Why the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof infuriated its creator
In short: When Tennessee Williams saw the 1958 film adaptation of his play, he famously urged audiences to go home, claiming it would set the industry back fifty years. While the movie became a massive commercial success, the sanitization of its central themes left the playwright and his lead actor deeply disappointed.
The 1958 film, directed by Richard Brooks, was a major departure from Tennessee Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play. The primary point of contention was the removal of the play's central homosexual themes. Under the constraints of the Hays Code, filmmakers felt they could not explicitly address the nature of Brick Pollitt's relationship with his deceased friend, Skipper. Instead, Brooks pivoted the narrative to focus on Brick's guilt over Skipper's death as the sole cause of his alcoholism and his rejection of his wife, Maggie.
Brooks defended these changes, arguing that a modern film audience would find it unbelievable for a man to reject Elizabeth Taylor for any other reason. He believed that explicitly portraying the original subtext would cause audiences to mock the film. However, critics and the author himself were less convinced. Reviews in The New Yorker and The Monthly Film Bulletin lamented that the filmmakers failed to provide a convincing substitute for the original motivation, leaving the characterization of Brick feeling hollow or monotonous compared to the stage version.
The production was also marked by personal tragedy. During filming, Elizabeth Taylor’s husband, Mike Todd, died in a plane crash. Taylor returned to the set weeks later, noticeably thinner and weaker, yet she delivered a performance that critics like Bosley Crowther found 'terrific.' Despite Williams' public disdain, the film was a financial triumph for MGM, earning over $2 million in profit and dominating the box office for much of the autumn of 1958. It remains a study in the tension between artistic intent and the rigid censorship standards of mid-century Hollywood.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958 film)
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