As with many of George Bernard Shaw's plays, "Major Barbara" is essentially a political and social debate in dramatic form. At its heart is the conflict between the title character Barbara Undershaft, a Major in the Salvation Army, and her father Andrew Undershaft, a wealthy industrialist. (The family surname was derived from the church of St Andrew Undershaft in the city of London). Barbara is young and idealistic, deeply religious, a Christian socialist and a pacifist. Andrew is elderly, cynical, a freethinker in matters of religion, an apologist for capitalism and a man whose money has been made in the armaments industry. The crisis comes when the Salvation Army accepts a large donation from Andrew, much to Barbara's disgust as she despises her father and regards his money as morally tainted.
Shaw's play was written in 1905, but the action of this film takes place at a more uncertain date. Some of the costumes would indeed suggest the late Victorian or Edwardian period, but the design of the motor cars, the Art Deco styling of Undershaft's factories and the Modernist accommodation provided for his workers all suggest that the story has been updated to the 1920s or 1930s. Although the film was shot in 1940, however, and premiered in 1941, the one decade in which we can be sure it is not set is the 1940s. There is no reference in the film to the war which was being waged at the time. Although Shaw always regarded himself as a socialist, he enjoyed a good argument as much as anyone, and he often gives a surprisingly generous hearing in his plays to capitalists and right-wingers, as he does to Andrew here. The film-makers clearly realised, however, that to start making points about the Nazi threat and about how Britain needed a strong arms industry to counter it would be to upset the balance of Shaw's play by loading the dice too much in Andrew's favour. So the action takes place in peacetime and no mention is made of any external threats to national security. (The scriptwriters also resisted the temptation to change the Christian name of Barbara's fiancé, Adolphus; audiences in 1941 must have been surprised to see the name "Adolf", even in Latinised form, given to a gentle, mild-mannered academic).
Barbara regards the Salvation Army as hypocritical for accepting her father's money, but Shaw did not necessarily expect his audiences and readers to agree with her. Andrew's argument is that the charity doled out by the Salvation Army to the poor of London's East End is an inadequate answer to the problem of poverty; what the poor need is work, and as an employer he is in a position to provide it. Even Barbara, for all her moral scruples about the nature of her father's business, has to admit that he is an enlightened employer who looks after his workers' welfare and provides them with a steady income, even if he does so for self-interested motives. Andrew realises that a contented worker is a more productive worker, and one who is less likely to look for work elsewhere.
Shaw's plays often involve the head more than the heart, and some of them work better on the printed page than they do on the stage. "Major Barbara", however, works well as a drama precisely because it involves a battle of the heart (represented by the intelligent but passionate Barbara) versus the head (represented by the cynically rationalistic Andrew and, to some extent, by Adolphus, an intellectual student of Greek literature). What makes the film work so well is that both main roles are so well played, the lovely Wendy Hiller (something of a specialist in Shavian drama) bringing out the full ardour of Barbara's crusading zeal and Robert Morley as Andrew putting up a robust defence of capital and of enlightened self-interest. They receive good support from Rex Harrison as Adolphus and Robert Newton as the Cockney thug Bill Walker who is later redeemed when he finds work at Andrew's factory; Newton was later to find fame playing another thuggish Cockney named Bill, Bill Sykes in David Lean's "Oliver Twist". (Not all the acting is as good; the Welsh-born Emlyn Williams shows us that it is not just Americans who find it difficult to put on a convincing Cockney accent).
During his long lifetime, and in the years immediately following his death, Shaw enjoyed a very high reputation; he was sometimes even described as Britain's second-greatest playwright after Shakespeare. Today his place in the canon of English literature is perhaps rather less exalted than it was in 1941, and this may explain why this film is not particularly well-known nowadays. The themes of many of his plays, however, have remained relevant; "Major Barbara" is essentially a dramatisation of the perennial debate between idealism and pragmatism. With the exception of "My Fair Lady" (which owes most of its appeal to the music of Lerner and Loewe and to the charm of Audrey Hepburn) this must be my favourite Shavian film. It deserves to be remembered as a classic of the British cinema. 9/10
Shaw's play was written in 1905, but the action of this film takes place at a more uncertain date. Some of the costumes would indeed suggest the late Victorian or Edwardian period, but the design of the motor cars, the Art Deco styling of Undershaft's factories and the Modernist accommodation provided for his workers all suggest that the story has been updated to the 1920s or 1930s. Although the film was shot in 1940, however, and premiered in 1941, the one decade in which we can be sure it is not set is the 1940s. There is no reference in the film to the war which was being waged at the time. Although Shaw always regarded himself as a socialist, he enjoyed a good argument as much as anyone, and he often gives a surprisingly generous hearing in his plays to capitalists and right-wingers, as he does to Andrew here. The film-makers clearly realised, however, that to start making points about the Nazi threat and about how Britain needed a strong arms industry to counter it would be to upset the balance of Shaw's play by loading the dice too much in Andrew's favour. So the action takes place in peacetime and no mention is made of any external threats to national security. (The scriptwriters also resisted the temptation to change the Christian name of Barbara's fiancé, Adolphus; audiences in 1941 must have been surprised to see the name "Adolf", even in Latinised form, given to a gentle, mild-mannered academic).
Barbara regards the Salvation Army as hypocritical for accepting her father's money, but Shaw did not necessarily expect his audiences and readers to agree with her. Andrew's argument is that the charity doled out by the Salvation Army to the poor of London's East End is an inadequate answer to the problem of poverty; what the poor need is work, and as an employer he is in a position to provide it. Even Barbara, for all her moral scruples about the nature of her father's business, has to admit that he is an enlightened employer who looks after his workers' welfare and provides them with a steady income, even if he does so for self-interested motives. Andrew realises that a contented worker is a more productive worker, and one who is less likely to look for work elsewhere.
Shaw's plays often involve the head more than the heart, and some of them work better on the printed page than they do on the stage. "Major Barbara", however, works well as a drama precisely because it involves a battle of the heart (represented by the intelligent but passionate Barbara) versus the head (represented by the cynically rationalistic Andrew and, to some extent, by Adolphus, an intellectual student of Greek literature). What makes the film work so well is that both main roles are so well played, the lovely Wendy Hiller (something of a specialist in Shavian drama) bringing out the full ardour of Barbara's crusading zeal and Robert Morley as Andrew putting up a robust defence of capital and of enlightened self-interest. They receive good support from Rex Harrison as Adolphus and Robert Newton as the Cockney thug Bill Walker who is later redeemed when he finds work at Andrew's factory; Newton was later to find fame playing another thuggish Cockney named Bill, Bill Sykes in David Lean's "Oliver Twist". (Not all the acting is as good; the Welsh-born Emlyn Williams shows us that it is not just Americans who find it difficult to put on a convincing Cockney accent).
During his long lifetime, and in the years immediately following his death, Shaw enjoyed a very high reputation; he was sometimes even described as Britain's second-greatest playwright after Shakespeare. Today his place in the canon of English literature is perhaps rather less exalted than it was in 1941, and this may explain why this film is not particularly well-known nowadays. The themes of many of his plays, however, have remained relevant; "Major Barbara" is essentially a dramatisation of the perennial debate between idealism and pragmatism. With the exception of "My Fair Lady" (which owes most of its appeal to the music of Lerner and Loewe and to the charm of Audrey Hepburn) this must be my favourite Shavian film. It deserves to be remembered as a classic of the British cinema. 9/10