Product Details

• Actors: Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison, Robert Morley, Robert Newton, Sybil Thorndike
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Homevision
• VHS Release Date: June 13, 2000
• Run Time: 131 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302969840
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,881 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Producer Gabriel Pascal brought the undiluted wit and wisdom of Bernard Shaw to world cinemas, and the world is grateful. But for all Shaw's philosophical irreverence and bracing ironies, as a screenwriter he had a lot to learn about structure and movement. Major Barbara made the transition to film less fluidly than Pygmalion (1938). Production took a year and a half. Pascal made himself director but left the real work to assistants Harold French (acting) and David Lean (visuals). The initial designer and cameraman had to be replaced, one actor died (Donald Calthrop), and oh yes, there were German air raids. Still, what a dream cast: Wendy Hiller as Salvation Army crusader Barbara; Robert Morley as her arch-fiend millionaire father Undershaft, preaching the gospel of money and munitions; Rex Harrison as Barbara's classics-professor suitor, Adolphus Cusins; plus Robert Newton, Emlyn Williams, Marie Lohr, and 18-year-old Deborah Kerr as sweet Jenny Hill. --Richard T. Jameson

Product Description

Laced with ironic humor and social satire, this well-known classic film is the story of Barbara Undershaft, daughter of a wealthy munitions manufacturer and an ardent member of the Salvation Army. Filmed in war-torn England, Gabriel Pascal's screen translation of George Bernard Shaw's play is brilliantly directed and magnificently acted.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for Thought, September 9, 2004

By 

Russ "russ" (Avenel, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Major Barbara [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A previous reviewer noted that the film was basically a platform to expound on George Bernard Shaw's views on munitions, war and other issues of the day, and rated it with one star.

I found that Shaw's social views, brilliantly elucidated by Robert Morley in a better acting performance than many of us have ever seen him in, are what make this a great film; whether you agree with them or, like Morley's estranged screen daughter Wendy Hiller in the title role, disagree, the dialogue is fascinating; the acting from Morley, Hiller, Rex Harrison, Robert Newton and a youthful Deborah Kerr, is first-rate; and the gritty London locales add greatly to the atmospheric ambience of the film. I hope the powers-that-be favor us with a DVD version of this great film soon.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Based on the Krupp family, November 3, 2009

By 

bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Major Barbara ( George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] (DVD)

First came on this movie while reading "The Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester ISBN: 0736607161 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 Krupps, 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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Major Barbara w/Deborah Kerr - 1941, April 15, 2009

By 

Kay M. Poole (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Major Barbara ( George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - United Kingdom ] (DVD)

If you love Deborah Kerr, this film is one of her first acting gigs. She is about 19 years old. I loved it. The DVD is in a Non-USA Format so you will need a DVD Player that plays the different regions. I have a Phillips and it's great.