Major Barbara speaking (1941)

The beauty of diction in her speech and their conversation is wonderful. Whatever you think of what they're saying, the way they speak is so beautiful you could forget yourself in it.

Major Barbara is a 1941 adaptation of G.B. Shaw's play of the same name from 1905. Shaw helped write the screenplay. I highly recommend it for its ideas and its emotions and the execution of the whole thing. You may disagree with the ideas (as Shaw came to disagree with some of them later), but the emotions are very real, some scenes are ground-breaking, and Wendy Hiller is one of the finest actresses to have graced a film screen, though she did not do so often.

If you are impressed by Wendy Hiller but don't think you'd like Major Barbara, try I Know Where I'm Going from 1945. It's hard to describe what is so wonderful about that film, except that people who see it all agree that it is. Martin Scorsese is probably its best-known fan.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• major
• barbara
• gabriel
• pascal
• david
• lean
• wendy
• hiller
• rex
• harrison
• robert
• morley
• newton
• george
• bernard
• shaw

[mazzymuso]

This is very clever and enjoyable film. All the cast are fantastic, especially Wendy Hillier and Robert Newton as the charming ruffian Bill Walker. There is a great chemistry between these two-which is corroborated by Hillier's recollection of Newton as 'Large,lovely and outrageous.'

[perplexedmoth]

I came when she said "come, come, come"

[rgaleny]

this story made me follow Shaw and his Mr. Cousins that I became a studier of comparative religions too. And Hermeneutics. See Joseph Campbell.

[fantubelicious]

I recognize a very young Re Harrison & Deborah Kerr. This is the first time I've seen Wendy Hiller. And you're right she's got a marvelous diction. And the dialog written is sublime. It's very rare in todays film to encounter such character driven films with great dialogs. Thanks for posting this clip. You wouldn't happen to have the rest the film, do you? I'd love to watch the entire show.

[MadLizzy1]

I find this to be one of Shaw's most fascinating plays. The humor is surprisingly modern, too. Thanks for posting this clip. I do adore Wendy Hiller's precise diction; she's perfect in this role.