When Planet of the Apes premiered in 1968, audiences were stunned-not just by its twist ending, but by the sheer imagination of a world where apes ruled and humans were hunted, silenced and enslaved.

While many people know A Streetcar Named Desire as a 1951 film — one of the best ever — starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter, it was a Pulitzer Prize-winning play four years before the ...