Here's another film adaptation of a play by George Bernard Shaw. It's intellectually challenging as well as entertaining, but not as emotionally engaging as the previous partnership effort by Shaw and director Gabriel Pascal, Pygmalion (1938).

Historical Background: George Bernard Shaw was born July 26th, 1856, in Dublin, the son of a corn miller. His father was an alcoholic and the family was often poor. There was no money for higher education, so George was largely self-taught. Shaw moved to London in 1876, hoping to become a writer. He wrote five novels, but all were rejected. He had better luck as a journalist, writing for the Pall Mall Gazette, that's editor was an agitator for social reform. After attending a lecture by Henry George, Shaw joined the Social Democratic Federation. H.H. Hyndman, the organization's leader, introduced Shaw to the works of Karl Marx. Later, in 1884, Shaw joined the Fabian Society, which advocated political action rather than revolution as a means of achieving socialism. Shaw wrote many of the organization's pamphlets, beginning with The Fabian Manifesto (1884). In 1885, when the Social Democratic Federation splintered into two groups, Shaw allied himself with the newly formed Socialist League.

Shaw became the drama critic of the Saturday Review in 1895, which proved to be the pivotal development that determined Shaw's life's work. Shaw's first successful play, Candida, was written in 1897. The next year, he married an Irish heiress, Charlotte Payne-Townshend. On the political front, the Fabian Society allied itself in 1893 with several other leftist groups to form the Labour Party in an effort to gain political clout, by election of its candidates to parliament. They won two seats in 1900 and increased that to twenty-nine in 1906. It was during this time of heightened political activity in Shaw's life that he wrote several plays with political implications. One of those was Major Barbara (1905), the play adapted into the present film.

Shaw's political views are difficult to sum up because they are rife with inconsistencies. He believed that poverty was a great disease ("Lack of money is the root of all evil"), the eradication of which should be a society's foremost priority. He believed, like Marx, that capitalism was deeply flawed but deemed the proletariat too inherently conservative to provide much revolutionary zeal. He declared, "It was the revolting sons of the bourgeois . . . that painted the flag red." Shaw was somewhat of an elitist with little faith in the intelligence of the common people, saying, "Most people would rather die sooner than think," then adding, "If fact, most do!" Shaw felt that liberal democracy was doomed to fail because "Democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve" and that "Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few." Shaw advocated what he called "private enterprise socialism," but recognized that big business tends to control the government and the people rather than the other way around. Shaw had little use for religion, which he viewed as in league with the rich and powerful and mainly involved in pacifying the disadvantaged members of society with promises of salvation and misleading ideas like "blessed are the poor." So far, Shaw and I are pretty much of a mind.

Sometimes, however, Shaw's frustration with the established way of doing things took turns that went well beyond what I would endorse. Frustrated by the flaws inherent in elective government and its subordination to moneyed interests, Shaw sometimes longed for benevolent dictatorship, even blinding himself to the extent of approving of the Stalinist dictatorship in the Soviet Union and seemingly waffling, initially, in relation to the intents of Hitler. Shaw also repeatedly voiced anti-Semitic comments. Some of those comments may have been intended as ironic or simply to advance Shaw's reputation as a provocateur, but there were too many such comments to dismiss altogether.

Shaw disliked having his plays adapted into films because several unauthorized screen renditions had massacred his plays. Shaw found an ally, however in producer Gabriel Pascal (1894-1954), who allowed Shaw significant input on both the screenplays and the productions. The results were adaptations of four of Shaw's plays over fourteen years: Pygmalion (1938), Major Barbara (1940), Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), and Androcles and the Lion (1952). The film Guys and Dolls is sometimes viewed as very loosely based on Major Barbara.

The Story: Adolphus Cusins (Rex Harrison) is a professor of Greek classics trying to lecture in Hyde Park to the working class, but failing miserably. He just can't hold their attention. A friendly patrolman (Stanley Holloway) suggests that Cusins sample the more inspirational techniques of the religious speakers. Cusins comes across a Salvation Army worker, Major Barbara Undershaft (Wendy Hiller), and is thunderstruck. He soon joins up, just to be near her, despite having no genuine religious convictions. When he announces his eternal devotion to her, Barbara happily trots him home to meet her family. Cusins is expecting to walk into a poverty-infested flat but instead walks into a mansion.

Barbara's mother is Lady Britomart (Marie Lohr), an outspoken woman of breeding and manners who continuously scolds her adult offspring like naughty children. Besides Barbara, there is brother Stephen (Walter Hudd), a gravely correct young man of twenty-five, but still in awe of his mother, and sister Sarah (Penelope Dudley-Ward), who is slender, mundane, and engaged to Charles Lomax (David Tree), who is a bit of an air-head. Lady Britomart is a practical woman and only too aware that her meager resources, while sufficient for one household, will not support four. Sarah and Barbara are both engaged to men with no prospects of income and Lady Britomart also intends to find an appropriate match for Stephen, regardless of what his own wishes might be. Lady Britomart has decided to bite the proverbial bullet and invite her ex-husband, Andrew Undershaft (Robert Morley), over for dinner. What makes this especially awkward is that Undershaft has not seen the children since they were infants, though he provides all of the financial support for Lady Britomart's household. It's no trouble at all for him because Undershaft is one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Europe. He's in the munitions business (making the Undershaft torpedo, the Undershaft quick firers, the Undershaft disappearing rampart gun, the Undershaft submarine, and the Undershaft aerial battleship) and, as Lady Britomart points out, there's always a war going on somewhere. Lady Britomart will hit up the old man for an increase in family support.

Lady Britomart explains to the dumbfounded Stephen the reason why she divorced Undershaft. The Undershafts have a rather bizarre tradition. The munitions factory is never passed onto a biological son; instead it is always passed on to an adopted child, a foundling who has been raised for that purpose. That was how the original Andrew Undershaft got into the munitions business and each of the foundlings since, over four generations or so, has been named Andrew Undershaft. Ladey Britomart viewed that system of inheritance as a slap in the face of the hereditary privilege that is the underpinning of her aristocratic social class. She was outraged that her son Stephen would be passed over in such a way. As it happens, Stephen has no head for business (or anything else, really).

Undershaft arrives and has no idea even how many children he has, much less which of the persons present are his. He initially mistakes Lomax for his son and then Cusins. Cusins finally sets things straight with a clear and concise set of introductions. Undershaft seems most impressed with Barbara, who is decked out in her Salvation Army uniform. They have a lot in common. Barbara wants to save Undershaft's soul (along with every other one), but, surprisingly, Undershaft also wants to save hers! The pair strikes a bargain. Undershaft will visit Barbara at her mission if she'll visit him, the next day, at his cannon foundry.

At the mission, we meet a cross-section of the world's castaways. There's an old woman, Rummy Mitchens (Marie Ault), and a poor man, Snobby Price (Emlyn Williams). Then, Peter Shirley (Donald Calathrop) comes in, looking for a meal. He's been laid off because he's rather old. Tending to the needs of these folks is Jenny Hill (Deborah Kerr), a young blond who's pretty even in a Salvation Army uniform. Tension mounts, a bit, with the arrival of the feisty and semi-intoxicated Bill Walker (Robert Newton). He's looking for his ex-girlfriend, Mog Habbijam (Cathleen Cordell), who recently joined the Salvation Army and he's hankering for a fight with anyone who gets in his way. He smacks Jenny Hill across the lip and knocks poor old Rummy Mitchens to the ground. Peter Shirley warns Walker that he'd better be careful, because Major Barbara is the granddaughter of the Earl of Stevenage. All Bill can say is, "Garn!" Mog Habbijam has a new boyfriend, anyway, and he's a former wrestler, Todger Fairmile (Torin Thatcher). Walker does later finally find the pair on the speaking circuit and Todger helps Walker "find religion" by pinning him to the ground and forcing his hands into a proper position for prayer.

When Undershaft arrives at the mission, he's impressed with his daughter's ingenuity in her work. His visit causes something of an epiphany for Barbara, however, when the Salvation Army General (Sybil Thorndike) arrives and hits up Undershaft for a sizable donation. Barbara considers the money tainted (having been acquired through munitions manufacture and sales), and all the more so because the other half of the funds raised had been bankrolled by a rum maker. Walker taunts Barbara by asking, "What price salvation, now?" Barbara is in such despair at the Salvation Army's sellout to dirty money that she turns in her insignia and uniform.

The next day, however, Barbara keeps her promise to visit the munitions factory. The whole family joins her as well. What they encounter is a real eye-opener. It's a clean and impressive facility, with the latest equipment and energetic skilled workers. Nearby, there's worker housing of decent quality with playgrounds for the children, who appear healthy and happy. The proletariat supported by Undershaft's munitions industry is far better off than the poor being catered to at Barbara's former mission. "Poverty," says Undershaft, "is the worst crime of all." Cusins and Barbara are both very impressed and, as Cusins is technically a foundling (his father had married his deceased wife's sister, which was illegal at the time), Undershaft has found his successor.

Themes: One theme of the film/play is made perfectly evident by Shaw: a condemnation of societies that offer the poor salvation in lieu of food and shelter. Religion may serve as the purveyor of that terrible bargain with the needy, but the responsibility ultimately rests with the entire society. Shaw suggests that there's no point talking morality to people who are in poverty. Bertold Brecht succinctly stated the same point in The Threepenny Opera: "First feed the face, then talk right and wrong." Shaw presents us with a challenging social paradox: poverty vs. a livelihood by means that religions define as immoral (such as manufacturing weapons or booze). Given only the choices of poverty or a lucrative livelihood based on death and destruction, Shaw comes down on the side of the livelihood, because accepting poverty instead is, in the words of Andrew Undershaft, "cowardly infamy." Poverty, says Shaw, is the greatest crime of all and salvation is no fit compensation.

In my opinion, Shaw has created a false dichotomy in this play: "Is morality defined by religion or money?" Shaw is pressuring viewers to pick one or the other. My answer is, simply, "No!" Neither religion nor money defines morality. Poverty and a livelihood based on death or destruction are not usually the only two choices in life. One doesn't have to choose a career in the weapons industry. One doesn't have to grow tobacco or work as a scientist for a tobacco company. One doesn't have to be a con artist or salesman for a worthless product. The problem with the way that Shaw has formulated the issue is that the play could be read as justifying corporate greed or perverse political decisions. Should a country schedule an arbitrary war periodically to make sure that there will be plenty of jobs in their munitions industries, for example? Between poverty and enough to sustain life at a decent level, money should take precedence over glib religious precepts. A person has a moral right to steal food, for example, in order to prevent himself or his family from starving to death. For individuals at or above subsistence standards, however, values like generosity, equity, ecological sustainability, honesty, and quality of life should take precedence over greed, shallow consumerism, concentration of wealth, and destruction of the environment.

Capitalism can either enhance human welfare or diminish it. It creates wealth, but whether that wealth is used for humane or evil purposes is another issue. The ideal system is one in which free enterprise is regulated by government for the public welfare, but the problem (which Shaw recognized) is that the public isn't smart enough to ensure that corporations are answerable to the government rather than the other way around. The capitalistic interests use the power of their wealth to manipulate public opinion, through campaign ads and other kinds of propaganda, and thus control the voting patterns in democracies for their own benefit.

Production Values: Shaw's play Major Barbara was written in 1905 and first performed that year in the Royal Court Theatre in London. It was published in 1907. The first Broadway performance was December 9th, 1915. It was revived on Broadway four times since, in 1928, 1956, 1980, and 2001. Shaw added about 18 minutes of new material to the play for the screen version in 1941. A big chunk of the addition was a scene near the beginning that introduces Adolphus Cusins and gives added weight to him as a character. The altercation between Bill Walker and Todger Fairmile was another addition.

The dialog is driven by Shaw's nimble wit, but the play is somewhat too wordy and cerebral, with too little emotional resonance. I read the play after watching the film today and got a good deal more of the wit from reading the dialog than listening to it. The gist of the story comes across in the film, but the pace of the dialog is rapid and the British accents so thick that I just couldn't pick up every word. I felt that Pascal made the material about as cinematic as was possible, but this play may just be too dialog-intensive to be especially suitable for filming. The same complaint has been levied with respect to staged version of the play, as well, so perhaps this play is one most suitable for reading. I'd very much like to see this film on a DVD with optional English subtitles.

It's a marvel that this film could be made in 1941 in England, with the bombardment underway. The black-and-white cinematography is very attractive. The segment in the munitions factory is especially outstanding.

The cast for this film reads like a hall-of-fame list for British acting. Wendy Hiller portrays sheer exaltation as good or better than any actress in history. She also possesses the most magnificent set of cheekbones. Hiller made only fifteen films in her career, yet was Oscar-nominated twice as Best Actress and won a trophy for Best Supporting Actress, in Separate Tables. Hiller was even more famous for her work on stage. Her screen appearances included Pygmalion (1938), I Know Where I'm Going (1945), Separate Tables (1958), Sons and Lovers (1960), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Elephant Man (1980), and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987).

Rex Harrison plays Adolphus Cusins with a gentle twinkle in his eye. His other work included The Citadel (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), Blithe Spirit (1945), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), My Fair Lady (1964), and Dr. Doolittle (1967). Robert Morley was only three years older than Hiller but looked and acted every bit her father. He appeared in such films as Marie Antoinette (1938), The African Queen (1951), Topkapi (1964), and The Great Muppet Caper (1981). Robert Newton, who plays Bill Walker, is a fine character actor, whose work included Gaslight (1940), Henry V (1944), Odd Man Out (1947), Oliver Twist (1948), Treasure Island (1950), and Around the World in 80 Days (1956).

Marie Lohr was outstanding as Lady Britomart. She also appeared in Pygmalion (1938), Anna Karenina (1947), and The Winslow Boy (1948). Walter Hudd was utterly hilarious as Stephen. He also worked in Rembrandt (1936), I Know Where I'm Going (1945), and The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). David Tree was equally funny as Charles Lomax. He was also in Pygmalion (1938) and Don't Look Now (1973). This film provided Deborah Kerr with her debut appearance. She went on to a long and successful career. There were other excellent supporting performances from the likes of Torin Thatcher, Marie Ault, Emlyn Williams, and Donald Calthrop.

Bottom-Line: I enjoyed this film, though I understood it better after reading the play. It's a bit word intensive for cinema, especially with heavy British accents but no subtitles. Nevertheless, I recommend it, especially for fans of George Bernard Shaw or of literary adaptations in general. The acting is utterly superlative.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older