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Product Description
Based on the social comedy by George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara features fine performances from a superb cast, including a young Deborah Kerr. Edited by David Lean he also acted as assistant director. Barbara Undershaft 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 has little time for the romantic intentions of the love-struck Adolphus, a Greek professor. She is shocked when the Army accepts a large donation from her father and hands back her uniform. When she agrees to take a tour of his factory there are further surprises.
Product Description
United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: George Bernard Shaw's satiric comedy about wealth and poverty is brought to the screen with wonderful performances by Rex Harrison and Wendy Hiller. Hiller plays Major Barbara Undershaft, a major in the Salvation Army who is also a socialist and stridently attacks capitalists -- in particular her father Andrew (Robert Morley), the head of a munitions plant. In love with Barbara is the young Greek scholar Adolphus Cusins (Rex Harrison), whose attentions go unreturned since Barbara spends all her time on her crusade against wealth. To show up his daughter, Andrew donates 50,000 pounds to the Salvation Army which, to Barbara's horror, the Army's general (Sybil Thorndike) happily accepts. Barbara, in protest, quits her post and it is left to Adolphus to take her on a tour of her father's munitions plant and prove to her the benefits of capitalism. ...Major Barbara ( George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara )
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By NR Averill
Format:DVD
Together with 'Pygmalion' (1938) Pygmalion [1938] [DVD] this version of 'Major Barbara' is probably the best screen adaptation of a play by George Bernard Shaw. Made in 1941, it received Shaw's personal blessing and features fine performances from a legion of great British actors, including Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Deborah Kerr (in her film debut), Emlyn Williams and Robert Newton. The story itself centres on the relationship between a wealthy munitions manufacturer and his idealistic daughter who is a major in the Salvation Army. As well as boasting such a superb cast, this film features a magnificent list of names among the technical credits, including: David Lean (just before he made his official directorial debut on 'In Which We serve'), cameraman Ronald Neame, composer William Walton and costume designer Cecil Beaton. This Janus/Second Sight DVD presentation runs just under two hours and there are no extras or special features (except a scene selection facility). This thoroughly enjoyable, and thought provoking, entertainment was one of the most polished films to be made in wartime Britain.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By bernie
VINE™ VOICE
Format:DVD
First came on this movie while reading "The Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester the paragraph that mentions this film is:
"Yet war ministers abroad were still very much aware of the family. So were the critics, as George Bernard Shaw demonstrated brilliantly in December 1905 when his "Major Barbra", a thinly veiled satire largely based on the Krupp's, opened in London. In the play Barbara is substituted for Bertha, the head munitions family is named Sir Andrew Undershoot, and Bertha-Barbara is given a pacifist brother called Stephen."
The movie its self has some "Major" actors as Windy Hiller, Rex Harrison, and Robert Morley.
The Arms of Krupp
"Yet war ministers abroad were still very much aware of the family. So were the critics, as George Bernard Shaw demonstrated brilliantly in December 1905 when his "Major Barbra", a thinly veiled satire largely based on the Krupp's, opened in London. In the play Barbara is substituted for Bertha, the head munitions family is named Sir Andrew Undershoot, and Bertha-Barbara is given a pacifist brother called Stephen."
The movie its self has some "Major" actors as Windy Hiller, Rex Harrison, and Robert Morley.
The Arms of Krupp
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Peter Pan
Format:DVD
Rex Harrison plays a thinking man's "Alfie" in this enduring love tale from generations passed. Undoubtedly a "feel good" production for the masses, made at a time when doom and gloom were all about the world, (Nothing much ever changes does it!) Full of a stiff upperlipped well-spoken cast, (As usual,) but none the less, this film was well loved and is always good to see again.
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