Word: shavian
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Last week the revised Geneva had its world première in Toronto. However topical, the play is not so much straight political satire as one more Shavian exercise in deflating the human race, one more proof that the world's most famed vegetarian is intellectually a cannibal. Shaw's mischief-hungry mind first conceived of Geneva when he learned that The League of Nations possessed something called the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. When he decided that the Committee showed few signs of intellect and fewer of cooperation, he licked his chops and fell to. In Geneva...
Anti-fascist in a typically Shavian way, Geneva makes fools rather than villains of the dictators. For that matter, it pretty well makes fools of everybody in the play. But at 83, G. B. S. is no longer foolproof himself. Despite some brilliant thrusts, he bumbles on far too long, says far too little. More of his ideas are old than new, more of his jokes forced than funny. But what Dr. Johnson said of women preaching is also true of octogenarian play writing: "It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done...
...about it. For a long time, this column has felt that Shaw's contempt for his public has showed itself in his music, he not bothering to play anything but noisy, trite stuff. Mr. Shaw has said that he wanted to get out of the music business. The above Shavian comments should take care of that very nicely. As far as we are concerned, I'affaire Shaw is a closed book, as we suspect Mr. Shaw will be shortly...
...movie is presented to the public with such a blast of trumpets and publicity, for John Q. gets the impression that it is a picture of world-shaking implications. Certainly there is nothing super-colossal about "Pygmalion," and in that very fact lies its charm. There is plenty of Shavian paradoxical comment on Humanity if anyone cares to look for it, but certainly it is not thrown out into the audience's lap. Bouquets by the carload should go to Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller for their performances. Howard's comedy is in his best style, and Miss Hiller...
...high Shavian wit is Androcles entertaining, but for low Shavian tom-foolery-particularly near the end when the play bursts its buttons, when Ferrovius licks all the gladiators in sight, when Androcles waltzes with the lion, when Caesar is chased by it, claims the credit for taming it, orders everybody to turn Christian. Such high jinks do not make one wonder what Shaw "means" by it all; they make one wonder whether he may not have had a hand in Hellzapoppin...