Cat On The Hot Tin Roof (1958)

There's no doubt that the play that is the basis for this film by Tennessee Williams is one of the great American dramas ever written.  And what a pleasure to watch such a wonderful cast and production crew bring it to life, or at least the parts that they could.  True, it is a very much Hollywood-ized and censored adaptation but it's still a fine entertainment.  Paul Newman is amazing, Elizabeth Taylor delivers her best performance and Burt Ives is Big Daddy, having been the original from the stage version.  There is a feeling during some parts of it that there's something missing, like the fact that Brick's feelings toward Skipper were more than friendly.  Yet the Hays Code did that to a lot of fine films back in those "innocent" days so I can't really get that angry about ti.  If it had been made after the Hays Code I would be much more irate.  Still Richard Brooks directs the film with a fiery energy and keeps the picture as cinematic as such a story can be.  Grade: A-