George Bernard Shaw
Josie Rourke directs Gemma Arterton as Joan of Arc in Bernard Shaw's electrifying classic. Performed at the Donmar Warehouse, and part of the NT Live series of broadcasts.
Academy Award® nominee Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Schindler’s List, Oedipus at the National Theatre) plays Jack Tanner in this exhilarating reinvention of Shaw’s witty, provocative classic. Jack Tanner, celebrated radical thinker and rich bachelor, seems an unlikely choice as guardian to the alluring heiress, Ann. But she takes it in her assured stride and, despite the love of a poet, she decides to marry and tame this dazzling revolutionary. Tanner, appalled by the whiff of domesticity, is tipped off by his chauffeur and flees to Spain, where he is captured by bandits and meets The Devil. An extraordinary dream-debate, heaven versus hell, ensues. Following in hot pursuit, Ann is there when Tanner awakes, as fierce in her certainty as he is in his. A romantic comedy, an epic fairytale, a fiery philosophical debate, Man and Superman asks fundamental questions about how we live.
Stratford Shakespeare Festival presents: Caesar and Cleopatra. Shaw's legendary wit turns political drama into sparkling comedy when veteran strategist Julius Caesar becomes mentor to the enchanting teenage queen of Roman-occupied Egypt. Their first encounter under a desert moon will lead to a shift in the course of history, as Cleopatra gradually overcomes her timidity to become a determined player in the game of power politics
First produced on the London stage in 1894, "Arms and the Man" immediately established Shaw's reputation as one of the greatest wits in London drama. This beautifully remastered BBC production brings to life an uproarious comedy that still resonates in its critique of warfare and romance.
Shaw turned to the classic Victorian melodrama to focus on the insincerity of much that his audience held dear, especially family and marriage. In 1777 as the American War of Independence rages, Dick Dudgeon returns to the family he revolted against years ago. But his life is about to take another twist as the british arrive and seem set on an execution...
Re-creation of the Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's 1920 comedy of manners.The troubles of England are parallel with the domestic troubles of Captain Shotover's household.
Shaw used the traditional fable of Andocles to focus on the integrity of religious belief. Androcles, a christian fleeing persecution in Rome, is captured by Caesar's men. Alongside other christians - Ferrovius, a fierce fighter, Lavinia, a beautiful aristocrat and would-be martyr Spintho - he must face the lions of the Coliseum. How will each of them face their desperate fate?
One of Shaw's "pleasant plays", The Man of Destiny is a one-act lighthearted comedy of egos and social hypocrisy. Set in 1796 in northern Italy, it features a battle of wits between Napoleon Bonaparte and a mysterious, daring woman who has stolen his documents. Can she really challenge the strategic mind of a general still celebrating a famous victory?
The film ballet based on the play by Bernard Shaw "Pygmalion" to the music of Timur Kogan. For the first time, an attempt was made to translate the play into the language of choreography. And although the musical “F. My Fair Lady” was taken as the basis, the choreographer D. Bryantsev and director A. Belinsky offered a completely original interpretation of the famous work - classical ballet dancers act as real dramatic actors.
Hiding behind a comedy of manners is Shaw's state of the nation play - a declining country house as the microcosm for the country (or even the pre-war continent). Retired seafarer, Captain Shotover, is reluctantly hosting a weekend house party for his two daughters and their bohemian friends. As they indulge in dangerous flirtations, will anyone notice their drift to destruction?
Shaw's comedy of ideologies looks forty years to the future at the impossibility of government as the British cabinet and monarchy face a day of "crisis" for the country. King Magnus is happy to engage a prime minister seeking to transform the nation into a constitutional monarchy, but who truly rules in this democracy: the king, the government or the businessmen? And do any of them care about the people?
September evening, an unusual ark house, resembling a ship in shape, for its owner, the gray-haired old man, captain Châtover, sailed the whole life through the seas. A strange house where people behave differently. Young beauty sisters reign in this house, beckoning true gentlemen, as the light of a lamp beckons moths. This house fences its inhabitants from the outside world. Talk about the meaning of life, home entertainment, hopeless novels. And a premonition of trouble: at the same time, clouds of the First World were gathering over the good old England ...
In heaven there is faith, and love. Only in hell there is justice. Everyone here gets the part that suits them best. Therefore, hell is the place for eternal pleasures.
The most famous and beloved of Shaw's plays, Pygmalion is a witty exploration of class and gender, Professor Henry Higgins bets his friend that they can take a poor flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and pass her off as a duchess. They teach her perfect English, mannes, and how to dress like a lady, but proves to more than a match for her tutors.
One of Shaw's later plays, The Millionairess explores his fascination with the machinations of capitalism. Epifania is glamorous, clever... and also the richest woman in the world. Brought up by a money-mad father, she will only consider a man for marriage if he can convert £150 into £50,000 within six months. But when she meets an intriguing Egyptian doctor, he has his own money-making challenge for her...
Performed in 1902, after being banned by the censor for eight years, Shaw's indictment of the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution still shocked its audiences. Mrs. Warren has graduated from prostitution to opening and operating a chain of brothels throughout Europe. When her educated daughter Vivie discovers the truth about her mother's profession her reactions affect everyone around her.
Slapstick comedy based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. A stiff English officer, captain Charles Edstaston (Peter O'Toole), and his fiancée Claire arrive in St. Petersburg. Edstaston is brought to the imperial court to seek audience with the empress Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). He obtains an interview with her courtier, the drunken Potemkin (Zero Mostel), who ends up carrying him in his arms to the empress and dumping him into her royal bed. From this moment on, the hapless Edstaston endeavours to escape from the clutches of the sex-crazed empress and leave the city with his English fiancée.
The story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum.
A snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.
When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She feels incomplete without a husband and falls in love with a humble, Indian physician, Ahmed el Kabir, much loved by his indigent English patients.
The Devil's Disciple is a 1959 film adaptation of the George Bernard Shaw play of the same title. The Anglo-American film was directed by Guy Hamilton who replaced Alexander Mackendrick and starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Laurence Olivier. Mary Grant designed the film's costumes.
About a young artist, his wife and a doctor who, when the artist suffers from consumption, uses his limited serum on a more worthwhile case. (BFI Website)
1865: Swiss captain Bluntschli fights as mercenary in the war between Bulgaria and Serbia. When his group's attacked by a few Bulgarian troopers, he learns that he's got the wrong ammunition for his cannon and has to flee. His flight leads him right into the bedroom of his enemy's fiancée.
Young Joan of Arc comes to the palace in France to make The Dauphin King of France and is appointed to head the French Army. After winning many battles she is not needed any longer and soon she is thought of as a witch.
George Bernard Shaw’s breezy, delightful dramatization of this classic fable—about a Christian slave who pulls a thorn from a lion’s paw and is spared from death in the Colosseum as a result of his kind act—was written as a meditation on modern Christian values. Pascal’s final Shaw production is played broadly, with comic character actor Alan Young as the titular naïf. He’s ably supported by Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Robert Newton, and Elsa Lanchester.
As the title of this French documentary indicates, Ce Siecle a 50 Ans examines the 20th Century at its halfway point. Utilizing the archives of several European film reserves, director Denise Tua offers a fascinating mosaic of the people and events that shaped the years 1900 to 1950. Complementing the vintage film clips are three dramatized sketches, delineating the romantic customs of three different points in time. These sketches are inadequately performed, and can easily be ignored. Ce Siecle a 50 Ans both preserved and provided celluloid material for scores of future documentaries.
The aging Caesar finds himself intrigued by the young Egyptian queen. Adapted by George Bernard Shaw from his own play.
A young and idealistic woman, who has adopted the Salvation Army and whose father is an armament industrialist, will save more souls directing her father's business. A comedy with social commentary.
This 1940 presentation features highlights of earlier (1928 onward) Oscar ceremonies including Shirley Temple and Walt Disney, plus acceptance speeches for films released in 1939 with recipients and presenters including Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Hattie McDaniel, Fay Bainter, Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Sinclair Lewis, and more, with host Bob Hope.
When linguistics professor Henry Higgins boasts that he can pass off Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle as a princess with only six months' training, Colonel George Pickering takes him up on the bet. Eliza moves into Higgins's home and begins her rigorous training after the professor comes to a financial agreement with her dustman father, Alfred. But the plucky young woman is not the only one undergoing a transformation.
An impression of the state of the world in 1929, contrasting similarities and differences in religion, customs, art and entertainment from all over the world. The film is constructed like a symphony.
Famous author George Bernard Shaw's monologue to an audience on a variety of topics, including his impression of Mussolini's stern facial expressions.
A young billionaire of South Asian descent is bound by the conditions set by his beloved, deceased father in order to get married.
