The Millionairess

Dame Maggie Smith was terrific in this television adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play, "The Millionairess." She is a true scene stealer. The filmed version of the play is somewhat dated with time although most audiences don't have the patience like they used too. Shaw delivered some witty lines for Smith's Epifania, the richest woman in England. Smith does a terrific job in making you feel sorry for her too at point. If you need a taste of Shaw, this version is one of the better BBC versions that aired on television in the seventies and eighties.

Watching The Millionairess my mind wandered back to a few other plays by George Bernard Shaw and the one that came closest to this is Major Barbara. Many of the ideas that lead character Epifania has could have come from the mouth of Edward Undershaft.

But being a woman this puts a whole different dimension to it. Shaw was born during the Victorian Age when women were put on a pedestal, but had few legal rights on either side of the pond. Our Creator/Deity may have made women different, but he did endow the same percentage of them with the same quotient of intelligence. I always thought that the crux of feminism was that group of the female population who did not like the roles assigned them, had the intelligence to see it and the will to do something about it.

Maggie Smith is such a woman as Epifania. She's got a husband in James Villiers who is cheating with Patricia Smith. That's OK because she's got the indolent Charles Gray on the side. But when he makes a crack about her sainted father she loses it good and Gray goes down a flight of stairs. More hurt in the dignity than anything else.

The nearest doctor around is an Egyptian immigrant played by Tom Baker and the two are intrigued by each other and put themselves to a money making test. It's what happens in the testing and with each that The Millionairess tells its story.

When The Millionairess opened it must have shocked British sensibilities. Just the idea of one of their wealthiest female citizens kanoodling with a Moslem doctor would have made the most complacent soul get alert. Just remember at the close of the last century how some felt about Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. But Maggie Smith knows her mind.

Maggie Smith leads a fine ensemble cast in this production of The Millionairess. She is surely the daughter Edward Undershaft the self made munitions tycoon would like to have had.

Who would have thought George Bernard Shaw was a secret feminist?

Maggie is overwhelmingly featured-a study of Maggie's acting prowess. If The Millionairess had been enjoyed as a play, Maggie's performance would have been experienced like receiving electric shock therapy. I enjoyed seeing Charles Gray as he always reminds me of his part in Rocky Horror Picture Show. The dialogue borders on the bit too much for a movie, but it was written by Bernard Shaw as a theatrical production. And, of course, dated to the clime of the times. The supporting role performances varied from somewhat mediocre to, let's be kind, amateurish. Maggie's death is allowing a resurrection of many of her lesser known works. Let her death be received as her gift to many who knew her and her acting abilities far too little.

I have read the first two reviews of this play and unfortunately would bore a reader if I did the same, the reviews already submitted are as accurate as I could have said it, so I will focus on one cast member in particular - the one and only Maggie Smith! On the day of my birth, Maggie was 31, so by the time I would be interested in film/theatre Maggie would be cast as a senior figure and not in roles that would make her a young mans pin up girl.

However - as my own years roll on my desire for nostalgia along with technology making it so accessible, I have been rolling back the years to see the difference in my interpretation of film etc..

I could not believe the impact Maggie had on me in her role as Epifania, the longer the play rolled the more I realised just how stunning Maggie was and she was 38 when this play was filmed! As we age the only organ we posses that doesn't are our eyes, even in her now 80's, Maggie's eyes are always the first thing you are drawn to, but in this wonderfully chaotic play, Maggie is playing a hard, soulless woman and as usual delivers a 10/10, however, in scenes that the camera focused on Maggie, a metamorphosis takes place in front of your very own eyes and you see a beauty in those deeply set pools of warmth like precious jewels just below the surface of an ocean of snow white china!

To aspire today to what Maggie was in this play, an actress would have to be wearing less cloth than a cosy for a stamp and more make up than a decade order for the clown department of a travelling circus - Maggie, with barely the sight of a stocking covered ankle, radiated appeal that modern day aspiration can merely dream of!

As Epifania is such a cold hard character, I suggest reader that you pause a scene where Maggie is full screen head and shoulders, detach from Epifania a few moments and really look at Maggie - she was beautiful!

The Millionairess? - 10/10! I loved it....

Epifania delights in being the richest woman in the country; she takes equal delight in being intensely difficult and impossible to live with.

I've seen a stage play, but not the film, so this is the first on-screen adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's wonderfully witty comedy that I've seen.

You'll need to stick with it; some of the early scenes in Sagamore's office are a little slow, but purposeful. It cleverly introduces the characters and explains their relationships.

It almost pains me to refer to the 'late' Dame Maggie Smith, but let's be honest: she's the real reason to watch it. It's so unusual to discover such a strong female character with from this time, who has the hidden ability of a martial art.

I was enthusiastic about the cast list; Peter Barkworth and Tom Baker are two of my favorites, and they, along with the rest, are excellent. Smith, however, is on a different level.

I won't ramble on about Smith's dazzling performance; I will, however, highlight one scene in particular: towards the end of the film, she delivers a monologue; it is a captivating scene.

8/10.