George Bernard Shaw's sharp and witty satire about the idealistic daughter of a millionaire arms manufacturer joining the Salvation Army became a little screen gem with sparkling performances from Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison and Robert Morley. Producer/director Gabriel Pascal followed up the success he had with Pygmalion three years previously. Directing chores were shared by Pascal with Harold French and a young David Lean, but despite the fact that usually many directors make rough work, Major Barbara is a fine film. Shaw himself was involved, which means that some of the longer monologues, which tend to slow things down, are in there - no script editor was allowed to touch the master's priceless prose. Even so, it's an enjoyable film and, if the points it makes now seem clichéd, that doesn't stop them still being pertinent.

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