Major Barbara – 1941 | 115 mins | Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Major Barbara is a film version of George Bernard Shaw’s comic stage play about wealth and poverty. Major Barbara Undershaft (Wendy Hillier) is a Major in the Salvation Army – and the idealistic daughter of a local wealthy factory owner, the main focus of Barbara’s dislike and contempt is her affluent father Andrew (Robert Morley), a wealthy munitions manufacturer. Barbara is also romanced by a young Greek professor Adolphus Cusins (Rex Harrison), but due to her spending all her time on mission work his love goes ignored, Adolphus later accepting a high paying job with Barbara’s father. She becomes disillusioned with the Salvation Army when they accept a £50,000 pound donation from her father – a donation intended by Andrew purely to embarrass his daughter. To Barbara’s frustration, the Salvation Army General (Sybil Thorndike) accepts her fathers money – in protest Barbara abandons the Salvation Army. Eventually Adolphus takes Barbara to the munitions factory and attempts to show her capitalism does have it benefits, Barbara later decides that she can save souls while working within the capitalist system of her fathers factory.