Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn each received Oscar nominations for Best Actress in this gripping adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play. Beautiful Catherine Holly (Taylor) is committed to a mental institution after witnessing the horrible death of her cousin at the hands of cannibals.

Catherine's aunt, Violet Venable (Hepburn), tries to influence Dr. Cukrowicz (Montgomery Clift), a young neurosurgeon, to surgically end Catherine's haunting hallucinations.

By utilizing injections of sodium pentothal, Dr. Cukrowicz discovers that Catherine's delusions are in fact true. He then must confront Violet about her own involvement in her son's lurid death.