollywood remained divided. Some gave him a standing ovation, others sat unmoving in their seats. Actor Ed Harris looked like he was trying to set fire to Kazan with his eyes.

Can you separate an artist’s work from their life? Should you? The protesters gathered outside the Academy Awards that night certainly didn’t think so. It seems strange to deny an Oscar to a man once called the “best director in Hollywood” by Stanley Kubrick, no matter what damage he might’ve done. See his movies and decide for yourself.