Major Barbara
United Artists | Release Date: May 6, 1941 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New York TimesBosley Crowther
This is something more than just a brilliant and adult translation of a stimulating play, something more than a captivating compound of ironic humor and pity. This is a lasting memorial to the devotion of artists working under fire, a permanent proof for posterity that it takes more than bombs to squelch the English wit. Read full review
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Valuable as a fine performance of an important and delightful play, MAJOR BARBARA makes for bracingly intelligent cinema. Read full review
90
TimeStaff (Not Credited)
Although this thesis produces a lot of talk in Major Barbara, it is the kind of talk that cinemaddicts seldom hear—brilliant, provocative, richly comic. It is solidly backed up by a baker’s dozen of superb acting performances. Read full review
80
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Adapted from an old Shaw play, circa 1905, it still carries the lightning thrusts of Shavian caustic satire at any and all levels of society. Read full review
75
Chicago ReaderDon Druker
Though a bit slow to start and overlong (GBS added 18 minutes to the screenplay), this is still an enthusiastic and intelligent rendering of the wonderful Shavian wit and sense of the ridiculous. Read full review
60
EmpireDavid Parkinson
A bit theatrical in places, which is not surprising when you consider its provenence but it suffers for it. Read full review
60
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
There is plenty to relish, notably Newton and Morley hamming it up (as, respectively, the rumbustious Bill Walker and the overbearing tycoon), and Deborah Kerr in her debut; but it does tend to just sit there. Read full review
40
The New YorkerPauline Kael
Terrible, but bearable; there's a fascination to its clunkiness.
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