Major Barbara (Pascal-United Artists). George Bernard Shaw, 84 and the world's No. 1 living dramatist, did everything but grind the camera in this second authorized full-length screen version of one of his plays. He wrote its scenario and dialogue, brought the 36-year-old drama up to date with some 30 new scenes, supervised its direction, dominated its production. The result is a cinema treat.
Rarer is the separate starring vehicle which Shaw devised for himself. This is an eight-minute prologue in which the wily, bewhiskered old Celt appears on the screen to reveal that while...