Major Barbara (1941)

Director:

Gabriel Pascal

Writers:

George Bernard Shaw (original play)
George Bernard Shaw (scenario and dialogue)

Release Date:

2 August 1941 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A young and idealistic woman, who has adopted the Salvation Army and whose father is an armament industrialist, will save more souls directing her father's business. A comedy with social commentary. |

Plot Keywords:

Salvation Army | Inheritance | Manufacturer | Father Daughter Relationship | Reference To Napoleon

Cast

Wendy Hiller	...	Major Barbara
Rex Harrison	...	Adolphus Cusins
Robert Morley	...	Andrew Underschaft
Robert Newton	...	Bill Walker
Sybil Thorndike	...	The General
Emlyn Williams	...	Snobby Price
Marie Lohr	...	Lady Britomart
Penelope Dudley-Ward	...	Sarah Underschaft
Walter Hudd	...	Stephen Underschaft
David Tree	...	Charles Lomax
Deborah Kerr	...	Jenny Hill
Donald Calthrop	...	Peter Shirley
Marie Ault	...	Rummy Mitchens
Cathleen Cordell	...	Mog Habbijam
Torin Thatcher	...	Todger Fairmile

Also Known As:

George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

131 min | USA:121 min | UK:121 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:A | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #03074) | Finland:K-16

Company:

Gabriel Pascal Productions

Trivia:

This is Deborah Kerr's first credited movie role.

Quotes:

Andrew Underschaft: The fist Underschaft wrote: if God gave man the hand, let not man withhold the sword. The second wrote: all have the right to fight, none have the right to judge. The third wrote up: to man the heaven, to heaven the victory. The fourth had no literary turn...

Movie Connections:

Version of Majoor Barbara (1964) (TV)

Soundtrack:

How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds

But what about Boss Mangam?

I happen to like this film. It is almost as good as "Pygmalion", the previous Shaw - Pascal collaboration, but that film had Leslie Howard in it as Higgins, and as co-director. Here, although Wendy Hiller is back, Howard is not involved and Rex Harrison is the romantic lead (and the philosophic lead is Robert Morley, as the man of wealth Andrew (or, as Shaw says, "St. Andrew") Undershaft). It has a grand cast supporting these three, including Mary Lohr, Deborah Kerr, Emlyn Wiliams, and Robert Newton (for once showing what a terrific actor he was when not drunk). The best parts are when Newton tries to be stoical and get knocked down to show he can take what he gives out to weaker types. He does get under the skin of Torin Thatcher (as a reformed boxing champ, named Todger Fairchild), only to have Thatcher humiliate him by forcing him to pray.

Shaw the comic dramatist is always a treat. Shaw the self-created man with all the answers is another problem. "Major Barbara" is a look at how money is made by ways that are spiritually appalling (armaments and booze for example), but which guarantee jobs and hope to people who can't get them from the world of religion. One probably can agree with this point of view, but the constant pushing of Undershaft's point of view - nobody ever trounces him in an argument - is annoying. He seems omnipotent in this play (as Shaw, no doubt, wanted him to be). I once suggested that it would have been delightful if after one of his speeches he had actually had coughed blood (to show he was mortal). But Shaw never would have done that to St. Andrew.

Yet he did do something within a decade after writing "Major Barbara" that was inconsistent. Shaw probably never willingly discussed it with anyone. Undershaft rules his armaments firm with a total control. He dictates to the government on policies he needs. The stockholders don't seem to exist. But in 1916 Shaw's optimism about dictatorial capitalists had faded. World War I shattered him a bit, and he wrote "Heartbreak House". In it is the character of "Boss Mangam", a powerful business tycoon like Undershaft, who proves to have feet of clay. It seems the great tycoon has to satisfy those stockholders or his empire is taken from him. The same, of course, has to be true of "St. Andrew" Undershaft as well. He probably is his largest shareholder, but he never says he is sole shareholder. Undershaft was quite content and pontifical in 1907 when he describes his religion of cannons and prosperity for all who listen to him. But that was peacetime. Somehow, in 1916, "St. Andrew" would probably have found it harder to be as glib about his doctrines as he had been.