(1959)
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Director
Guy Hamilton (I)
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Writers
John Dighton
Roland Kibbee
George Bernard Shaw (play)
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Synopis: Light hearted comic look at General Burgoyne's invasion of New York State in 1777-1778 pokes endearing fun at British and American perceptions of each other.
Dramatis Personae
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Burt Lancaster .... Rev. Anthony Anderson
Kirk Douglas .... Dick Dudgeon
Laurence Olivier .... General John Burgoyne
Janette Scott .... Judith Anderson
Eva LeGallienne .... Mrs. Dudgeon
Harry Andrews .... Major Swindon
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Basil Sydney .... Lawyer Hawkins
George Rose .... British Sergeant
Neil McCallum .... Christopher Dudgeon
Mervyn Johns .... Rev.Maindeck Parshotter
David Horne .... William
Erik Chitty .... Titus
Allan Cuthbertson
Percy Herbert
Phyllis Morris
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Marching south into New York State, General John Burgoyne (Sir Laurence Olivier) is executing the evilest person he can find in every town he passes. In this manner the General expects to stifle resistance from the Devil's Disciples, Rebel irregulars impeding his path. However as this plan isn't working, the General decides to execute instead the most virtuous man he can find, Reverend Anderson (Burt Lancaster), the local minister, leaving untouched the local reprobate and likely rebel, the self-proclaimed Apostle of Satan, Dick Dungeon (Kirk Douglas) whose very mother would like to see hanged.
Rescued from a cruel fate, the impeccable Reverend Anderson turns out to be the Rebel leader Burgoyne sought all along.
A delightful comedy well played by the giants of the English language cinema, Lancaster-Olivier-Douglas, could have only be the product of the whimsical genius of George Bernard Shaw, the Dublin born playwright who may have known little of the Revolution but whose clever invention caught the English and American perceptions of each other, a Burgoyne imprisoned in his own insufferable, imperious, impervious arrogance fighting Americans who will use apparent sanctity as a cover for their nefarious clandestine behavior.
Major Swindon: But what about history, sir?
General John Burgoyne: History, sir, will tell lies, as usual!
This is purely fiction you may believe every word of it.
It is too bad that the celebrated playwright Shaw who died in 1950 did not live to see this production.
Contrary to Shaw, there is little evidence that the British sanctioned whole scale war crimes prior to the Battle of Saratoga. Indeed, the British pardoned virtually every American civilian who requested. As fortunes of war changed, the same civilians applied for Congressional pardons, so much for the fortitude of American non-combatants or the lasting success of deluded British commanders in the war for hearts and minds.
The incident described in Devil's Disciple may be a Bardic remembrance of the scalping of Jenny MacCrae, a Tory lass remade by American propaganda into a resolute Rebel and whose very name became the battle cry of Saratoga and the title of a popular American song. Throughout the 19th century the name of "Sweet Jenny MacCrae" was oft invoked by polite society in lieu of indulging in profanity.
As British and American passions subsided a century and a half later when the play was written, the Jenny MacCrae incident may no longer have been politically correct. It took the genius of Shaw to hide the story in a parable which reminds both sides who they really are.