a weird mix of camp and serious drama

Elizabeth Taylor is thoroughly annoying and over the top and that makes her performance perfect for this film. Brando, who could sometimes salvage a film solely by his charm and realistic perfromance isn't charming at all here and his performance varues from subtle to hammy throughout and that also makes him perfect. He and Taylor were both very gloated when this was shot which, although not intentional and not especially for this film, also makes them perfect for their roles - Brando as an out of shape military, longing for his lost youth and discovering his pent up urges at such a late stage in life, and Liz as a lazy spoiled Southern twat. Although Brando does go in in the wrong direction at times, espcially in the scne where the nude Taylor is going up the stairs and he mumbles "I'm gonna kill you" while squeezing the banister. And as a whole, all the strange happenings in the movie just add to its unique atmosphere which makes it a msterpiece in my mind.

I'm here, Mr. Man, I can not tell no lie and I'll be right here 'till the day I die

It's a dark comedy, like everything else by Carson McCullers. You don't know whether to laugh or cry. And Huston does a fantastic job with the material as well, even if I think Fat City, Wise Blood and Under the Volcano are even better studies of similar material.

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."

I watched the whole thing and, as usual, I was very distracted by Elizabeth's awful voice. Brando was not his best and I can't even say what this movie was about.
I just read that the source material is not that long. I can't think why Alison was relevant at all.