There are few names that evoke the same kind of passionate reaction in terms of capturing the very spirit of theatricality than Tennessee Williams, who wrote his final play over forty years ago, but whose spectre still lingers in the culture. This is particularly true since his work tackles themes relating to American life, exploring the connections between characters as they make their way through different periods in the nation’s history, as well as taking place all over the country, his body of work spanning almost the entirety of the 20th century. One of his most celebrated works is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in which he explores the tradition of the family reunion, which is usually a joyful opportunity for us to reconnect with those who we may not have seen in a while, but which can also evoke uncomfortable memories, especially when there is a sense of finality that linger over the proceedings, which is the case here. The story is mercifully simple – Maggie Pollitt and her abusive, alcoholic husband Brick travel to the Mississippi Delta to attend a birthday party for Brick’s father, who is terminally ill – and while no one is brave enough to speak it aloud, they all know that this is very likely their final gathering before he succumbs to his illness, leading to quite a peculiar series of days where the ghosts of the past begin to emerge, causing the festivities to fall into disrepair almost immediately, being replaced with an ever-increasing sense of deep tension that threatens to tear the family apart entirely. Adapted by Richard Brooks, who fashioned himself as something of a Williams scholar, having done a number of his productions as well as directing them on screen, the film is solid at the best of times, being a very traditional Southern gothic drama, but not quite reaching the heights of other theatrical adaptations, and ultimately being only mildly effective in comparison to the potential it had at the outset.

While each work is bespoke and self-contained, there are a few themes that bind Williams’ works together, prevalent concepts that persist throughout, offering keen insights into his mind and allowing us to view the world through his very unique and unconventional vision. Brooks takes most of these themes (notably, not all of them – we’ll get to that in a moment) and revives them in this adaptation. The core of the film is, much like a lot of the author’s plays, based around family and how it isn’t always as comforting as we would expect based on a cursory glance. They say home is where the heart is, but Williams’ approach to exploring this concept made it seem like a far more bleak, harrowing experience that can never be perfectly summarised in coherent terms. Traditions are what this particular aims to explore, focusing on three different generations of a family as they gradually watch their legacy slip away as their patriarch slowly dies, meeting his demise and taking centuries of strong history with him, solely because his progeny cannot agree on how to handle the weight of the past. There is something quite unsettling about how this film handles most of its ideas, and we see it slowly and methodically devolve into something much more complex as time progresses, leading to a story that does tackle some intimidating themes. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way on the path to crafting this adaptation, someone decided that it would be a good idea to remove the subject of homosexuality from the text, which is one of the core principles that bound this story together and made it such a masterful work. Suddenly, some of the connections between these characters simply do not make sense considering the approach taken to excise these vital elements from the story, which is the first signal that Cat on a Hot Tin Roof may not be the strongest adaptation, particularly since it was widely denounced by Williams himself, who was outraged by the removal of the core concept.

Over the years, we have seen Williams’ writing become the gold standard for several actors, almost turning into something of a rite of passage for young performers to engage with the playwright’s exceptional work. In most instances, we find unique and daring interpretations that change the way we perceive the material. In others, there are severe cases of miscasting that feel quite tacky and extremely inconsistent, and lead to some questionable choices from the actors. Paul Newman was certainly one of the greatest performers of his generation, and he was not a stranger to Williams’ writing – but it’s not surprising that many consider his forays into his plays and their adaptations yielded very inconsistent results. My personal feeling is that, despite being well-written characters, they didn’t challenge and provoke in any truly substantial way, and were often working in opposition to Newman’s unique gifts. Brick is a character that essentially required Newman to play an angry, foul-mouthed alcoholic reflecting on his heyday and how he has failed those who initially believed in him. He can play the role, but it doesn’t challenge him, and there isn’t a moment in this film where it feels like he’s doing anything particularly noteworthy or worth our time or his. Similarly, Elizabeth Taylor does have a couple of good moments as “Maggie the Cat”, but she too is burdened by a character that simply does not feel aligned with her talents. Many great actors have played these roles, but Brooks doesn’t do enough to make them interesting on screen, and in casting two very notable actors, he hoped to draw audiences in – but he ultimately does an immense disservice to them as performers. Burl Ives and Judith Anderson have the more interesting roles, the former in particular being a major highlight, and the film does tend to feel most alive when they are on screen – but ultimately, they are working on the power of their performances much more than they are with a strong film, which does ultimately cause quite a decline in our appreciation for this text and everything that it represents.

In terms of the underlying subject matter, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is somewhat inconsistent. The first few scenes where the characters are introduced are certainly very strong and do relatively well in establishing the key relationships and dynamics. This begins to decline at the story scrambles to draw on these elements, with the outright removal of the most interesting elements, meaning that Brooks had to find ways to get around potentially scandalous subjects, the results being middling at best. Much like another adaptation he made a few years later, Sweet Bird of Youth, Brooks demonstrates only a surface-level understanding of the material, lacking in areas that would have potentially been much more engaging had they been more well-implemented in the narrative. The joys of Williams’ work is that he leaned into the melodrama in a way that was certainly quite challenging and daring, but Brooks seems unable to find the right approach, and in the process of bringing this story to the screen, begins to lose the lustre that was clearly shown at the start. To criticize a Williams play as heavy-handed seems somewhat redundant, since no one flourished in the genre more than him, but there’s something very inconsistent about how it handles these ideas, and which ultimately begins to weigh the film down far more than was necessary. It is extremely overwrought, and we never quite believe any of these characters, which is quite a jarring experience and one of the many reasons Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is one of the lacklustre adaptations of Williams’ work that tended to be produced quite rapidly at the time.

I have recently come to terms with the possibility that I don’t quite appreciate Williams’ work as much as others – I’m on the record as being overly critical of A Streetcar Named Desire and Sweet Bird of Youth, great theatre pieces that were massively diminished by lacklustre approaches and performances that were simply too broad. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is similarly a disappointment, but for reasons that are starkly different, primarily having to do with the changes made to the narrative and the ideas that don’t quite shine through in the way they were intended. These are very interesting plays, but it can be argued the reverence to the original writer needed to be stronger, not necessarily in terms of adhering to his dialogue and style, but rather respecting the themes that he explored. It can be said that the biggest downfall of this film was turning a story about homosexuality and how someone can become a victim of social standards into the precise kind of story that Williams was opposing through adhering to these same principles of censoring anything that went against supposedly “decent” values, making Cat on a Hot Tin Roof a film that entirely missed the point. It meanders on and on without any real effort, and eventually descends into something much less convincing and often quite bewildering, and eventually becomes profoundly dull and uninteresting. Williams’ plays were subjected to adaptations that were produced fast and cheaply, rarely paying any credence to the writer whose legacy deserved much better, and this film being one of the many culprits of this bewildering practice.