MAJOR BARBARA (1941) *** George Bernard Shaw was brilliant at catching the passion and social dynamics of popular movements: of socialism, capitalism and the religious ideals underlying the Salvation Army. No, really, he makes the Salvation Army dynamic, passionate, almost sexy. Wow. And it's not just great writing, it's getting underneath great writing and using it and what it depicts to.... I'm open to the argument that George Bernard Shaw was the brightest man of the 20th century. More open to that than that he was the greatest playwright...ha ha, I was about to say that I wasn't qualified to rule on the second one! His plays are terribly insightful, trade on paradox in the most productive, progressive and illuminative manner, and are full of great lines. But there is something pedagogical about them, it feels that he's not only talking down to the rest of us, but knows it and thinks we won't notice. Which he is, and most of us don't, so the popular utilitarianism of it all is vindicated. This is a wonderful production and presentation of it all, and Robert Newton and Robert Morley are fantastic. Nothing wrong with Rex Harrison either, but it's clear that he understands that he's the centerpiece rather than the soul of the thing, and so pretty much stays out of the way. I wonder what George Bernard Shaw would think of the way that society has synthesized so many great ideas into mediocre ones...my guess is that he would have rightly thought that he could have done better, but that he wouldn't be as horrified as some might think. He'd just get down to work on it right away, right things up just a bit, that's the way!
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