 "Battle of Angels", the original version of Tennesse Williams play  "Orpheus Descending" that the movie is based on, flopped in Boston  in 1940 and did not make it to Broadway. The 1957 Broadway  production of the reworked play, starring Cliff Robertson and  Maureen Stapleton as Val and Lady Torrance, also was a flop. It  wasnt until the 1989 revival starring Vanessa Redgrave as Lady  Torrance that the play was a success on Broadway.