When acting instructors talk about "The Method" they are talking about a naturalistic form of acting that became the rage in the late forties. This approach to character development was inspired by the teachings of Stanislavski and was developed in workshops by Elia Kazan, Robert Lewis, and Cheryl Crawford. Later, Lee Strasberg embraced the technique, training such gifted performers as Paul Newman, Julie Harris, Marilyn Monroe, Dustin Hoffman, and Robert De Niro. But it was Marlon Brando who made "The Method" fashionable, starting with his electrifying performance on Broadway as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). So, for our mini-retrospective of early Brando films, we thought it only fitting to begin with the role that made him famous and brought his unpredictable and rebellious personality to the screen. The film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) also earned Brando his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. Our second feature, The Wild One (1953), is no Tennessee Williams masterpiece but it had a profound effect on teenage audiences who first saw it in the early fifties. As the leader of a marauding motorcycle gang, Brando signaled the arrival of a new kind of anti-hero. "I had fun making it, but never expected it to have the impact it did," Brando wrote in his autobiography, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me. "I was as surprised as anyone when T-shirts, jeans and leather jackets suddenly became symbols of rebellion...but none of us involved in the picture ever imagined that it would instigate or encourage youthful rebellion." TCM's "Early Brando" salute concludes with The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956), the film adaptation of the popular stage play by John Patrick. Brando plays Sakini, an Okinawan interpreter who introduces a visiting American army officer (Glenn Ford) to the joys of Asian culture. Brando later wrote, "A well-written play is nearly actor-proof, but in Teahouse Glenn Ford and I proved how easily actors can ruin a good play or movie when they're so absorbed with themselves and their performances that they don't act in concert. It was a horrible picture, and I was miscast." Brando has always been his own worst critic, and we think our viewers deserve a chance to judge for themselves. By Jeff Stafford