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Major Barbara (film)

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Wikipedia article




'Major Barbara' is a 1941 British film starring Wendy Hiller and Rex Harrison. The film was produced and directed by Gabriel Pascal and edited by David Lean. It was adapted for the screen by Marjorie Deans and Anatole de Grunwald, based on the 1905 stage play 'Major Barbara' by George Bernard Shaw. It was both a critical and a financial success.Valerie Pascal. 'The Disciple and His Devil.' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.

Plot



In this social satire, Barbara Undershaft (Hiller), an idealistic major in the Salvation Army, is deeply troubled by the fact that her father, Andrew Undershaft (Robert Morley), is a wealthy weapons manufacturer. Meanwhile, Andrew is looking for an heir for his industrial empire, in particular a foundling like himself.

Cast



*Wendy Hiller as Major Barbara Undershaft

*Rex Harrison as Adolphus Cusins

*Robert Morley as Andrew Undershaft

*Robert Newton as Bill Walker

*Sybil Thorndike as The General

*Emlyn Williams as Snobby Price

*Miles Malleson as Morrison, the butler

*Stanley Holloway as a Policeman

*Kathleen Harrison as Mrs. Price

*Donald Calthrop as Peter Shirley

*Marie Lohr as Lady Britomart

*Marie Ault as Rummy Mitchens

*Penelope Dudley-Ward as Sarah Undershaft

*Walter Hudd as Stephen Undershaft

*David Tree as Charles Lomax

*Deborah Kerr as Jenny Hill

Production



'Major Barbara' was filmed in London during The Blitz bombing of 1940. During air raids, the crew and cast repeatedly had to dodge into bomb shelters. The film's producer-director, Pascal, never stopped the production and the film was completed on schedule.

Reception



Box Office

According to 'Kinematograph Weekly' it was the sixth most popular film of 1941 in Britain, after '49th Parallel', 'Great Dictator', 'Pimpernel Smith' and 'Lady Hamilton'.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, Bosley Crowther wrote in 'The New York Times', "To call it a manifest triumph would be arrant stinginess with words. For this is something more than just a brilliant and adult translation of a stimulating play, something more than a captivating compound of ironic humor and pity. This is a lasting memorial to the devotion of artists working under fire, a permanent proof for posterity that it takes more than bombs to squelch the English wit. It is as wry and impudent a satire of conventional morals and social creeds as though it had been made in a time of easy and carefree peace. It is, in short, a more triumphant picture than any the British have yet sent across." while more recently, 'Time Out' wrote, "There is plenty to relish, notably Newton and Morley hamming it up (as, respectively, the rumbustious Bill Walker and the overbearing tycoon), and Deborah Kerr in her debut; but it does tend to just sit there. It was David Lean's first shot at directing, but producer Pascal helmed the bulk of it."

Home media



'Major Barbara' was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection on 23 February 2010, as part of the box set 'George Bernard Shaw on Film'.

References



Notes



Bibliography

* 'The Great British Films', pp 5962, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press,


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