Major Barbara

Star Review

Three years after her star-making turn in Pygmalion, Wendy Hiller starred in another caustic George Bernard Shaw adaptation. A sophisticated and provocative critique of the corruption of idealism, Major Barbara stars Hiller as the eponymous Salvation Army Major, who becomes disillusioned when her reviled capitalist father (Robert Morley), a munitions factory owner, rescues her underfunded operation to humiliate her. To her horror, the Army general gratefully accepts the donation, and Barbara's beau (Rex Harrison) takes a job at the factory.

Shaw's dry wit infuses the screenplay (‘alcohol enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning’), and is delivered with wicked timing from a terrific cast. Hiller is a marvel as the potentially sanctimonious Barbara, and there are great turns from Morley and Robert Newton as a reprobate whose soul Barbara longs to save. Filmed during the Blitz, the emblem of the munitions factory took on a whole new dimension, and Major Barbara remains a masterpiece of acerbic satire.

Alex Davidson on 12th July 2007

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Film Description

Barbara Undershaft (Wendy Hiller) is the idealistic daughter of a wealthy munitions manufacturer. A major in the Salvation Army, she is devoted to a crusade against capitalists such as her father and neither has she any time for the romantic intentions of the love-struck Professor Adolphus (Rex Harrison). She is so shocked when the Salvation Army accepts a large donation from her father that she hands back her uniform, thinking that she may be able to save more souls working in the system than outside it.

Adapted by George Bernard Shaw from his own play, the film featured David Lean as assistant director and editor.

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Film Details

Cast

Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Wendy Hiller, Deborah Kerr

Technical Details